China Focus: Life is hard award-winning author tells young readers

Xu Mingze holds his breath. He is reading a story about a little girl of his age, who steps in to stop a hoodlum stealing jujubes from a blind old woman.

When the bad guy curses and hits Xiang Ling, the brave little girl, tears come to Xu's eyes. When justice is done and the man apologizes, Xu sighs with relief.

"I like Xiang Ling," he said. "She is kind-hearted and more sensible than some grown-ups."

Even the Beijing first-grader can find positive energy in the story -- the power of kindness. "See how the man regrets what he did and apologizes?"

The story "Red Jujubes" is just one of many by Beijing University professor Cao Wenxuan, 62, who was named as winner of the 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Prize on Monday at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy. The biennial award, a gold medallion presented by the Queen of Denmark, is given to a living author for a "lasting contribution to children's literature."

Xu's mother Li Meng bought the book last year before the boy was able to read independently, because it came highly recommended by many book critics. "When I leafed through the book, I found the narrative both simple and vivid. I felt I was right there witnessing the entire scene."

MORE THAN LAUGHTER

In fact, most of Cao's fictions are weepy stories with settings vastly different from the big city where Xu and his mother live.

"Bronze and Sunflower", reprinted 170 times with several million copies sold, was recommended by British broadsheet "The Independent" last year as a book "to fire young imaginations." It is the heart-warming story of two children who help each other survive upheavals in the mid 1960s. Bronze is mute and desperately poor. Sunflower is a girl who comes to live with him. The story feels timeless and is a recommended must-read for teenagers by schools nationwide.

Patricia Aldana, president of this year's Hans Christian Andersen jury, described Cao as "a great example of how writing wonderful prose and telling stories about brave children facing tremendous difficulties and challenges can attract a very wide and committed child readership," saying he helped shape a literary tradition in China that "honors the realities of children's worlds."

"I think Cao's writing is beautiful because, unlike many other writers who try to mimic children's style of talking, he narrates in the tone of an adult and often tells stories set in the adult world," said Li Meng.

The adult world is sometimes full of misery and tragedy and Cao never avoids these themes. "Literature brings more than laughter, and tragedies make up a bulky part of great literary works," he once said.

HARD LESSONS

Born in 1954, Cao spent his younger days in poverty. In middle school, his clothes were often worn-out and full of holes. "I was so embarrassed that I would lean against a wall or a tree, afraid to join my classmates in any game."

He remembers a constant lack of food. "Hunger is like a ghost that clings to you wherever you go," he wrote. His childhood plight taught him many important lessons and injected fortitude into his character. He entered Beijing University in 1974, majoring in Chinese language and literature, and began a career in teaching and writing soon after graduation.

Today, Cao is among the best-selling authors of young adult literature in China. Widely applauded by critics, teachers and his readers, Cao's works are disliked by some parents, particularly middle-class urbanites who believe children's books should be anodyne: interesting rather than educational, light-hearted rather than provocative.

"Neither myself nor my 14-year-old son like Cao's work. The plots are often simple and naive. Many stories are like propaganda stuff," said Zhao Lianyu, a Beijing business executive.

"The award is something worth celebrating, but that doesn't mean all children enjoy his books," a mother with the screen name of "Kiko" wrote online. "As I see it, a child does not need to delve into so much misery. Why not let them be happy and carefree, as children should be?"

Despite the controversy, the Hans Christian Andersen prize is sure to draw more parents and their children to the bookshelf, rather than spending endless hours on iPads and smartphones, said Beijing primary school teacher Liu Junqing.

"I encourage my students, mostly fifth-graders, to read extensively and I'd be very happy if they read Cao's novels instead of playing video games in their spare time," she said.

Cao once refused a mother's request for him to inscribe "May happiness and laughter surround you every day of your life" in a book she had bought as a gift for her daughter. "Children's literature should not be based only on illusions. The kids have the right to know what the world is really like." Endi