The concept of "vernacular prose" should be derived from pastoral poetry. Pastoral poetry is the main player in classical poetry, and it is also the fundamental aspect of traditional Chinese literature. The pastoral economy is the core of old China, and the connotation of land is single, that is, digging in the soil, farming and eating, and then settling down. In the past, no matter what kind of occupation I was engaged in, it was to start from the land and eventually return to the land. The soldiers explained how many acres of fertile land they had purchased, the officials told the old people to return to their hometowns, the scholars talked about ploughing and reading the heirlooms, and the businessmen talked about how many hectares of fertile land they had purchased. The ownership of land is a sign of status, and in the past, the emperor gave bonuses to his ministers, and the most dazzling thing was to reward land. The emperor is the biggest landlord, "under the whole world, it is not the king's land". In the old literature, the pastoral scenery of "curling smoke, chickens and dogs smelling each other", "returning with the moon and lotus hoe", and "ambiguous distant villages, smoke in the ruins" were all written around the core values of the time and the "main theme" at that time.

How should today's vernacular prose write about the countryside, nostalgia and homeland? Is it enough to just find a peace of mind and a sense of poetry?

It's getting clearer. One of the focal points of the process of social reform in contemporary China is the land and the peasants on it.

200 million migrant workers leave the land and land in the city with a soft landing, or a hard landing? But only if it has to land. "Nala runaway" in China refers to how Chinese women in the 20s and 30s of the 20th century walked out of the family and into society. Now 200 million "men and women" have left en masse. This huge group has become the key to the success of China's reform and opening up, and it is a big hurdle that must be crossed today.

The connotation of land is no longer single, it is becoming more and more diverse and complex. On the one hand, we will talk about the process of urbanization, and on the other hand, we will talk about the construction of new rural areas; on the one hand, we will talk about the comprehensive development of land, and on the other hand, we will talk about the red line of 1.8 billion mu of land. 1.8 billion mu of land is the rice bowl for more than a billion Chinese.

Nowadays, when writers go to the countryside and return to their homeland, can't they see left-behind children and the elderly? Can't they see the ultra-long-distance lag in education and information, as well as more and more urgent focal issues? Today's "nostalgia" can no longer be loaded with the phrase "the young and the old man who has left home and the eldest has returned, and the hometown accent has not changed and the sideburns are declining." Nostalgia is both geographical and psychological, but this heart must be a conscience. The most precious thing about a writer is his maverick and his cultural conscience. What is cultural conscience? That is, the concentration of sensibility cannot drown out rational judgment. A person's emotional numbness is terrible, and rational numbness is even more terrible.

After writing the novel "Ancient Furnace", Pingao wrote a number of essays in a row, in his words, "After writing "Ancient Furnace", there are still some raw materials. "Meiwen" first published "Walked a Few Towns", and then published five more articles. He is the head of "Meiwen", and he should not publish more of his articles, but the countryside he writes about is still a little enlightening and enlightening to the writing of vernacular prose, and even the current style of writing.

Gao Yaping wrote a collection of essays called "The Depths of the Years". It is written about his hometown in the depths of his memory, the land where he lived when he was a child, and the writing method belongs to the old photo family, reflecting the reality with the truth of the past. The tone of the whole book is helpless and sad, sad because of the sobriety of reality. In the preface of the book, he wrote: "When can I build a small room in my hometown of Fanchuan, on a rainy day, a cup of tea and a book; on a sunny day, look at the clouds of Nanshan Mountain, or walk seven or eight miles with my friends to reach Zhongnan Mountain, look for old plums, and enjoy the red leaves, what a freehand day it should be." Unfortunately, this is just a luxury. ”