TV series adapted from winning literary works depicts kindness of Chinese people

改编自获奖文学作品的电视剧描述了中国人的善良

 

 

A Lifelong Journey, the latest TV series adapted from writer Liang Xiaosheng's novel In the World is set to be aired on China's state TV channel, CCTV and streaming site iQIYI as from Friday. Starring actors Lei Jiayin, Song Jia, and Yin Tao, the epic series produced by Tencent Pictures follows a story spanning over 50 years of three siblings from a peasant family, and focuses on how their life changes amid social changes taken place in China through the decades.

 

改编自作家梁晓声小说《人世间》的最新电视剧《人世间》将于周五在中国国家电视台、中央电视台和流媒体网站爱奇艺播出。由腾讯影业出品，由雷佳音、宋佳、殷桃主演的史诗级电视剧，讲述了一个农民家庭的三个兄弟姐妹50多年来的故事，重点讲述了他们的生活在中国几十年来的社会变迁中发生的变化。

 

 

Painting a picture of ordinary Chinese people living in the changing times, the novel won the writer Liang, the 10th Mao Dun Literary Award, one of China's top literary awards. Millions of people have been touched by the family's story, revealing and reacquainting readers with what lies deep in their hearts.

 

这部小说描绘了生活在变化时代的普通中国人的生活，为梁晓声赢得了中国最高文学奖项之一的第十届茅盾文学奖。这个家庭的故事感动了无数人，它向读者揭示和重新认识了他们内心深处的东西。

 

In the play, whether Zhou Bingyi's ideal, Zhou Rong's enthusiasm or Zhou Bingkun's simplicity, all let the audience see the strength of the family.

 

在剧中，不论是周秉义的理想、周蓉的热情还是周秉昆的质朴，都让观众看到了家庭的力量。

 

Although Zhou Bingkun looks like the one with the least "promise", among the three, he is the one who contributes the most to his family.

 

虽然周秉昆看起来像是最没有“出息”的那一个，但三人当中，他是对家庭贡献最多的那个人。

 

编剧王海鸰还说，“我们社会价值体系中，习惯于认可‘塔尖’上的人，会忽视普通人。周秉昆是普通人，他势必要受这些社会价值体系的影响，对比他的兄长和姐姐，他就会觉得自己没出息。但他质朴善良可爱，也是为家庭，为长辈和妻儿付出最多的人。很了不起。” 

 

原著《人世间》是一部横贯50年的中国家庭“史诗”，从中国万千小家庭的变迁史中，年轻一代得以窥见我们国家是如何从一穷二白，发展成一个富强繁荣的大国。

 

时代一直在变化，但中国人的“真善美”却从没变过。

Translating such a series of stories to the small screen had been a challenge for veteran script writer Wang Hailing, who has a string of popular TV series under her belt. "To be honest, it is very difficult as it needs far more enhanced dramatic settings," Wang told the Global Times in a phone interview. "The lives of the three brothers are akin to telling the story of a small family.? But when we consider the bigger picture, the country itself is made up of millions of such small families. I wanted to present it from both the macro and micro perspectives." 

According to Cheng Wu, producer of A Lifelong Journey, a deep sense of "responsibility" inspired him? to produce the best adaptation of the work interpreted from Liang's novel. "We hope to unite the best creative sources for a masterpiece incorporating the realistic theme with both ratings and social influence," he said.

这部年代剧是根据作家梁晓声茅盾文学奖同名小说改编的。电视剧从周家三代人的视角，描绘了他们近五十年时间内所经历的生活变迁，进而折射出中国翻天覆地的社会大变迁。

It tells the story of three siblings from a working-class family in northern China over the course of 50 years. With their personal ups and downs, the novel also reviews some of the country's development and changes, such as resumption of the gaokao (the national college entrance exam) in 1977 and reform and opening-up in 1978.

A scene from the TV drama A Lifelong Journey shows three generations of a family in Northeast China celebrating Spring Festival by making dumplings. [China Daily]

 

The year is 1969 in China's Northeast. When Zhou Zhigang, a construction worker, is dispatched to engage in a large-scale infrastructure project in Southwest China, his eldest son and daughter become zhiqing, a term referring to educated youth sent to the countryside, leaving the youngest son and his mother at home.

 

Focusing on the ups and downs of Zhou's family over five decades, realistic drama A Lifelong Journey has been a huge hit on TV and online, evoking nostalgia among many viewers, especially those born in the 1960s. It premiered on China Central Television and streaming platform iQiyi on Jan 28.

 

Rated 8.1 points out of 10 by more than 47,000 users on review platform Douban by Monday, many viewers describe the show as a time machine to drift into the past, reflecting how we got here.

