Attachment 1: Preface to "Papaya Pattern"
On the other side of the vast East China Sea, we are our neighbors with only a strip of water. For a long time, many people have almost no idea what amazing stories and unforgettable moments have happened in the Land of the Rising Sun. Even from the world history textbooks in our hands, we only know a few words about the Meiji Restoration. The most talked about ones are from the humiliation of Sino-Japanese War to the helplessness of Port Arthur to the heart-rending pain of World War II.
We only know that the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" cut off the treasure island of Taiwan, but we don't know that all the 20,000 taels of "reparations" were used by the Japanese government to develop education; we only know that if Deng Shichang invaded Yoshino It would have been great if the cannon wasn't a dud, but they didn't know that Emperor Meiji only ate one rice ball a day, saved money, and devoted all his efforts to supporting the renewal of the Japanese navy. Going forward, we only know that Wei Yuan's "Hai Guo Tu Zhi" was scorned by the Chinese, but we don't know that Luoyang paper was expensive as soon as it was introduced to Japan. Even in the future, during that inhumane war of aggression, how many Chinese people knew that countless Japanese Communist Party members engaged in anti-war activities were brutally murdered; how many Chinese people still remember the Japanese Anti-War League that was active in North China? , they returned to China after the war, and even though they were ostracized by the government and the right wing and lived a life of poverty, they remained committed to their choice until death.
Only by knowing ourselves and the enemy can we win every battle. We know almost nothing about the people on the other side of the sea, but on the contrary, they know us well. From the Hundred Schools of Thought to Tang Poetry and Song Ci to the Four Great Classics, their academic research is even deeper than ours; Sima Ryotaro's "Liu Bang and Xiang Yu" and Inoue Yasushi's "Dunhuang" can see through the back of the paper more clearly than we do about our own history. Japanese children can read the heroic deeds of One Lu, Two Zhao, Three Dianwei, Four Levels, Five Horses and Six Zhang Fei, but many of our college graduates who are crowded in the talent market have not even read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
When it comes to the Japanese, the first thing that Chinese people think of is the little devils, and then they learn their culture from ours. Finally, experts and scholars point out that the ancestors of the Japanese were those who crossed eastward with Xu Fu. One hundred boys and girls. For a long time, we have regarded ourselves as a celestial dynasty, showing off our Great Wall to the world again and again, and showing off our Qin, Han, Wu, Tang, and Song ancestors to the world. But what can our Chinese dynasty do now in front of the little devils, in front of the students, in front of our "descendants"? We have neither Konosuke Matsushita nor Yasunari Kawabata.
Every country and every nation in the world is equal. This is beyond doubt. The history of our Chinese nation has many things to be proud of. Similarly, other countries and nations also have their outstanding features. Hundreds of years ago, many of us did not know about Peter the Great, Garibaldi, and Bolivar. We had not even heard of Watt, Faraday, and Darwin. As a result, others used the gunpowder that we were proud of to blow open our homes. Hundreds of years later, even though people took the initiative to open the door of the country in a friendly manner and learned the ins and outs of the development of the world from the books in their hands, they still dreamed of a great power in the world.
The older generation always likes to tell the next generation about the five thousand years of splendid glory of ancient China in a arrogant and solemn manner, but inadvertently makes them mistakenly believe that modern China is The hundred years of being bullied was just an accident, a taboo history. Many young people are subconsciously firmly occupied by the idea that China has everything, and they have no idea that humiliation in modern history is inevitable. By extension, the only thing we feel about the War of Resistance Against Japan is the irresponsible hatred that our compatriots were massacred. Who has seriously thought about why we were invaded? Why can't we defeat the invaders? Why are we so weak and willing to be slaughtered? China has never been short of pioneers who opened their eyes to the world, but in the midst of changes unseen in three thousand years, there are too many people dreaming of the great dream of the Celestial Empire.
What many of us lack is an open mind and an open mind. Looking at the world for five thousand years, closed countries will always be enslaved, while open countries can prosper. Isn’t it true that we rely on the guidance of Marxism to achieve national independence and national prosperity? It is precisely on the basis of continuous learning from powerful countries that Japan can achieve the comprehensive development of science and technology and culture today. If we still hold on to the things of our ancestors and do not humbly absorb and learn from the achievements of other civilizations in the world, we will only be at odds with other countries first in spirit, then in art, then in education, and finally in society. In terms of sustainable development, the gap is getting wider and wider.
The country’s openness is based on people’s openness, and people’s openness is directly reflected in art, especially literature and art. In the world, it is not uncommon for writers to use characters outside their own country as the protagonists of their works, such as Hugo's "Cromwell", Romain Rolland's "Three Lives of Giants", and Yasushi Inoue's "Confucius" and "Yang Guifei". These writers transcend national boundaries and present the historical figures of other countries they are familiar with to their compatriots from an objective and fair perspective, so that their deeds, their voices, and their spirits can be known to more people. favorite. These works not only provide reference for the countries where the writers live, but are also a useful form of exchanges among world civilizations.
Unfortunately, this common phenomenon is rare in our country.
Yes, we have a cultural heritage of five thousand years, and there is too much history worth recalling. Even all the books published now cannot fully display it to the world. But when we have reinterpreted the story of "A Dream of Red Mansions" two or three hundred times, who still pays attention to the equally wonderful "The Tale of Genji" on the island across from us? The world is connected, and every country and nation has its own history and characters that the world can be proud of.
