How do you evaluate Mo Yan’s Nobel Prize win?

Mo Yan is very lucky.

When people mention Mo Yan, the first thing that people think of may be the brightly colored scenes in the movie "Red Sorghum" and the vitality that flaunts on the loess, which is Mo Yan's Northeast Gaomi Township. Gaomi is not only Mo Yan’s hometown in a geographical sense, but also a literary hometown that he has painstakingly built over the past decades on the path of literary creation. His novel writing almost never left Gaomi, which was his unique literary kingdom. He unfolds the narrative in this imaginative land and digs deeper into history, extending to the vast Chinese countryside.

As early as 20 years ago, he caused a sensation in the literary world with the publication of "Red Sorghum". The film "Red Sorghum" shot based on this won the Golden Bear Award at the West Berlin International Film Festival in 1988, attracting world attention to Chinese films. The three main creators are now well-known overseas, have gained both fame and fortune, and some have even immigrated overseas. The original author has stayed in his hometown of Gaomi, Shandong, where he grew up for 57 years, a small county-level city.

What kind of complex makes him never leave?

In today's society, there are too many people who, in order to live, for the buildings, for the feasting, to stay away from their homeland, are scrambling to do everything they can to stay in the city. But there are also some people who always want to return to their hometown, stay away from the hustle and bustle of the city, be their purest selves, stay with their parents with white hair on their temples, and show their filial piety as children.

People with strong rural sentiment will feel that the city is always someone else’s city. Like me. Maybe it's because I'm getting older and I no longer have the urge to abandon everything at home and fly away. Instead, I want to return to my hometown more and more to live a retired life.

Even when I return to my hometown, all the familiar things in my memory are gradually gone. I hope that your far away hometown will always welcome you home with a welcoming attitude.