Liu Jiming's Position in Literary History

Renjingyuan, October 25, 2025, 19:31

As an important writer in contemporary Chinese literature, Liu Jiming's creative journey spans forty years, with works encompassing novels, poetry, reportage, essays, and other genres, totaling over five million characters, demonstrating rich creative diversity. His literary achievements are reflected not only in high productivity but also in profound ideological content and social influence, securing him a unique position in contemporary literary history.

I. Literary Achievement and Ideological Depth: From "Cultural Concern" to "Turn to the Grassroots"

Liu Jiming's creative career experienced a significant shift from early avant-garde literature to New Left literature. In the mid-1990s, marked by his "cultural concern fiction," he gradually formed his personal style. Works such as Bound for Huangcun and Undersea Village focused on society's spiritual environment and people's pursuit of soul, reflecting cultural reflection on the modernization process. This phase of creation was viewed by critics as a response to a specific historical stage, establishing the keynote of his humanistic concern.

At the beginning of the new century, Liu Jiming turned toward New Left literature and grassroots literature. His representative works The Human Realm and Black and White became important milestones in this transformation. The Human Realm, through the perspectives of protagonists Ma La and Murong Qiu, surveys the spiritual outlook of urban and rural populations across all strata, attempting to rewrite the history of the new period, demonstrating intellectuals' frontal assault on history and reality. Meanwhile, Black and White was praised by Kong Qingdong as "a major harvest of contemporary Chinese literature," with its excavation of history and interrogation of human nature far surpassing most Nobel Prize-winning works in literature. These two works not only mark his return from "personal narrative" to "people's writing" but also complete a phoenix-like rebirth from "avant-garde to grassroots."

Liu Jiming's ideological depth stems from his keen insight into social reality. He consistently stands on the people's position, paying attention to disadvantaged grassroots groups and speaking out against injustice, earning him recognition as a "true people's writer." His works combine romantic spirit with avant-garde narrative techniques, forming an artistic style of "finding desolation and tragedy within banter," making him a representative figure of New Left literature and grassroots literature.

II. Social Influence and Literary Style: The Non-Mainstream Posture of an Activist

Liu Jiming's social influence extends beyond literary circles to his non-mainstream posture as an activist. Although possessing the status of a professional writer within the system, he writes from a left-wing position, firmly standing with the grassroots and voicing concerns for disadvantaged groups. This stance appears particularly unconventional in the contemporary literary world, especially against the backdrop of the "grassroots literature" trend's rise. His works have become ideological weapons for proletarian liberation struggles in the new century, responding to Kojin Karatani's criticism about "literature losing its political dimension."

His literary style is distinctive, closely linking history with reality. For example, The Human Realm, set against the backdrop of northern and southern urban and rural areas, displays contemporary society's spiritual history through character perspective shifts, and has been evaluated as "weighty and refined," precisely surveying the spiritual outlook of all social strata. Meanwhile, Black and White, through China's century-long self-expression of history, realizes questioning and interrogation of reality, embodying the novel's power over reality, and is praised as "a sharp work of people's realism." This "outward-looking" literary creation not only avoids the narrowness of pure literature but also, through ideological content, lifts reality's fragments away from flatness, achieving the effect of profound interrogation.

Liu Jiming's works also display strong historical consciousness. He often fictionalizes historical backgrounds—for instance, his early novel Undersea Village uses allegorical form to reflect on history's absence's impact on reality, criticizing contemporary people's nihilistic tendency to forget history. This dialogue between history and reality makes his works "another kind of reality," exposing reality's absence, echoing the assertion that "all real history is contemporary history."

III. Position in Contemporary Literary History: The Revival of Left-Wing Literature and Exemplar of People's Realism

Liu Jiming's position in contemporary literary history is first reflected in his role as a practitioner of New Left literature and grassroots literature trends. His transformation marks the revival of left-wing literature in the new era—a trend naturally connected by blood to the grassroots and the poor, responding to the dual requirements of history and reality. Compared to the literary mainstream's rightward drift, Liu Jiming is among the few writers who firmly maintain a left-wing position.

Secondly, Liu Jiming achieved self-salvation and spiritual homecoming through creation. From his early slightly rightward stance with liberal values to his complete turn toward New Left literature, his works witness an individual's journey from "individual" back to "people." This transformation has not only literary significance but also reflects intellectuals' assumption of responsibility toward the era. As demonstrated in The Human Realm and Black and White, through linking history and reality, Liu Jiming provides contemporary literature with a "historical sense of reflecting on history," filling a void in Chinese contemporary literature.

Finally, Liu Jiming's literary legacy lies in its enduring social value. Black and White and The Human Realm, due to their profound ideological content and critical power toward reality, promise to become works passed down through generations. They not only enrich China's literary treasury but also provide resources for social thinking and progress, embodying literature's power as "imagination connecting history and reality."

Conclusion

Liu Jiming's position in contemporary literary history stems from his high productivity and diversity of literary achievement, profound ideological depth, non-mainstream social influence, and unique literary style. As a representative of New Left literature, he achieved transformation from "individual" to "people" through his works, reviving left-wing literature's combative character. His creation not only responds to the dialogue between history and reality but also becomes an exemplar of people's realism in contemporary literature. Although the literary world harbors controversy regarding his stance, Liu Jiming's works have undoubtedly injected new vitality into Chinese literature, and their enduring social value ensures his important position in literary history.

(Contributed by: Cao Zhenglu-Liu Jiming Research Center)