In the late 1980s, Bei Cun joined a group of writers with a series of experimental texts teeming with ambiguous language, gloomy images and dissected plots. These difficult texts acquainted people with the restless and painful soul of the young writer, who chose an extreme way to deconstruct the existing order and the value norms.
But the writer soon found another way to write. Instead of contriving a labyrinth of narrative, he now tells stories which he proved to be a master of at once.
He has frequently written about everyday life. Mundane images teem in his book: a narrow room, the din of a market, the noise an infants makes.
Some people doubt whether he has given up his old style to participate in the so-called neo-realistic writing many Chinese writers use lately.
"The difference between Bei Cun and these neo-realistic writers is, the former never permits his characters to lounge comfortably above these mundane images like the latter does," said critic Nan Fan.
All of his heroes or heroines are inevitably pushed to an extreme situation and undergo fierce spiritual crisis.
Among other avant-garde writers, he is the loudest in persistently denouncing the spiritual bankruptcy of human beings, preaching the salvation of their souls.
The dramatic tension and realistic scenes of Bei Cun's novels make them the favorites of directors. In recent years, many of his novels were adapted to film or TV series, such as Wu Zetian, Chengshi Lieren (The City Hunter), Zhou Yu De Huoche (Zhou Yu's Train), Taiwan Haixia (The Taiwan Straits).
In response to the blame some attribute to him that he has subtly changed serious literature to make it more lucrative, he said: "I always face readers with a true heart. I never go against my conscience for any reason beyond literature."
The 37-year-old plans to write five more novels.
(China Daily December 18, 2002)
