Writing online novels to earn milk powder money, thinking that he wrote social novels rather than officialdom novels, has been transferred to the vice chairman of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
Text/Figure Guangzhou Daily reporter Zhang Dan
Zhang Bing, 46, stood in front of the reporter, glowing with the brilliance of a mature man.
From 2010 to 2012, for three consecutive years, under the pen name "Xiaoqiao Laoshu", he won the list of rich writers through royalties of more than one million yuan per year. In 2010 and 2011, Hou Weidong’s Notes on Officialdom was selected into the China Book Power List selected by Guangzhou Daily twice. In 2012, Notes on Hou Weidong Officialdom won the Bronze Award of the West Lake Type Literature Biennial Award jointly selected by Zhejiang Writers Association and China Literature and Art Newspaper.
Zhang Bing modestly told the Guangzhou Daily reporter that he was not even an "official", but a "petty official" at best. He prefers to call his novels "social novels" rather than "officialdom novels".
Recently, Zhang Bing is rushing around Beijing and other major cities for his new book "The Past of Bazhou". At this time, his identity is a best-selling novel writer on the Internet. And his other little-known identity is a place class cadre. Zhang Bing used to be a member and deputy director of the Municipal Garden Administration Bureau of Yongchuan District, Chongqing, and now he is a member and vice chairman of the local Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
On famous novels
Struggle is the hero’s way to success.
Guangzhou Daily: You are famous for Notes of Hou Weidong Officialdom. What do you think of this novel?
Zhang Bing: The so-called officialdom novels are classified for the purpose of sales. In essence, I feel that I am only writing a social novel. Just because the protagonist is a civil servant, the name of the novel is called "Official Notes". In fact, the characters involved in the novel are all kinds of people, including farmers, entrepreneurs, pyramid schemes and all professions.
Guangzhou Daily: Was there a similar novel on the Internet at that time?
Zhang Bing: No. At that time, many of the online "officialdom novels" were written in the way of crossing. For example, the author crossed back into the officialdom and used his later knowledge to change his fate. This is the mainstream. The novel I wrote is a purely documentary theme, without any trace of fantasy. To put it more professionally, there is no "golden finger" in the novel that changes the protagonist’s fate, and struggle is his way to success.
Guangzhou Daily: It is called a must-read novel for civil servants, even a "textbook". What do you think?
Zhang Bing: I think it’s not just a textbook for civil servants, but a textbook for all young people. Because all "shopping malls", "officialdom" and other industries have the same cultural genes, the same ideas and methods of doing things, but each has its own geographical and industrial characteristics. It solves the problems that young people encounter when they enter the job, and these problems are common.
On novel creation
It’s time to change.
Guangzhou Daily: There have been media reports before that you originally wrote online novels to earn money for children’s milk powder?
Zhang Bing: Yes. After graduating from college, my wife was assigned to Beibei District, and I was assigned to Yongchuan District. There was a two-hour drive between them. Because of the separation between the two places, she resigned and came to my side, but she lost money in business and was pregnant with a child. I was working in a government office, and my monthly salary was only 13,400 yuan. There was a child who was eating milk powder, and his wife was breastfeeding, so she couldn’t go out to work. What should I do with this income?
I just want to make money legally. At that time, I saw that a novel website advertised that an online writer could earn one million yuan a year writing novels, so I moved my mind to write online novels. This money is unimaginable in government agencies.
Guangzhou Daily: What office were you working in?
Zhang Bing: I was in the Political and Legal Committee, and then I went to the Bureau of Landscape Architecture. Before that, I also stayed at the grassroots level.
Guangzhou Daily: How much can you earn every month by writing online novels?
Zhang Bing: At that time, I was still at work, and I couldn’t guarantee to update my novels every day, so I didn’t subscribe much, but I still got three or four thousand yuan a month. This is much higher than my salary. I was late in writing novels, and I was older. I was 35 years old. I have never worked in writing before, but I have come into contact with a lot of people and things, and I have a certain life experience, which has become my advantage.
In addition, my writing experience is consistent with the development of online novels. I entered from the development stage of novel websites, when there were subscriptions online, and novels could be supported by online fees. Since then, the novel website has entered the capital stage. After a large amount of capital enters, it is accompanied by IP fever.
Guangzhou Daily: What was the theme of your first novel?
Zhang Bing: The first novel is a travel novel, which is called "Yellow Sand Wears Golden Armor in Hundreds of Battles". Later, I found that although time-travel novels were not my specialty, they were still rated as one of the more representative time-travel novels in those years.