 

Adapted from Liang Xiaosheng's award-winning novel of the same name, the 58-episode show explores themes of family, friendship and romance in a bittersweet story. Given that A Lifelong Journey is set in the 1960s, it's not surprising that the family has to deal with lots of social changes and turmoil, like the resumption of gaokao (the national college entrance exam), the country's reform and opening-up, the zeal for xiahai ("jumping into the sea" or becoming self-employed in private business) and the nation's anti-graft campaign.

 

"China has witnessed dramatic changes over the past five decades and it is time to create such a drama to remember the bygone times," the show's director Li Lu says. The 56-year-old director became well-known for his anti-corruption series In the Name of the People that was released in 2017.

 

With questions about happiness and father-son relationships still at the forefront of discussions today, Li says he hopes that A Lifelong Journey can stand the test of time.

梁晓声：关注他者命运 影响世道人心

Liang Xiaosheng: Show Compassion for Others and Appeal to Human Conscience

作者：陈耀辉

来源：吉林日报

Source: Jilin Daily Date: 2020-06-20 

译文转自：国务院参事室、中央文史研究馆

 

他与共和国同龄，他首开知青文学创作的先河，为历史做文化补偿，为时代树精神丰碑。以沁润广原厚土的笔墨，雕琢那些具体而微无名又无姓的角色，为天地解说人性，为大众探索命运。眼光冷峻，观照人世。笔端火热，描绘家国。

Liang was born in the same year when the People’s Republic of China was founded. A pioneer in writing about the life of “sent-down youths”, he recounts history in literary works and celebrates the legacy of the bygone days. His stories cut out clear contours of the life of nobodies in the vastness of the plains in northeast China. He explains what connects us all as human beings and ponders on every turn life makes. The insight is sharp and the compassion is real. 

 

1949年9月，梁晓声出生在哈尔滨一个建筑工人家庭。在那个生活逼仄、知识还不是很受重视的时代，母亲却为他打造并维护了一座堡垒，守护了他的精神原乡。梁晓声说，在读书这件事上，母亲对他们是“绝对的好”，就像那篇被选入中小学语文课本的小说《母亲》的片段《慈母情深》一样，对于让他去买家用后剩下的几分钱，母亲总是说“你留着吧！”于是，梁晓声就拿着钱去小人书铺看书了。一次，他想买一本法捷耶夫的《青年近卫军》，下了很大的决心才鼓起勇气去找母亲要钱。母亲在一家工厂做纺织工，天气闷热，棉絮飞舞，他第一次知道原来母亲在这样恶劣的条件下工作，一时难以启齿。母亲说：“什么事说吧，我还要干活。”“我想买书！”母亲的工友听到，纷纷劝她不能这样惯孩子，能供他读书就已经很好了。但母亲边掏钱边说“读书反正不是什么坏事。”拿到钱的他心里愧疚也沉重，就拿这笔钱给母亲买了罐头。没想到母亲看到他买的罐头反而生气了，然后又给了钱让他去买书。

In September 1949, Liang was born to the family of a construction worker in the city of Harbin. Circumstances were tough and knowledge was valued. But Liang was sheltered by his mother in a different world, where he was always encouraged to spend the remaining pennies left from purchasing daily necessities on books. Her mother was like the heroine described in an excerpt from the novel Mother in the Chinese language textbook for elementary and secondary schools. One day, the young Liang had his eyes on The Young Guards by Alexander Alexandrovich Fadeyev and mustered his courage to go to his mother for the money. He found her working in suffocating heat with cotton fibers flying all about in a spinning factory. Struck by the poor working conditions, which he only found out at that time, the young Liang could not make his request. She said to him, “Don’t hold your tongue. Just say it and let me get on with my work.” “I was hoping to buy a book.” Hearing this, the co-workers of his mother all advised her not to spoil the child. They said keeping him in school was already good enough. But Liang’s mother reached into her pocket and replied, “It’s not a bad thing for him to like books.” With a heavy heart, Liang didn’t spend the money on the book but instead bought his mother canned food. Little did he expect that his mother was angry to see the canned food and gave him a few pennies again for the book he wanted. 

 

文字是轻的，思想是重的，除了这些有字的书，还有人生这本无字书。有些人即使是文盲，但也会懂得很多为人处世的基本道理，这就是源于家庭的影响。父母是最朴素的人文，一个人所经受的那种直接而感性的生活教育，淳朴的家风、民风和世风，对后期的长成也大有裨益。

What truly shapes people is not the words in a book, but the philosophy behind them, which is found not only in books, but also in real life. That is why some understand very well the truths about life yet remain illiterate. They learn from their family, from the way they were brought up by their parents. And this could be a lasting source of inspiration throughout one’s lifetime. 