As a person who dreams of becoming a writer, my debut novel does not choose the Chinese history that I am familiar with and love as its subject matter, but takes readers into the Warring States Period of Japan, which is no less important than the Three Kingdoms of my country. In an era of troubled times, get to know a figure who is a household name throughout Japan - Oda Nobunaga.
In ancient Japan, "countries" were used as administrative regional units, which are equivalent to our provinces today, and the princes who ruled these "countries" were called "daimyos". From 1467 AD to 1477 AD, the first year of Onin's reign and the ninth year of civilization, the famous Onin Rebellion occurred in Japan. From then on, gunpowder smoke spread everywhere and wars continued. As a result, the central power headed by the emperor and the shogun declined significantly, the status of ministers became in name only, and the power of the samurai, a class with real combat power, rose sharply.
The phenomenon of samurai fighting against each other continued to spread throughout the country, and Japan officially entered the Warring States Period in which heroes were divided. The protagonist of this book, Oda Nobunaga, started his incredible life in such an era where strength speaks for itself.
Oda Nobunaga is a first-class strange man in Japan. Starting from the humble country of Owari, he gradually expanded his power, entered Kyoto, and held the emperor in power to command the princes. Too many miracles have happened to him, and he has repeatedly defeated the weak and survived. He can ignore past grudges and forgive those who betrayed him; he can break the concept of family status and promote slaves to retainers; he can dare to be the first to use a large number of muskets and cannons that have just been introduced and have immature technology on the battlefield... His willful and reckless character has also made him one of the most controversial figures in Japan.
However, no matter what, Oda Nobunaga’s heroic life had too many tragic deeds. The love between husband and wife, the love between brother and sister, and the righteousness between king and minister are all so touching; the flash of swords, strategizing, intrigues, and every plan are so exciting. Oda Nobunaga fully embodies the bravery and wisdom of the Japanese. His perseverance and pioneering spirit are enough to set an example for the world. Understanding Oda Nobunaga, we will have a clearer, more objective and more comprehensive understanding of our neighbor on the other side of the East China Sea, a narrow strip of water.
My book is not a historical biography, and it is impossible to restore history 100%. However, I will try my best to show Oda Nobunaga, the most influential figure in Japan, to readers in the form of a novel, and use this as an opportunity to let us get to know our neighbor on the other side again.
Appendix 2: Table of Contents of "Papaya Pattern"
Part One:
Sons of Troubled Times
Confrontation in Different Courts
< p>The Ignorant BoyOwari Idiot
Childhood
The Viper's Daughter
Herald's Curtain Call
Inheritance House Governor
Meeting with Zhengde
Changing circumstances
Unifying the homeland
A storm is coming
The building is in danger< /p>
Lightning and thunder
The sudden emergence
Cheongshu alliance
Omi Eagle
Fortress building storm
A Night in Sumama
Guide to Meinong
Intrigues
The dust has settled
Where to go
The world Bu Wu
Appendix 3: Evaluation
Before reading the novel "Papaya Pattern" (published by Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House) by Hunan author Li Zhen, I can say that I am very satisfied with the author and this novel. The novel knows nothing about it. And when I read this novel and learned that it was the work of a 23-year-old college graduate, I couldn't help but feel a little surprised. A young man who has just graduated from college not only writes a novel, but also a long historical novel, and even more surprisingly, a novel that explores the source of the spirit of the Japanese samurai. It should be said that it is very commendable. From the perspective of novel writing, this is also a novel with relatively mature techniques and great reading value.
First of all, the author chose such a field that is quite unfamiliar to ordinary people as the topic, which is a very special adventure in itself. As the author himself said in the preface, many people know nothing about some amazing stories that have happened in Japanese history. But this eastern neighbor knows China and Chinese culture very well. The young author Li Zhen, following the example of Wei Yuan, the Hunan sage who wrote "Pictures of the Sea Country", relied on the concept of knowing oneself and the enemy in order to be victorious in every battle, and began an adventure journey to study and spread the Japanese humanistic spirit by writing novels. It is a commendable and useful attempt.
The most important skill in novels is to create typical characters in typical environments. After reading through Li Zhen's "Papaya Pattern", we believe that the character creation in the novel is successful. The protagonist of the novel is Oda Nobunaga, a strange Japanese man. The era he lived in was the "Warring States Period" after the famous Onin Rebellion in Japanese history. This was the era when the Japanese samurai class was gradually rising.
Oda Nobunaga started from the small and inconspicuous country of Owari, gradually expanded his power, entered Kyoto, and held the emperor in power to command the princes. The author artistically creates a protagonist with rich personality through artistic means such as portrait description, psychological portrayal, and detailed rendering.
From the description of the scene and the interspersed description of customs and culture, we can see that the author has done enough homework. Whether it is the description of life scenes or the description of war scenes, they all show the author's calm demeanor. Especially the control of big scenes shows the author's rich performance skills. The description of customs and culture is also very distinctive.
As a young author's debut novel, this work does have a lot to praise. If the author can pay more attention to the consideration of plot and details, grasp the character logic of the characters more comprehensively and objectively, and pay more attention to the unity of language style, in time, more excellent works will be presented to the world.