The novel I wrote was in a relatively cold dynasty, and people’s understanding of this history in the late Tang Dynasty and the early Song Dynasty was not high.
On the Novel’s "Big Sale"
It’s true, not a "trick"
Guangzhou Daily: When did Hou Weidong’s Notes on Officialdom become popular?
Zhang Bing: After I wrote Notes on Hou Weidong Officialdom for a year and a half, I found that this novel has become popular. At that time, it was 2010, and the search engine would publish the search list of online novels, and "Hou Weidong" had already ranked in the top ten. It is actually a novel that changes the fate of the protagonist. Changing the fate is a problem facing many young people. If you want to survive, you must change your destiny.
Guangzhou Daily: Your brushwork is still very delicate.
Zhang Bing: My mother is a Chinese teacher. When we were young, the most annoying thing she said was that no matter where we went to play, she would definitely say, "Watch carefully and write a diary when you come back." At that time, I hated this sentence most, which made us have no fun.
But in retrospect, diary writing at that time still played a certain role in later novel creation.
Guangzhou Daily: Why do you think your novels stand out among many online novels?
Zhang Bing: True.
Because I have rich grassroots experience, the stories I write are those things that happened at the grassroots level. Everyone likes it because it is true. I didn’t judge it. I just told it out, which is relatively objective.
My book is about the changes of the times and the fate of characters. Therefore, I have always denied that this is an "official novel". It is about an era, but the character is a civil servant.
Many of the things I wrote are "officials" and can’t reach "officials". Many people read my novels, and they must feel the fate of the characters before they like them. Everyone is very supportive of my "entrepreneurship"
On Cultural "Matrix"
This is the limitation of every author.
Guangzhou Daily: When did you go to college?
Zhang Bing: In 1992, so the background of all the protagonists in my novels was in the early 1990s. At that time, it happened to be my youth, and it was the time when my work began. Every author has certain limitations in time and space, which cannot be avoided.
In other words, every author has a "matrix" of writing, which is composed of time and space, and is both a "matrix" and a limitation. Every author has his favorite place and time. If the author can completely transcend the place and time, he must be a great writer, which is rare.
It should be said that "Bashu" is my cultural "matrix".
Guangzhou Daily: When you first joined the civil service, was it what you imagined?
Zhang Bing: My father works in a prison. I know that it is impossible for a civil servant to make a fortune. What I am thinking about is that I can change my family’s situation by legal and proper means and with my own ability. I thought of writing in my spare time. Fortunately, I succeeded as soon as I wrote it.
Guangzhou Daily: If you write "Hou Weidong" now, will you still be able to achieve the success of the past?
Zhang Bing: This is not a question of the times, but a question of people. After so many years, I can’t write the same works as at that time. It may be better or worse than at that time. If the writing is the same, in this era, I think the work will still be successful. The gene of culture goes deep into people’s bone marrow, and people may not realize it themselves.
Guangzhou Daily: Do you always write after you get home from work?
Zhang Bing: All of them. I spend all my spare time writing. I don’t play cards, dance, sing, smoke or keep mistresses. I have no time. My spare time life is writing life.
Guangzhou Daily: Did the unit know that you were writing a novel?
Zhang Bing: I didn’t know that before. But in 2010, I was on the list of rich writers, and the unit knew.
On the Transfer of Literary Federation
I volunteered to go there.
Guangzhou Daily: Does it affect you if the company knows that you write novels?
Zhang Bing: It doesn’t have much impact. Now it is a pluralistic society, and people are already very inclusive. They are more appreciative of my "entrepreneurship" and won’t think I am eccentric.
Guangzhou Daily: What is the reason why you transferred from the deputy director of the Bureau of Landscape Architecture to the Federation of Literary and Art Circles?
Zhang Bing: I went to the Federation of Literary and Art Circles to be a member of the leading group, vice chairman, and also a deputy division level, which is a level tone. This is my decision to combine my personal wishes with organizational needs.
In fact, the main reason for the transfer is that I applied for it myself. Because in the functional department, things are too complicated, which takes up a lot of my time. Personally, I feel that I am a very mediocre deputy director, but as an author who specializes in writing novels in Bayu area, I am excellent. I think I should be put in a place of greater value.
March 19 news, according to many domestic media reports, Xiaomi President Lu Weibing said at the performance meeting on March 19 that Xiaomi will unswervingly promote high-end mobile phone business.