Jin Gu Yin Shan 

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Rural revitalization represents China’s process of rural modernization, where modern science and contemporary policies are integrated into rural development. Modernization is primarily driven by knowledge exploration. Developing agricultural science and enhancing rural knowledge to achieve agricultural modernization have been specifically emphasized in China. Since the beginning of the new era, marked by reform and opening up, to the present day, themes such as rural poverty elimination, wealth creation, and economic transformation have been prominent in literature, becoming central narrative subjects of rural literature.

In the new era, technical writing in contemporary rural literature mainly reflects developments and changes in agricultural science, experiential knowledge, and modern knowledge, demonstrating literature’s understanding of and response to modernization. The development of modern science over various periods has profoundly transformed rural society, as evidenced by the struggles and growth of rural communities in recent decades. These changes not only reflect the modern renewal of rural cultural environments but also signify changes to the emotional and spiritual structures of rural society.

These three types of writing about agricultural science, experiential knowledge, and modern knowledge continuously evolve in forms of expression and ethical appeals, reflecting the complexity and richness of contemporary rural literature in terms of its creativity and value pursuits. Therefore, we stand at a historical juncture where the rural revitalization strategy is carried out on all fronts, which connects the historical context to the discourse demands of new rural literature creation, explores changes in the connotations of technical writing in rural literature from the new era to the present era, and creates a genuine understanding of Chinese rural society’s development. It also helps in accurately grasping the life journey and spiritual world of farmers in the process of modernization.

Upgrading agricultural science knowledge

Since the early stages of the new era, rural literature has focused on depicting farmers who actively learn and apply agricultural and forestry technologies towards eliminating poverty and moving towards modernization. At that time, rural literature inherited traditions established by authors such as Liu Qing, Zhao Shuli, and Zhou Libo, who deeply engaged with rural life, cared for farmers, and confronted hard realities, seeking a modern path for rural scientific wealth creation. Many of their works concern knowledgeable rural youths dedicating themselves to scientific farming, enhancing the efficiency of rural industries.

These characters actively contributed to the “Four Modernizations” [The goal of modernizing agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology] by demonstrating the modern vitality and vigor of rural life. In the process, scientific knowledge and technology became the essence of their literary expression.

From the late 1980s and beyond, the significant pull of urban development drew knowledgeable rural youths to seek opportunities in cities. “Seeking a living in cities” became an important topic in rural novels during this period, as many young people did this to realize their ambitions and personal values. In these novels, linkages between scientific knowledge and technology connected young people as they shuttled between urban and rural area, reflecting the impressive rural development of this specific historical period against the backdrop of China’s modernization process.

Since the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, rural areas in China have undergone tremendous changes. In response, many rural novels took a constructive approach by writing about the future of China’s countryside. Novels like Jin Gu Yin Shan (Golden Valley and Silver Mountains) by Guan Renshan began to portray the renewed vigor of rural areas. Practices such as scientific farming, e-commerce, and professional cooperatives appear in novel, aligning more closely with the requirements of digital rural construction and the rural revitalization strategy.

From the new era to the present era, increasingly sophisticated descriptions of agricultural scientific and technical knowledge in rural novels have disrupted outdated tropes in rural writing. With depictions of rural youths’ involvement in agricultural research and scientific farming, and by showcasing modern management styles brought by young people to the countryside (such as e-commerce and joint-stock systems), these novels reflect a dynamic and energetic rural life. Authors have begun to focus on rural development with modern and scientific thinking. Rural literature has gradually integrated scientific and modern thinking into daily rural life, reflecting changes brought by reform and opening up policies and demonstrating the practical achievements of China’s rural revitalization strategy.

Transformation of experiential knowledge

Rural literature, while keeping pace with the country’s modernization efforts, not only portrays a plethora of knowledgeable agricultural technocrats but also showcases a series of rural elders with accumulated experiential wisdom. These elders convey their life stories, passing down accumulated knowledge, which also becomes a focal point in literature. Their expertise encompasses not only rural labor skills but also emotionally rich experiences and ethical insights from village life. These knowledge systems are not only a historical legacy of rural society but also serve as cultural references in the discourse of modernization. In the 1990s, this type of experiential knowledge and its protagonists gradually faded from literary texts. As urbanization and the subsequent agricultural specialization gained traction, knowledge rooted in natural economics slowly receded.

