After being recommended by Huang Qiang, the Secretary of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee, the book “Mr. Heading North” is being reprinted overtime.
After Being Recommended by Huang Qiang, Secretary of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee, “Xiansheng Xiangbei” is Being Reprinted in Overtime
On November 15, the Jilin Provincial Education, Science, and Technology Talents Conference was held via video. During the conference, Huang Qiang, the provincial party secretary, recommended a book to everyone – “Xiansheng Xiangbei”.
“Today at the meeting, I have distributed this book ‘Xiansheng Xiangbei’ to you all. I have read it twice and found it very educational.” According to the live video released by Jixiang News, Huang Qiang introduced that “Xiansheng Xiangbei” records the true stories of a group of top natural scientists, artists, and cultural figures who came to Northeast China in the 1950s and 1960s. What contributed to this cultural phenomenon were outstanding leaders such as Kuang Yaming and Song Zhenting, who understood, respected, and loved culture.
An article titled “The Planning and Publication Process of ‘Xiansheng Xiangbei’ Recommended by the Provincial Party Secretary – A Chat-Inspired Cultural Topic Selection that Reproduces the Sentiments of a Generation of Intellectuals” published in the China News Publishing and Radio and Television Journal on November 25 mentioned, “I have asked many bookstores, but none of them have ‘Xiansheng Xiangbei’ in stock. I don’t know where I can buy it?” In recent days, Changchun Publishing House has continuously received phone calls from readers asking where they can buy the book “Xiansheng Xiangbei”. The clear answer they received is that it is being reprinted in overtime and will be available soon.
The report introduced that after Huang Qiang, the secretary of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee, recommended the book “Xiansheng Xiangbei” at the Jilin Provincial Education, Science, and Technology Talents Conference, it quickly became a sought-after item. The book “Xiansheng Xiangbei” recalls the “pioneering spirit” of the scholars in the academic field, who were full of humanistic sentiments and enriched the cultural heritage of Northeast China.
Regarding the story behind the planning and writing of this topic, the reporter from China News Publishing and Radio and Television Journal interviewed Sun Zhenbo, the director of the First Editing Office of Changchun Publishing House and the responsible editor of “Xiansheng Xiangbei”, at the first opportunity.
“When talking about the book ‘Xiansheng Xiangbei’, we have to mention the ‘Jin Yufu Collected Works’ that we planned in 2017, which is also the background for the later publication of ‘Xiansheng Xiangbei’,” Sun Zhenbo said.
He introduced to the reporter from China News Publishing and Radio and Television Journal that six or seven years ago, under the unified deployment of the publishing house’s leadership, the editing office took the exploration, compilation, and promotion of regional historical culture as a development direction for topic selection. Jin Yufu, a modern historian, worked in Changchun for a period of time. It can be said that Mr. Jin is one of the few masters in the history of Northeast China since modern times. His “Jingwu Room Diary”, with more than 5 million words, is known as one of the “Four Major Diaries of the Republic of China”. After the publication of “Jin Yufu Collected Works”, Changchun Publishing House specifically organized the “Academic Seminar to Commemorate the 130th Anniversary of Jin Yufu’s Birth” on July 19, 2017. Bao Shenghua, the author of “Xiansheng Xiangbei”, also participated in this conference at that time, and Jin Yufu was later written into “Xiansheng Xiangbei” by him.
Before and after that, Changchun Publishing House also planned a series of books reflecting the historical culture of Changchun – the “Changchun Memory” historical and cultural series. “Based on these two sets of books and our topic selection direction, we are particularly sensitive to topics related to regional historical culture,” Sun Zhenbo told the reporter. In early 2018, the members of the editorial board of “Jin Yufu Collected Works” were chatting together about whether there were any other scholars like Jin Yufu in Jilin or Northeast China who were worth exploring. Jiang Weigong, the editor-in-chief of “Jin Yufu Collected Works” and the then dean of the School of History and Culture at Changchun Normal University, said that Bao Shenghua had recently written “Xiansheng Xiangbei”, which described the deeds of litterateurs, educators, scientists, and thinkers who came to Jilin, and was being serialized on WeChat public accounts, written very well.
“This really caught my attention. It was already more than 10 o’clock at night when I got home, but I was worried that I might forget about it the next day, so I quickly sent a message to Mr. Bao, telling him about my intention to acquire the manuscript of ‘Xiansheng Xiangbei’.” Sun Zhenbo recalled that the next day, Li Chunfang, the then deputy director of Changchun Publishing House, also called Bao Shenghua to discuss the matter of acquiring the manuscript. After less than a week of communication, Changchun Publishing House signed a publication contract with Bao Shenghua.
“What excites me about this book is that it has changed my previous stereotypical impression of Northeast China. Previously, many people might think that Northeast China was a wilderness with no culture to speak of, and even less relevant to scholars.” Sun Zhenbo introduced that if we look at Northeast culture from a different perspective, we will have a different view of these stereotypes. In Northeast China, there are the earliest automobile manufacturing plant, the earliest film studio, and the first comprehensive university established by our party in New China. Many of New China’s industries, culture, and higher education started here, witnessing the foundation, development, and growth of modern Northeast culture. Sun Zhenbo said that the intellectual group depicted in “Xiansheng Xiangbei” makes us admire these scholars while also learning from their great spirit of actively participating in the times.
Public information shows that in the 1950s and 1960s, a large number of revolutionaries, educators, and scientists actively responded to the call of the party and the country, carrying the ideal and enthusiasm to serve the country, and went north to Changchun to support construction, leaving a series of touching stories of “heading north, acting north, choosing north, guarding north, and prospering north”. Scholars from different industries gathered in the fertile land of Northeast China, bringing together humanities, and using their intelligence and talents to change the appearance of Jilin, adding a strong and profound cultural atmosphere and a long-lasting cultural heritage to the black land. The author of “Xiansheng Xiangbei”, Mr. Bao Shenghua, did not narrate in chronological order of the characters’ appearances, nor did he set specific chapters for each scholar. Instead, he used the northward journey of Zhang Boju and Pan Su, a couple, to Jilin in 1961 as the introduction of the book, and used their lives and social activities as clues to gradually connect one scholar after another, slowly unfolding a humanistic picture. They sowed the seeds of hope for the rise of the cultural heritage in this fertile land of Northeast China once again.
According to a report by Jilin Daily, on the day of the Jilin Provincial Education, Science, and Technology Talents Conference, Huang Qiang emphasized that the reform horn for the integrated development of the education, science, and technology talent industry has been sounded. All parties should quickly act, grasp the reform with a reform spirit, firmly implement it with a spirit of perseverance, and comprehensively establish a virtuous cycle mechanism where education cultivates talents, talents support science and technology, science and technology lead industries, and industries give back to science and technology.