 

古人云：“一家仁，一国兴仁；一家让，一国兴让。”梁晓声说起他的家庭教育，在那个并无丰厚文化底蕴的家庭里，真正意义上白纸黑字的家风家训无从谈起。但父母却以身率先，用朴素的行动，潜移默化地影响着他的一生。

According to ancient Chinese wisdom, benevolence and humility must start from families before it can reach the whole nation. Recalling his upbringing, Liang said his parents, though not much of a man and woman of letters themselves, set the tone for his life with their own examples. 

 

梁晓声的父亲是个刚强的山东汉子，十几岁闯关东落户在东北，兼具了山东人的豪爽和东北黑土地的粗犷。从给地主家放牛、摆摊，到给日本人做苦工，再成为新中国的第一代建筑工人，支援大三线建设，党和国家是父亲的信仰和赤诚之心的寄托。他带着光荣感和自豪感，恪尽职守，一丝不苟地砌墙建房。1957年反右派斗争，一位女大学生被打成“右派”分配到父亲所在的工地搬砖，有的工人故意在她挑的担子里放很多的砖，明知道挑不动还故意为难她，看到她哭，工人们就笑。作为班长的父亲勃然大怒，对工人们进行斥责，但后来父亲却受到批评，因为别人认为父亲的政治态度和立场有问题。父亲回家后告诫梁晓声：“你以后敢那样，我就不认你这个儿子！”这件事对梁晓声的影响很大，他感受到父亲的善良，他知道这样做是不对的，所以父亲才那样的生气。时至今日，他想起这段故事，也发出这样的箴言，从文明的角度我们需要关注的就是人性的善，从人性本善、向善，到人性应善、必善。

Liang’s father was a man of strong-character from China’s Shandong Province. In his teenage years, he left Shandong for the northeast to make a life of his own. In him, one finds both the straightforwardness of a Shandong local and the toughness of a northeasterner. He herded cows for landlords, worked as a street vendor, sold hard labor to the Japanese, and when the New China was founded, he became one of China’s earliest construction workers. He was firm in his belief in the Party and the country, laying bricks and building houses with pride and a sense of great honor and duty. 

 

在梁晓声的小说《父亲》里面，一开头就写着这样一句话：“父亲的生活原则——万事不求人。”这不仅是父亲的原则，同时也成为了梁晓声的生活信条。父亲就是这样一个硬邦邦的存在，不抱怨也不向生活妥协，爱惜清誉不追逐名利。1963年，梁晓声的哥哥考上大学，他也就读初中，用母亲的话说，全家天天都在“吃”父亲，一个三级抹灰工的汗水显然无法支撑一个大家庭的开销。父亲单位工会的领导主动到家里探望，建议父亲打报告申请工会的补助，以缓解家中的困难，但父亲都把机会留给了别人。

Liang’s novel Father opened with this line, “Never ask for favors--this is a golden rule in my father’ life.” Liang himself inherited this principle. To him, his father was a source of strength: he does not complain about or bow to the pressure of life; he jealously protects his reputation and would not go after fame and wealth. In 1963, when Liang’s brother was admitted into university and Liang himself was a secondary school student, expenditures increased and his father, a plasterer, was the only source of income. He was taking on more than he could support. Union leaders at his company would visit their family and encourage him to seek special allowances from the union. But Liang’s father always saved the opportunity for his co-workers. 

 

父亲的言传身教，似乎化作基因也“遗传”给了梁晓声，因此他从没有为自己的事情向任何人和单位张口要求过什么，哈尔滨的弟弟妹妹下岗，别人建议梁晓声去找同学战友谈谈，但是他回绝了，他可以为正义为帮助普通人去争取、去呐喊，帮助他们走出困顿，但却不可以为自己谋私。

Liang is his father’s son. He never asked for favors for himself. When his little brother and sister lost their jobs, he was advised by a friend to pull some strings with his former schoolmates and comrades in the military. But he refused. For Liang, it is his duty to fight and speak for the voiceless and help them battle the difficulties in life; but it is a no-no to seek his personal gains. 

