Black and White is a Treasure Trove

By Nong Jiafan, January 2025

Black and White is a treasure trove from which too many things can be excavated.

First is its realism. I am merely an ordinary reader, at most a literature enthusiast, and I cannot articulate literary realism in theoretical terms. I rely on an ordinary reader's intuition, and I feel that Black and White truly grows honestly from reality, reflecting reality authentically and in its original flavor. Everywhere within it we can easily find shadows of reality. It doesn't sensationalize, doesn't beat around the bush or mystify things or put on airs, but honestly and forthrightly uses interconnected stories to depict reality. Teacher Liu, as an experienced writer, simply uses superb technique to artistically connect and process many stories that have occurred in reality.

I was born in the early 1970s, went to university in the early 1990s, and started working in the mid-1990s. My father's generation were educated youth who went from Beijing to the frontier [note: referring to the Cultural Revolution-era policy of sending urban youth to rural areas]. Through reading this book, I genuinely felt how society has transformed, how reality has shifted—that is, how we have journeyed to where we are. But the work itself transcends reality, elevated by its artistic recreation revealing historical truth. This truth was not clearly visible when we were muddling through it in a daze, or rather, most of us simply lacked the consciousness to see—we were caught up in phenomena, unable to leap beyond various appearances to grasp the essence of things. Such good stories help us achieve this. Precisely because it depicts reality too directly, its initial publication in mainland China encountered what Teacher Liu called being "left unresolved." They were afraid—afraid of the uncontrollable impact this direct confrontation and revelation might bring to their system. But I believe those who rejected it also had to acknowledge it as a masterpiece; they were simply afraid of its sharp edge, afraid this sharpness might harm their own real interests. Its widespread circulation and enthusiastic discussion among ordinary mainland readers within just one year after publication in Hong Kong also demonstrates that it truly struck the hearts of the masses.

Second is its idealism. My age makes me somewhat younger than Wang Sheng, one of the book's protagonists, but our growth experiences share structural similarities. That is, in our earliest years we received idealistic education, worshipping idealistic heroic figures. During our growth process, we experienced the era's transformation, and in this transformation, the values we formed early on suffered brutal, unreasonable negation. We had to endure a certain spiritual pain, just like Wang Sheng's struggle with his own name. His name change represents an ordinary person's compromise with reality. Heroes are precisely those who stand out from ordinary people refusing to compromise—Wang Shengli, Luo Zheng, the old principal, and the group they represent are the true heroes in reality. They didn't seem particularly outstanding in that era when idealism was soaring, but after the era's transformation, their persistence makes us sincerely admire them. Although the so-called endings of these heroic figures don't look like much to those who put profit first, precisely because of this, their greatness becomes even more apparent—this is true tragic heroism. Those who give them low evaluations on the level of real interests dare not think carefully, because once they do, they immediately appear petty. Therefore, the work establishes them as positive characters and courageously writes out their true endings, being both realistic and idealistic. When idealism faces a terrible reality, its countenance should indeed be tragic and heroic, but it still gives us strength—even greater strength.

Third is the work's combative nature. This combativeness is also embodied in the previous two points. The work's very publication is full of struggle. The work everywhere embodies struggle—struggle between people, struggle between person and self, struggle between different lines—actually, these struggles are the concretization and manifestation of class struggle. I won't cite examples, as everyone who has read the work can naturally find corresponding instances. Finally, I'll conclude my remarks with a short poem I wrote previously:

#Reading "Black and White"#

I struggle to polish my eyes bright
What I see
Is still a blurred scene
Yet in my heart
I feel
Some kind of true realm
I believe
Ideals can illuminate reality—otherwise
How could Black and White come to be
I also know
Ideals find it very hard to illuminate reality—otherwise
How could Black and White be written
In a world where black and white are unclear
The only meaning of our existence
Is struggle