Du la la in beijing

To live or to write – Young writers face dilemma amid declining literary market
January 25, 2010 Filed under Feature
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By Huang Daohen
“Life is dear, love is dearer. Both can be given up for freedom.” The words of Hungarian poet Petofi Sandor (1823-1856) mighhave encouraged young Chinese writers to stick to their dreams when they memorized them in school.
But in 21st century China, it is evident struggling writers need more than dreams. Surrounded by a growing number of affluent people and shiny gadgets, many young writers have abandoned the craft for a “steady” source of income. For those who persist, there is a dilemma: live or write?

Readers browsing The Story of Du Lala's Promotion at a Beijing bookstore. While readers are eager for good writings, there is no huge demand for contemporary Chinese literature. IC Photo
Impulses behind writing
Yang Sheng sips coffee in a cafe in the Houhai restaurant and bar district as he reflects on his and his generation’s contributions to contemporary literature.
Yang looks like a typical southerner: he is of average height and has soft features matched by an equally soft accent. Dressed casually and wearing sports shoes, the 29-year-old is the author of three collections of short stories and essays.
“But that des not mean I’m rich,” Yang says. He published his first collection of short storiesSuccessful Loser, in 2004, while he was a college student in Shanghai.
Indeed, compared to his contemporaries Han Han, Guo Jingming and Zhang Yueran – today’s most popular young writers who have sold millions of books – Yang is a struggling writeSuccessful Loser brought him fame and a small fortune, but he spent much of the money to self-publish his other books since no publisher wanted them.
“I still believe every literary genre can find some readers,” he says.
Over the past decade, the number of young writers like Yang, born in the 1980s, has mushroomed. For lack of a more creative name, the group has been called “post-1980s writers.”
Yang does not agree with the label. He says he would rather call himself an independent writer among the “beipiao,” a word used describe people who have neither a house or a full-time job in Beijing.
Before coming to the capital three years ago, Yang worked for a Shanghai media company that compensated him more than adequately. “I’d long been ld it is tough to be a writer, so I got a job after graduation,” he says.
But writing called to him and he soon found office work boring. “My nature is such that I’m interested in other people, talking to and writing aut people,” Yang says. He decided he was finished with corporate life, packed his bags and moved to Beijing.
Life in the “city of culture,” as Yang describes Beijing, has influenced his writing. But there are many obscles, the biggest of which is making ends meet.
Yang worked for a time at a translation company, but soon found that it left him little time for his real love. “I just want to use my own words to record my life experieces. Whether to publish them or not is a thing for the future,” he says.
He currently does freelance writing to earn money for rent and meals. He lives in a 100-meter-square apartment in Tiantongyuan with two other beipiao writers.
Tarnished contemporary literature
While young writers like Yang are confident about the future of Chinese literature, experts are more than a little worried. “Literature is not greatly appreciate these days and there is a decline in the public’s literary taste,” says Zhang Qiang, a professor of Chinese literature at the Beijing Language and Culture University.
In the past, writers played the role of spiritual guide, Zhang says. “Now some writers are more concerned about money and fame, and reflect less on the quality of their writings.
Caught in the frenzied pace of a changing society, today’s writer are not on the pulse of society and fail to attract interest, much less offer reflections on life, he says.
But the blame does not rest entirely on writers, the professor says. “From the late 990s up to the present, a great number of people put literature aside, often forgetting it altogether.”
Nowadays, Zhang says the most popular books are those that have practical use. China does not have a best-sellers list, but a survey of Xinhua Book Stores shows it is economics books, computer textbooks, dictionaries and memoirs that are flying off the shelves.
“There are so many problems these days. Who has time to read? And the people whose lives are more comfortable, they just want to be entertained,” Zhang says.
Yang is aware of this situation, but he remains optimistic. “This is understandable. People are bound to pay more attention to practical things during a period of rapid development,” he says. “Once a person’s basic needs are met, I believe the apprtion for literature will return.”
Market for literature
What does the future hold for post-80s writers and contemporary Chinese literature?
Professor Zhang says the answer lies in the basic law of supply and demand. “W need a market for literature,” he says.
Zhang says the profit-driven publishing industry only cares about publicity; publishers are also more likely to cater to subjects of general interest. “The overall quality of boos is declining. It used to take a year to write, edit and publish a book. Now, many books are ready in one to two months,” he says.
“Though the market generates a lot of trash and problems, this is a necessary start” trehabilitating the industry, he says. Readers need to be taught what good literature is and playing by the rules of the market is the only way to bring back readers’ interest in good literature, the professor says.
Zhang points out that domestic recognition alone is not enough for a revival of Chinese literature. China’s soft power may have increased in recent years, but the country is still struggling to make a mark in the world literry scene. In 2008, China published 6.9 billion copies of 275,000 new titles. Among them, only a few dozen will see foreign language editions.
“Contemporary Chinese literature remains unknown outside the country,” Zhangays. “We should also win global readers’ attention.”
It seems a literary revival starts with people choosing words over money.