Post 80's Literature

A new phenomenon - Post-80's Literature now is now making waves in the Chinese literary world. A group of students born in the 1980s currently monopolises this literary arena, and the Internet has propelled their literary careers.

Bo Bangni, a 25 year girl is one such young writer. She released a prose corpus called Love You As Bongni while still a Sophomore student in university.

"I've been writing for a long time on the internet, I just wrote something about my own feelings on my blog. Then I got famous online, and finally a publishing company asked me to publish a book, so I put together the articles I had written before."

The website really let more and more young students express their own ideas freely; they can also communicate with their readers directly online. Within the past few years, China has registered more than 3,000 literature websites and weblogs, most of them operated by young adults.

They scored millions of student hits. So, Bangni thought, it's the website that lets her write her own stuff.

"I wrote all of the things on the network, and the network is all my own writing. Previously, it was difficult to release an article, nevermind publishing a book. If no one knows of you, why would they give you the chance to publish a book? But now, with the wide spread of the online services, ordinary people can realize their dream of becoming famous writers. They don't have to be professional. All they need is a unique writing style, and the ability to create special articles. The literary journal Buds has also brought groups of young adult writers into the literary loop, through its "New Concept Composition Contest." Han Han is one of the winners prominent in this composition contest.

He shot to fame by publishing a series of novelettes called 'Triple Door' after he won the contest. But he was not a good student in school. He was forced to drop his studies by failing in 7 subjects. When he was asked whether he hated studying, he said:

"I do not hate studying, actually I love studying, what I hate is studying in school, because you cannot learn well in school."

The handset keyboard is a medium of expression for the young writer's rebelliousness and sense of helplessness in the face of China's educational system. It also allows them to give voice to feelings of youthful isolation, confusion and frustration, as well as romance, desire and ambition.

Han Han, was particularly dissatisfied with the teachers in his school. He said :

"The teachers should undergo a special experience; I recommend that every teacher do some chatting on the web."

These post 80's writers are criticized by the public for only chasing commercial interests, lacking any deep thoughts. Faced with such criticism, Bo bangni has her own opinion:

"Many people feel that the post 80s writers pay too much attention to commercial interests, but I don't think so. For me, I started writing just to entertain myself. At first, only according to reader's requests, I collected the most popular articles together and, based on the poll among readers, published a selection of them. And as young writers, we don't need many deep thoughts and profound experiences, we are special for our youth and enthusiasm."

Market promotions have made huge hits of these works by post 80's writers. Besides the Triple Door by Han Han, there are some other successful works like: I Love the Sunshine, by Xu Jia, The Sunflower Lost in 1890 by Zhang Yueran and The Dreamland City by Guo Jingming. Hundreds of thousands of copies have been published.

Heavy Metal, a collection of five 80's-writers prefaced by the famous writer Ma Yuan, has made its way on to the latest best-seller list. Ma Yuan remarks, "Within one week of reading their works, these five young writers have, in my eyes, grown into fully-fledged adults."

The Post-80's Literature genre is clearly influenced by current commercial and fashion trends, some of which may mislead vulnerable young writers, and submerge creative literary minds. While some will necessarily fall by the wayside, the 80's-writers are growing up. No longer mere "catalyzed fruits," they and their works manifest all the indications that satisfactory maturation may be reached - should they persevere with their literary pursuits, of course.