A massacre has left a scar in the heart of a city and a country forever. When those who witnessed it pass away day by day, how should we tell this history to those who come after us? On January 11, the press conference of Jilin Fine Arts Publishing House's new book "Better Life, Better Life" was held at the Beijing Book Ordering Fair. This was to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the 87th anniversary of the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, and the victims of the Nanjing Massacre. A work for the 10th anniversary of National Memorial Day.
The author Yang Xiaoyan is a children's literature writer, playwright, educator, and a descendant of a witness to the Nanjing Massacre. At the new book launch conference, Yang Xiaoyan shared the origin and mental journey of her creation of works related to the Nanjing Massacre. She said that as a writer, she had always wanted to write about the story that took place from 1937 to 1945, "to write about the suffering experiences of my grandparents and uncles during this historical period." To this end, she has been researching historical materials from that period for nearly 10 years. Among the many historical materials, she is most concerned about the fate of the children in this bloody massacre. Hence, the novel "Better Life, Better Life" was born. The two story lines in
's novel are intertwined, showing the two Ningshengs in the same city of Nanjing, with the same name and surname, and their completely different fates 80 years apart from 1937 to 2017: One, tenaciously survived the massacre by the Japanese invaders, and narrated It tells the disaster of a city in the past and the history of humiliation of a nation; one, gradually growing up in the peaceful era, tells the prosperity of a city and the dream of rejuvenation of a nation in the present. This novel aims to make young readers feel the cruelty of war and the value of peace through sharp contrasts.
Jia Runtan, the illustrator of "Ningsheng, Ningsheng", also attended the press conference. Jia Runtan is a young painter. In order to accurately depict the details of the picture, she went to Nanjing with the editor of Jimei Press in September 2023. According to I carefully visited all the places mentioned in the book, checked the details, and took a lot of material.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Zu Weiwei
editor/Cui Wei
