When it comes to the writer Mo Yan, many see him as the Nobel laureate who penned works like Red Sorghum, Sandalwood Death, and Big Breasts and Wide Hips, as well as a witty and sharp internet "pun master" known for his frequent quotable quotes. In recent years, he has appeared in the public eye with a more open and down-to-earth attitude—hosting calligraphy exhibitions, creating scripts for plays, managing a WeChat official account, and even joining live streams multiple times to engage with young people.
"Ultimately, all literary forms are interconnected; they are about writing about people, life, human emotions, human fate, and the subtleties of the human heart," Mo Yan remarked in a recent exclusive interview with TKWW Media Group. He emphasized that literature knows no distinction between old and new—its core has always been about "people."
Currently, a calligraphy and photography exhibition jointly presented by Mo Yan and calligrapher Wang Zhen is being held at the Hong Kong Central Library. In his conversation with the reporter, Mo Yan, in his characteristically calm and gentle tone, discussed upholding the essence of literature and the mission and choices of contemporary writers.
From pessimism to optimism
Mo Yan noted, "A writer must firmly remember that I am living in the present, and my works must have a sense of contemporaneity." As for how to imbue works with this sense of contemporaneity, modernity, and contemporary relevance, he believes it requires writers to be deeply rooted at the grassroots level, to be closely connected to the fate of the broadest masses of ordinary people.
"We must understand their thoughts, their pains, their joys, and their aspirations. I think this is the most fundamental requirement for a writer to keep pace with the times."
For Mo Yan, one way he keeps pace with the times is by jointly creating and managing a WeChat official account with Wang. Combining tradition and modernity, they spontaneously create poetic works based on their reflections from travels around the world, which they then write on the spot or at home with a brush before publishing them on the public account. This allows more young people to experience classical charm through their fingertips.
Unlike Mo Yan's medium and full-length novels, the content on the account is mostly lyrical, casual, and light-hearted. Since its establishment in 2019, almost every article has garnered over 100,000 reads. Moving from the study to the wilderness, his words now reach a broader audience, a transformation that has also profoundly changed Mo Yan's mindset.
"In the past, I often stayed at home alone, writing behind closed doors. Now, I've stepped out and traveled around the world, especially after having extensive and close contact with ordinary people and young people at the grassroots level. My perspective on the world has become more open, and my understanding of life has deepened."
He admitted that he used to often feel gloomy and pessimistic alone, "but now I feel I am an especially optimistic person." He further illustrated this with an example: when encountering a 3,000-year-old tree, he used to recall the words of Huan Wen from A New Account of the Tales of the World upon returning from a decade of campaigning: "The tree is like this; how can humans endure?"—a very pessimistic sentiment. But now, he thinks, if the tree is like this, why shouldn't humans be happy?
"I live in this world, and as a human, I am communicating with a 3,200-year-old tree. I embrace it, I look up at it, I touch the leaves falling from it, and I feel immense happiness and honor as a human being."
Embracing changes, witnessing literature "breaking boundaries"
Mo Yan not only accepts new forms of communication but has actively participated in several live streams to promote literary works and publications. On December 20, 2024, he and writer Liang Xiaosheng promoted People's Literature in a live stream, chatting freely about literature and life.
"Even a major, national-level publication like People's Literature has 'set aside its dignity' to promote itself in the live stream, establishing a close connection with a broader readership. I've participated twice, and we sold hundreds of thousands of copies in one night, far more effective than traditional subscription methods."
"This is only a change in the mode of dissemination and promotion. The essence of literature should not and will not change," he noted.
While embracing new changes and witnessing literature "break boundaries," Mo Yan consistently emphasizes the essential value of reading classics. He expressed that literature knows no distinction between old and new; online novels are also an important part of literature and must adhere to the most basic requirements and principles of literature. While readers enjoy online novels and fast-paced entertainment fiction, they should also return to classics like War and Peace and Dream of the Red Chamber.
"Reading the works that have already become classics in literary history by our predecessors is a compulsory course in our lives. Not only should everyone read them, but they should read them repeatedly." He cited his recent rereading of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace as an example. Although the story took place in Russia over two hundred years ago, he could still feel that the fates of the characters in the novel are closely related to the fates of people today. "I can also feel his pain and his joy very strongly. So, in this sense, literature knows no old or new."
Arrival of AI era: How should literature respond?
The rapid development of AI technology is bound to impact literary creation. How should writers face this influence? Mo Yan first shared a personal experience.
Earlier, the abbot of a famous temple in Zhejiang invited Mo Yan to compose a fu (rhapsody) for the temple's 1400th anniversary. "I thought about it and said, if there were no AI, I could write it for you. But with AI now, I can't. Why? Because if I write it well, readers will say it must have been written by AI. If I write it poorly, they'll say it's worse than what AI could have written." This reasoning was persuasive, and the other party dropped the request. But it also sparked Mo Yan's curiosity. "I wanted to try and see if AI could really write a fu."
So, he provided the AI software with basic information about the temple. Five minutes later, the AI generated a 1,000-character fu for him, covering the temple's history, its famous monks, mythical stories associated with it, and even the surrounding scenery.
"Frankly speaking, I couldn't write it myself. However, I found that this piece lacked thought. I told a leader from the Writers' Association, who is also a great critic, that I used AI software to write a fu about a certain temple, but it had no thought. He said, 'That's not AI's fault, it's yours... If you give it thought, it will deduce and express it for you.'"
"I tried again later, telling the AI: 'The thing you wrote is good, but it still lacks thought. Now I want you to add this idea to it.' Two minutes later, every paragraph was infused with this spirit. This shows that AI can indeed help me complete articles with very high technical requirements, like regulated verse, ci poetry, or fu rhapsodies. I think no writer could have such a vast vocabulary accumulation or the talent to complete such a splendid article in such a short time."
Even so, Mo Yan firmly believes that AI cannot completely replace human writing.
"Writers must insist on originality. No matter how capable AI is, its database consists of the creations of our writers and predecessors. AI, based on these existing texts, mixes and matches them in various ways to produce a text. If no original works are injected, there will be no new works produced, and AI's capabilities will not progress significantly."
He gave an example: "My friend Wang and I recently visited Lake Baikal. Seeing the vast amount of freshwater in Lake Baikal, its only outlet is the Angara River, with its surging, abundant flow and incredibly clear water, rushing outward. Why is there such a plentiful output? It's because over 330 rivers flow into Lake Baikal, but only one river flows out, ensuring that the Angara River is a mighty, ceaseless flow. The AI database is likely like Lake Baikal. With numerous original works pouring into it, only then can vibrant, vivid, and surging articles be output like the Angara River. So, originality is still crucial."
Self-breakthrough, a task for writers in the long term
Originality is a writer's core competitiveness. However, Mo Yan also pointed out that a writer's greatest competitor is actually themselves.
"You might say I should compete with which writer now? I can't find a writer to compete with. It's not that they aren't qualified; I think every writer writes differently. Everyone has their own individuality. My greatest enemy, the hardest to surpass, is my past, the works I've already written. To write something different from these works, I am limited by my personal knowledge, experiences, and talent."
"Therefore, every writer, like other technical workers, has their limits. To strive to keep their new works fresh and make readers feel that freshness, a writer needs to continuously learn, read, and conduct research. 'Read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles'—this is what it means."
(Source: Wen Wei Po; Journalist: Guan Le, Xu Xiaohui; English Editor: Darius)
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