 

“积善之家必有余庆。”母亲就像家里的一盏明灯，而灯芯便是良善，照亮了孩子们的天地。当年为了补贴家用，家里曾养过兔子，但是野猫经常会把兔子吃掉，所以父亲就下了一个钢丝套子捉野猫。一天，正吃饭的时候，一只大野猫被套住吊在了木围栏上。野猫拼命地挣扎，把木栅栏都挠烂了。母亲动了恻隐之心去解救它。在剧烈的挣扎下，野猫不仅抓烂了母亲的衣服，也在母亲的胸前挠出了一条条血道子。那时没有别的药品，只能去别人家借一点儿紫药水抹一抹。母亲毫无怨言，为救下了一条生命而欣慰。善心如水，母亲曾帮助过许多人，邻居家的小女孩、哥哥的初中同学，亦或是不相识的讨饭老人……这些善行也传递给了梁晓声——一辈子做一个心地善良的人。

A family must be kind to be happy. Liang’s mother was the lamp that lit the house and kindness was her wick. To put food on the table in the tough days, the family raised rabbits but was troubled by a stray cat that always preyed on the furry creatures. Liang’s father made a steel-wired trap. One day when they were eating at the table, a big cat was caught. It fought desperately and made a mess of the wood fences. Liang’s mother was very sympathetic and tried to free the cat. Her shirt was torn and her chest was scratched by the cat when she was helping it out of the trap. Without any medicine at home, they had to ask for some gentian violet from a neighbor. But she was happy for saving a life. All those years, seeing her mother giving a helping hand to neighbors, classmates of his siblings, and even strangers begging for food, Liang was determined to be a kind person himself. 

 

“根植于内心的修养，无需提醒的自觉，以约束为前提的自由，为别人着想的善良。”这是梁晓声对“文化”的理解。

Patience from the bottom of the heart, self-awareness without warnings from others, freedom within boundaries, and a heart for others--this is how Liang defines a cultured man. 

 

20世纪80年代，梁晓声长期的文学积淀迎来了爆发期，《这是一片神奇的土地》《今夜有暴风雪》《雪城》接二连三，多次获奖，并被陆续拍成电影和电视剧。《今夜有暴风雪》更是成为了“知青小说”里程碑式的作品。回到历史的端点，展现一段真实的岁月，照见逝去的时代，也照见不会逝去的情感，他的笔墨刻画了浓浓的英雄情结和时代担当，影响并感动了整整一代人。

The 1980s was a prolific time for him. His works, This is a Magical Land, Snowstorm is Coming Tonight, Snow City, came out one after another, winning awards and being adapted into movies and TV series. Snowstorm is Coming Tonight was regarded as a milestone piece in the literary works about “sent-down youths”. Liang ventured back into the passing days to present a real and rich picture of the life, emotions, heroism and sense of mission that characterized the special period in China’s history, opening the heart of a whole generation.

 

对于这一阶段的文学创作，梁晓声的评价就是“值得”。“文革”结束后，原本稳固的兵团框架突然解体，知青返城成为一个重大的社会问题。从城市到乡村，再从乡村返回城市，知青们用青春亲吻着土地和人民，他们挑战着命运，也思索着时代。“为知青代言”，成了梁晓声写作的初衷。知青返城就需要找工作，但是城里并没有那么多的岗位安顿下这么多的知青。并且当时很多人对知青有着不同的看法，对接收他们并不热心。梁晓声用作品为他们发声。他用文字呐喊的影响达到了目的，当时很多单位在招聘的时候都说，“只要是兵团的我都要！”因为兵团的知青们历经了磨砺和锤炼，所以心理成熟，并且富有强烈的责任感。事实证明梁晓声是正确的。在他看来，文学对影响世道人心的使命，具有责无旁贷的义务，一个作家能实现这样的价值是远远超过其作品在文学史上获得什么样的评价和成就的。

He said his hard work “was worthwhile”. As the cultural revolution was brought to an end, the army formations that defined the youths began to disband. Young men and women left the villages for their home cities; many social issues emerged. From cities to the countryside and now back home, the young people gave their youthful energy to farming life and the people. They challenged their destiny and were reflecting on the times. Becoming a spokesperson for “sent-down youths” was what first prompted Liang to pick up the pen and write. These young people needed jobs in the cities; but opportunities were scarce and prejudice was prevalent. Liang spoke on their behalf and his voice reached those making employment decisions. Many employers embraced former members of military formations because they were believed to be more mature and responsible as a result of their tough life. Liang was proven right. He sees it as an inherent mission of literature to appeal to the kindness and justice in human nature. Fulfilling this mission is far more important for writers than a few literary awards and some favorable critiques. 

