The first Chinese citizen ever to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mo Yan has become the talk of the nation, with feature spreads in the newspapers and buzz on the Internet.
“It is good news. It proves that contemporary Chinese writers and literature has attracted world attention.” Wang Meng, a prestigious writer, told CCTV. “His win will be an uplifting encouragement to those who love writing.”
“Mo Yan’s acquisition of the Nobel Prize in Literature will surely afford a golden opportunity for Chinese literature and culture to go global, and allow more people to know China and its culture.” said 朔阿云 in Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like social network in China.
Many Internet users, however, admitted that they did not know of Mo until the surprising news arrived, partly because of his low-key stance before the public. This may be best explained by his name Mo Yan(莫言), which literally means “Don’t speak”.
Some believe that his win may provide a much-needed bolster to ailing Chinese literature, but they have also warned that the society has to remain cool-headed. With the growing significance of digital entertainments and other distractions, fewer people are reading books today while online writers are in abundance, often producing poor-quality mass-entertainment.
“Mo Yan’s win belongs to himself and it is a recognition of his penetrating portrayal of human nature and existence. There is no need to equate his win with national development and literary prosperity... China still has a long way to go in creating literary prosperity,” said Yang Lan, a well-known talk show hostess and businesswoman, on her Weibo account.
“It doesn’t mean that Chinese literature is at the top of the world if a Chinese writer wins the prize; it doesn’t mean that Chinese literature has no place in the global literature field if no Chinese writer wins. The significance of Mo Yan’s win lies in its renewal of China’s social attention on literature. For the other writers, the biggest question is what they should write to help them qualify as a writer,” said a comment in the newspaper, The Beijing News.
By Xu Xinlei
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