New Beijingers

"Writing must begin somewhere. A place." — Sherwood Anderson "You need to imagine Beijing. Beijing will satisfy your imagination; even if it doesn't yet have what you envision, it will respond to your imagination and grow what you envision. We all originate from imagination." — Xichuan "In this vast city, there are no more than ten people who know my name and can accurately pronounce it." — Guo Shuang "I don't believe words can change my life. I'm used to making a living by hard labor." — Fan Yusu What kind of city is Beijing? No one has a perfect answer to this question. This series, "Single Reading," attempts to be one of the countless answers. We invite Chinese writers to contribute to the same theme, offering a slice of the story, a few opinions, and attempting to capture the subtle, mysterious, and unknown atmosphere of this unique city.
The story of a city is, ultimately, the story of its people. This includes both the heroes who shape the times and the vast majority of people living in migration and silence. None of these should be ignored. It is in this sense that Beijing can be said to hold the secrets of the turning points of world history and the transformation of Chinese society.
As Nishikawa, a contributing writer for the magazine "Single Reading," observes, "A city where ghosts and the living coexist is more lyrical than one filled with the walking dead." Historical imaginations and ghosts are resurrected in this city, and the most literal underlying realities are revealed. These diverse stories, layered one upon another, form a complex fabric. It requires a wealth of historical knowledge, literary sensibilities, and everyday experience to peel them away from the walls, achieving a certain level of understanding and reconciliation, while leaving endless room for future interpretation.
◎Editor's Recommendation
1. The works of the Pi Village Migrant Workers Literature Group are collected for the first time. This issue of "Single Reading" specially invites fellow workers Wei Chen, Guo Fulai, Ma Dayong, Xiao Hai, Li Ruo, Fan Yusu, Chen Diqiao, Wan Huashan, Xu Liangyuan and others to contribute. They recount their journeys from their hometowns to Beijing, as well as the daily lives and politics of migrant workers. They frankly express their silence and wandering, as well as their complex emotions towards their hometowns, Pi Village, and urban life represented by Beijing.
2. Rewriting Beijing: This unique city explores its prosperity and sorrow, reality and imagination, past and future—renowned poet Xi Chuan, young author Xiao Yu, film critic Kai Yin, artist Qiu Zhen, and editor-in-chief Wu Qi each share their perspectives on Beijing.
3. Exclusive interview with philosopher Chen Jiaying – Chen Jiaying is known as “the closest thing to a philosopher in the Chinese world.” This interview details how he understands the logical connection between ancient Greek thought and our daily lives.
4. "Dan Du" publishes a play for the first time. Following her hit play "The Great Master," media personality and cultural critic Li Jing presents "Qin Comedy," excerpts from which are featured in this issue. Through a historical allegory, it directly addresses the absurdity of human nature.
5. I recommend Uzbek writer Hamid Ismailov for the first time - he writes about the fantastic life of a mixed-race person in the Moscow subway.
6. One Way Space and Ideal Country continue to work together to create beloved books for intellectual young people and a source of global youth thought - young writers Sheng Keyi and Zhou Jianing, the first prize winner of the 7th Chinese Film and Novel Award Guo Shuang, former editor-in-chief of "Tiannan" magazine Ou Ning, British writer Wang Bang, book reviewers Yun Yetui and Holly Case will publish readable and thoughtful essays and book reviews in this series of "Single Reading", sharing their global observations and hometown experiences.
◎ Recommended by experts:
Xu Zhiyuan, co-founder of One Way Space: "I've co-edited many magazines that were aborted, and the vitality of Dandu often amazes me. Because it continues to attract young and outstanding people, I believe it will continue to exist for a long time and with great resilience."
A Yi, writer: "Dan Du offers an aesthetic that is intellectual, rational, yet not cold. It is a magazine that appeals to young people. It makes its readers young and motivated."
Guo Yujie, Editor-in-Chief of Noon and the first Editor-in-Chief of One Way Street, said, "The past decade or so has been a time when people's minds have been rapidly changing with technology, and when everything has been imperceptibly decaying. Living in this era requires agility to adapt to change while maintaining a persistent resolve; this is a necessary principle. Looking back on the founding of One Way Street (the predecessor of Single Reading), it was this agility, and even more so, persistence, that saved it from fleeting passion, allowing it to develop its own trajectory through time and offer a depth of reflection."
Qin Liwen, a veteran media professional, said, "Writing for Dan Du has always been the most wonderful thing. It's like having a conversation with an all-knowing soulmate, standing on the long shared tradition of the world to care for humanity's present and future. Its elegant inclusiveness and richness have fostered a new style in my writing. Magazines that still uphold the intellectual traditions of the Enlightenment are becoming increasingly rare, just like stars gradually fading in the night sky. For me, among the sparse and shining stars of humanity, Dan Du is already the most dazzling one in the Chinese world."
Yu Wei, co-founder of One Way Space, said, "If this small magazine, Single Reading, has any ambition, it is to be like The New York Review of Books, attracting the country's most brilliant minds, encouraging independent thinking and rational criticism, never abandoning the responsibility of humanistic intellectuals, and pursuing first-class textual expression. This goal is far from being achieved, and perhaps it will never be achieved, so we can only keep going."
Su Jing, editor-in-chief of Zhiri and the first publisher of One-Way Street, said, "In the blink of an eye, the magazine and book called One-Way Street was renamed Single Reading and even had its own app of the same name. The One-Way Calendar has become a rare success story for cultural and creative products in recent years. One-Way Street Bookstore has also gone from being a completely idealistic company to a mainstream commercial company. And throughout this process, it has maintained its idealism, which is in any case gratifying. To this day, I am sincerely happy that I was able to participate in the founding and publication of One-Way Street magazine and book."

2018-01-01

台海出版社

Single Reading

464

9787516816479