 

在创作了大量的知青题材作品后，梁晓声将笔触聚焦在了平民阶层，去发现那些困难群体的艰辛和善意。他在自己的许多作品中表达了对社会问题同步的关注和思考，“关注现实、反映现实，这是一种使命和责任，这种使命和责任简单来说就是关注他者的命运”，对于梁晓声来说，这种理念也贯穿他的文字始终，立足平凡，直指人心，有道义有担当，有筋骨有温度。

Liang later turned his attention to the wider population, writing about the challenges and good nature of the ordinary Chinese. In many works, he conveyed his concern for social issues and shared his reflections. It is his mission and duty to focus on and present reality. Simply put, it is a concern for others. This is the underlying philosophy of his writing: to look at the unremarkable, to look into human hearts, to be moral and responsible, to be strong and caring. 

 

“我觉得这是一种责任。”以35岁为界，梁晓声在其后的创作中将目光转向“他者”，从《龙年1988》《九三断想》到《凝视九七》，再到1997年的《中国社会各阶层分析》，梁晓声带着广博的悲悯情怀和强烈的社会关怀意识，用笔触参与社会时评，用良知为时代谏言。

“I think this is my duty.” At the age of 35, Liang diverted his pen to write about “others”. In a string of works, Dragon Year 1988, Reflections on 1993, Gaze at 1997, and Analysis of China’s Social Classes in 1997, he commented on the social life and made appeals with compassion and care. 

 

2019年8月，承载着“五十年中国百姓生活史”的长篇小说《人世间》荣获第十届茅盾文学奖。70岁的梁晓声，重新回到一个原点上，以最大的纯粹性，去实现一个文学夙愿，去记录时代变迁中的人们，去发现每一扇门后面的故事。梁晓声一直在倡导现实主义题材创作，他给自己的定位就是“拾遗补缺”，以文字的形式，使当代的年轻人跨越时间去发现那些被传记遗漏的历史。在“上山下乡”的年代知青多是长子长女，哥哥姐姐都下乡了，弟弟妹妹们留城，但在文学画廊中却很少有人描摹这样一部分在城市中生活的群体，他们也有经历和反思，这是一种“缺”；像父亲这样的大三线工人、20世纪80年代摆脱“左”的束缚后反思的干部和知识分子、打破壁垒各阶级的人相互接触的现象等等，这都是一种“缺”；文学史上写农村题材的比较多，但纯粹写城市、写工人、写普通人的题材相对较少，关注不同群体的经历，去补全中国迢递走来的路径，这也是他拾遗补缺的想法。把那些人和事从沉寂的时间中打捞出来，对朴素的记忆重新整合提炼，形成对世界的另一种解释，使人看到历史更多元的侧面。

In August 2019, his novel In The World, hailed as a brilliant record of the ordinary Chinese life over the past 50 years, won the 10th Mao Dun Literary Award. The 70-year old Liang drew up a picture of ordinary Chinese living with the changing times and looked behind doors for the real stories. Returning to ground zero, he set out to realize his literary ideals with the utmost honesty. Realistic writing is his calling. He sees his works as filling in the gaps of history uncovered by chronicles, to inform today’s younger generation about the past. In those days when youths were sent to the countryside, it was always the oldest child of a family who left while the younger ones stayed. Literature makes little mention of these younger brothers and sisters. Their experience and reflections is a gap. There are others: the workers like Liang’s father, the government workers and intellectuals who were freed from the tethers of a leftist movement, interactions between people from different social strata. There have been many works about life in the countryside, but few about the cities, workers, and ordinary people. Liang wishes to look deeper into the experience of different groups to complete an account of how the whole of China has traveled its journey. He digs out personal stories from forgotten times, distills information from crude memories and arranges it in way that makes sense of the world and our history in its various facets.

 

《人世间》通过对一个工人家庭的三个子女，周秉昆、周蓉、周秉义及其周围朋友四五十年的人生历程的展示，在坎坷人世间所构建出的温暖维度，来透视50年来中国社会的发展变迁，这其中既有中国社会发展的“光荣与梦想”，也直面了改革开放进程的艰难和复杂。总体而言，这是一部充满理想主义的小说，也是一部向现实主义致敬的作品，同时也在向20世纪80年代的文学致敬。文学应担负起人道主义的教育，这是梁晓声一直以来思索的问题，铺陈人性,叩问人心。

In the World tells the story over 50 years of three siblings from a worker’s family, Zhou Bingkun, Zhou Rong, and Zhou Bingyi, and their friends. The life they built for themselves crystallizes the social changes in China in the past five decades. One finds in it the difficulties and complicated realities as well as the glory and dreams. It is full of idealism, and yet a nod to realism and the style of literary writing in the 1980s. To Liang, the most important question for literature is humanity education, revealing and bringing humans back to what lies deep in their heart.

 

 

综合整理自网络，侵权立删。