In line with the rural revitalization strategy, these carriers of experiential knowledge have become a symbol of rural cultural confidence. Their knowledge forms the cultural foundation of rural development during ongoing urbanization, offering a cultural resource advantage for rural economic development. In works like Jin Gu Yin Shan, retrieving and scientifically cultivating seeds from an old man’s grave symbolizes contemporary literature’s appropriation of traditional culture, aligning with market-driven development of rural resources under the rural revitalization strategy. 

Against the backdrop of inheriting and promoting excellent traditional Chinese culture, these cultural symbols reflect both the cultural core that rural areas need to uphold and rebuild today and the market value of developing rural traditions in the contemporary era. Through the portrayal of these characters with deep experiential knowledge, rural literature touches upon the warmth and texture of rural daily life, both reaching the depths of rural tradition and responding to the discourse of the times.

From valuing practicality to the stress of ethics and homesickness, from smallholder consciousness to market awareness, writing about experiential knowledge has evolved in rural novels since the reform and opening up. These novels describe experiential knowledge of generations of farmers with tenderness, intuitively expressing the poetry of bucolic country life and the richness of rural soil, and constructing a discourse system supported by these folk experiences, agricultural knowledge, and personal charm. These carriers of experiential knowledge are written in novels with real homesickness and historical concern, reflecting the depth of rural ethics and folk culture.

Overall, from the new era to the present, the portrayal of experiential knowledge in rural literature embodies the products of traditional agricultural civilization. The accumulated experience of diligent production is not only inherited by Chinese farmers but is also the fundamental reason for rural self-reliance and the rapid elimination of poverty in the early days of the new era. 

At the same time, this experiential knowledge exhibits strong ethical characteristics, constituting a cultural elegy. As economic models change in the present era, the practicality of rural experience gradually evolves into an economic value built on traditional culture, which constitutes an important principle for rural poverty elimination efforts. In rural novels, these elders and their experiential knowledge not only reflect the traditional ethics of rural life but also possess practical market value.

New visions

Rural literature is unique because it injects modern knowledge into the world of rural life, reflecting the people’s ethos for our era. Since the dawn of the new era, socialist modernization has continuously advanced, driven in part by a strategy that emphasizes respect for knowledge and the development of science.

In the early stages of the new era, writers began to depict modern knowledge, broadening the cultural perspectives of their works. In a sense, “scientific knowledge = developed civilization = modernization” represented the logical path in many writers’ minds, where writing about modern knowledge signified a pursuit of science and modernization. The aesthetic depth of literature has gradually increased at the cultural level.

Various types of modern scientific and technological knowledge often appear in characters’ daily lives via behaviors, dialogues, and text, reflecting people’s pursuit and understanding of scientific thinking and modern consciousness. This integration of modern knowledge breaks the inherent patterns of rural literature, enhancing the modern character of the text from an aesthetic standpoint.

Since the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, some rural novels have taken a constructive approach to urban-rural integration, focusing on writing about economic market concepts, modern economic management knowledge, and their functions in promoting rural development. Modern management knowledge from enterprises and land transfers is integrated into rural areas, guiding farmers to gradually move away from traditional smallholder consciousness and mindsets, actively adapting to the development of market economy. 

Agreements, intensive management models, land transfers, profit sharing through equity, and other management techniques have entered literary texts, collectively depicting new forms, concepts, and patterns of rural development brought about by the rural revitalization strategy, demonstrating the integration of urban economic rationality with modern rural areas.

Historically, the integration of modern knowledge into rural novels has opened up new perspectives in literary works, bringing the rural world into a multidimensional cultural space of modernity and knowledge. In the early stages of the new era, this reflected the strong desire of the entire Chinese population to find a path to modernity. In the present era, modern knowledge represents the specific implementation of China’s rural revitalization strategy in rural modernization construction.

In summary, since the reform and opening up, writers of rural literature have shown a special fondness for technical knowledge, which is a manifestation of the country’s internal driving force for modernization and also demonstrates the long-standing societal recognition and pursuit of rationality and modern thinking. The concentrated presentation and development of modern agricultural technological expertise, modern management practices, and traditional experiential knowledge in rural novels are testaments to the Chinese people’s unremitting efforts from the early stages of the new era to the present era in seeking rural modernization. Moreover, it portrays the evolution of modernization scenes in the rural world and the new value of cultural traditions at the aesthetic level.

Jiang Lasheng is a professor from the School of Literature at Jiangxi Normal University.

Edited by YANG XUE