Qingdao-born writers have scored remarkable achievements in creation in 2022. Kaoshan created by Tie Liu, which falls into long-length reportage literature, and Lenghu Shang De Yongbao (Hug along a Cold Lake), a work of children literature written by Yu Xiaotian secured the national supreme award. Additionally, Luori Ye Huihuang (Sunset is Also Glorious), an anthology of prose poems created by Geng Linmang and Jiezi Kezhan (Jiezi Inn) were shortlisted for the eighth Lu Xun Literature Award.

Comprehensively speaking, Qingdao’s literature in 2022 have seen the keen determination to pursue innovation in text experiment, an endless stream of outstanding works of different categories including mystery novels, network literature and sci-fi literature, and a number of great works on ocean, thus leading to a unique style of literature.

Ni Shi Wo De Kuangxiangqu (You Are My Rhapsody), Xueshan Dadi (Snowy Mountain and the Earth) and Zuihou De Nongmingong (The Last Migrant Workers) constitute Yang Zhijun’s trilogy on idealism. The first book takes music as the point of departure, focuses on the history and the status quo of Qingdao’s industry and abounds with Qingdao elements including music, youth and the ocean. Sheng Wenqiang’s books on the ocean are distinctive, including Xie Lue-Jin Zhu Jin Yi (An Encyclopedia of Crabs), a book dedicated to crabs as well as Haiguai Jianshi (History of Sea Monsters), an imaginative book on mystery.

Literature creation in Qingdao in 2022 ranged from non-fictional works, novels to poems and saw an endless stream of significant works. Among them are Ren Yu Hai (Mankind and the Sea) and Chaoyong Xihaian (Tidal Bore on the West Coast) by Xu Chen, Gaodu by Tie Liu, Qiu Suo (Seeking) by Lu Rong, Huanghe Anbian De Shandong Shouzao (Shandong Handicrafts along the Yellow River) by Duo Latu and Pang Chunjie, Shanhai Zuozheng (Testimony of Mountains and Seas) and Jinianbei (Monument) by Zheng Rui, Feichang Ai (Very Love) by Dong Zi, Chaoxi (Tide) by A Zhan, Wei Guo Zheng (Fight for the Country) by Yu Geng, Ruguo Heliu Hui Shuohua (If the River Can Talk) by Ying Zi, Haibian Fangzhichang (A Textile Mill by the Sea) by Zhang Yi, Qiuyue Gaogao Zhao Changcheng (The Great Wall under the Autumn Moon) by Liu Yaohui, Jiu Tian (The Ninth Heaven) by Yu Xiaotian, Cunzhuang Biji (Notes in Villages) by Li Linfang and Cheng Hun Ji (Get Married) by Lian Jian, the history of family love that is composed of five medium-length novels. Sanjiangyuan De Tashi Delek (Tashi Delek of Sanjiangyuan), a children novel written by Yang Zhijun, involves as many as 30 kinds of wild animals.

In regard to network literature and sci-fi literature, Wang Yibo, a student of class 2020 from Qingdao Film Academy clinched the first prize of the first National Kunpeng Science Literature Award with his long-length novel entitled Shibei (Stone Tablet). Additionally, Xinghai Qianxi (Migration among Planets), a new book of Zhang Jing, a female Qingdao sci-fi literature writer aged 84, adds more originality to sci-fi literature. “Sanjie Dashi”, whose works sell terrifically well, and “August Chang’an” are both Qingdao’s leading figures in network literature. Xiao Ge Lao by Sanjie Dashi, which went online in 2019 and ended in 2022, and totaled 4.99 million characters, has once topped the historic list of viewership.   (Xiao Mi)

Literature in Qingdao in 2022 seemed to be as fascinating as Zhanqiao Pier.  By Liu Dong