Hangzhou Essayist Wins Lu Xun Prize in Essay

Lu Chunxiang， an editor of Hangzhou Daily and now an executive of the news organization， was awarded Lu Xun Literature Prize in Essay on November 9， 2010 at an award-giving ceremony held in Shaoxing Grand Theater in Shaoxing， the hometown of Lu Xun， a great man of letters in the early 20th century China. Lu’s “Sick Alphabets”， a collection of essays won him the top glory of the essay category of Lu Xun Literature Award， a top national literary honor issued every three years to writers that shine in essay， literary review， reportage， and poetry. Lu’s achievement is admirable， as testified by the fact that the jurors of the prize failed to find a winner in this same category three years ago and agreed to leave it vacant.

“Sick Alphabets”， published in August 2009 by Shanghai Arts and Literature Press， caused a sensation among readers. The essay collection was launched in Shanghai Book Expo. It was one of the tenth of the best sellers at the book fair on the first day. The first 6，000 copies were snatched by wholesalers. Websites and traditional media published positive reviews and comments on the book. “Eight Minutes”， a book program at Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television which caters to a wide range of audiences in the mainland， talked about the book. A book program at CCTV， the largest national television network in China， recommended it to the national readers.

Lu’s essays are highly appreciated because of his unique and innovative style. Lu believes that a critic should be a doctor and regards his criticism as helping curing social malaises. The essayist’s sharp analysis cut into various and frequently latest social phenomena. He also offers insight into the problems in some social institutions.

Lu Chunxiang is not a doctor by career. He is from Tonglu， a rural county under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou， capital of eastern China’s coastal Zhejiang Province. Born in December 1961， Lu did not read medical books systematically in his youth， not did he ever practiced medicine. But he read extensively. His father was a leader in a rural commune. The position opened some doors to books which were not available to other youngsters in those days. His high school teacher later recalled that Lu scored 56 points in a placement test whereas the average was only 18.

During his four years at Zhejiang Teachers University， Lu read eagerly and more extensively. He made thousands of book cards on which he jotted down some brief comments and summaries. Literary canons were a must. And he found he was especially fond of books on Chinese rhetoric. His graduation paper was on rhetoric and he was the only graduate whose paper was published in the university’s journal. The college studies enabled Lu to develop a sharp sense of language and become unusually sophisticated about words.

After graduation from college， Lu came back to Tonglu and taught Chinese in a local middle school for seven years before he was promoted to run Tonglu News， a non-official newsletter issued by the county government. Within half a year， Lu turned the non-official newsletter into Tonglu Bimonthly， an official news media for the general public of the county. The publication expanded and finally the bimonthly became biweekly. After more than ten years at the newspaper， he was promoted to work as a deputy director of the county’s radio and television bureau. He began to write essays more seriously and systematically.

In 2001， he resigned from his position and got transferred to Hangzhou Daily where he first worked as a commentator. Asked about his motive， he said he needed a greater platform for growth. The provincial capital’s newspaper indeed gave him a bigger platform. He was in charge of two columns in addition to working as a commentator. He reorganized the columns and invited some essayists of national renown specialized in social commentary to write for his columns. Pretty soon， the essays in the columns caught the national media’s attention. They were constantly reprinted in online news portals of national prominence.

Lu has his guideline for his essay writing. He believes our time is different from that of Lu Xun. So essays of today may not necessarily function as daggers and spears. Essays can be tender in appearance; when an essayist needs to express anger and tension， he can express them in implicit ways. He believes essays should act as surgery scalpels to remove social defects. In his eyes， good essays focus on seemingly small topics against a much larger background and bring a sense of satisfaction to readers.

Lu explores possibilities in essay writing. As early as 1999， he began to publish essays in a column called Experiment Style in Hangzhou Daily. He created five essays in the name of five medical prescriptions. Before he set out to write them， he read two books on traditional Chinese medicine and on the ways TCM prescriptions are written dialectically for individual patients and specific syndromes. Altogether he penned a series of over 60 essays under the same heading and they adopted a great variety of form varying from diary， dialogue， script， handbook， ranking list， memo， manual， technique transfer document， prescription， plan， argument in defense， to letter of congratulation. These essays were written in a simple style but they were exciting and enlightening.

Since then， Lu Chunxiang has progressed steadily and established himself firmly as an essayist of national renown. In 2002 alone， four of his essays were selected as best essays of the year. One of them was a satire entitled “A Notice on Staging Celebrations in Commemoration of the 20，001st Anniversary of Chang E’s Flight to the Moon”. Judges argued about the essay and its form， something they had never seen in essay writing before. But they finally agreed that it was an innovative essay and elected it as a winner.

Though Lu has never been a doctor， he understands writing essays can be compared fittingly with curing patients. He doesn’t rush to write essays and take his anger out. He judges more rationally and tries to strike at the roots of social malaises. Though believing there are many difficulties in building a modern society in China， the essayist is confident that we can swim and cross the river even though the river is so wide. He believes that an essayist does not hate this world. An essayist loves this world and has sympathy and compassion. An essayist tries to find the roots of ailments and provide useful prescriptions.

Nowadays， Lu Chunxiang works as an executive in charge of the daily operation of the newspaper， but he still finds time to write essays. □