I don't know if the word "maker" is still popular, but I remember that it was a buzzword, and it was quite popular in the first decade of the new century, and that was when I first met Danfei. Recently, I read Dan Fei's collection of essays about his literary-cultural and creative activities over the past 20 years, "The Book Hides the Road You Walk", and I thought it might be most appropriate to re-use the word "maker" to sum up my overall impression of Dan Fei - check the explanation of the popular word on the Internet, saying that "maker" refers to someone who has the courage to innovate and strive to turn their ideas into reality. Isn't Dan Fei a literary "maker" who is good at choosing and daring to break new paths!
Dan Fei was born to be a person who does not follow the rules and does not follow the usual path. In 1993, he was admitted to the Department of Water Resources and Hydropower of Tsinghua University with excellent results, majoring in hydraulic engineering, and at the same time minored in law and psychology. Obviously, as an engineering student, Danfei has a wide range of interests in humanities, and then he found that his greatest interest is in literature, so in Tsinghua University, which is "excellent in engineering", he made an extraordinary choice - to turn to literature: first in 1999, he chose to study the School of Humanities of Tsinghua University for a second degree in editing and publishing, and the main lecturer Mr. Xu Baogeng graduated from the Department of Water Conservancy of Tsinghua University in the fifties of the last century but stayed as a language and politics teacher at Tsinghua University, and later became a famous screenwriter. The main person in charge of the restoration of Tsinghua University's liberal arts, the "double compilation" class he opened opened the door to literature for Tsinghua students who love literature, as Dan Fei said
In a sense, the years of the existence of the Bianshuang have been interspersed with the "cultural context" of Tsinghua University, because the students enrolled in the Bianshuang come from various departments dominated by science and engineering, and this choice to become a monk halfway can only be out of true love for literature, if there is a reason to give it. Mr. Xu Baogeng became one of our main teachers. His writing class is also my favorite class because it is closest to literature (creation). (Dan Fei: "Eight People I Met at Tsinghua University", Tsinghua Alumni Newsletter, Issue 1, 2019).
As a result, Danfei has won several scholarships such as double degree and academic excellence scholarship, Jiangsu "Juvenile Literature and Art" Juvenile Creation Award, and the honorary title of outstanding graduate of Beijing University. In 2001, Danfei was sent to the Department of Chinese of Tsinghua University to study for a master's degree in modern and contemporary Chinese literature, during which he won the Tsinghua University Comprehensive Excellent Scholarship and the Academic Rookie Nomination Award.
I met Danfei at this time—I had just been transferred to Tsinghua University, just in time for Danfei's new graduate students. Most of these students are promoted by key universities, among the classmates, Dan Fei is the real "old Tsinghua", he is enthusiastic to help foreign students, no arrogance, and when the students compete for the "famous" tutor, Dan Fei is kind to the classmates, and does not care about the size of the tutor's name. In professional Xi, Danfei has shown many talents. He has taken courses from teachers such as Lan Dizhi, Ge Fei, Luo Gang, etc., and has written courses with his own experience. I remember that he gave me a lesson**, which was the interpretation of the famous modern poet Bian Zhilin's masterpiece "Shakuhachi", showing a keen artistic sensibility. At the same time, Dan Fei showed more agile thinking in creation, often published fresh poems and beautiful prose, published his own poetry collection, and also edited and published more than a dozen books such as "Tsinghua Ninety Years of American Literature". At that time, I was the leader of the Chinese subject, and I had more contact with graduate students, and I witnessed Danfei's academic and literary growth, which left a deep impression and was sure that he would definitely have greater academic development.
To my surprise, Danfei then made another unexpected choice. Originally, with Danfei's talent and ability, it was not difficult to complete a master's degree**, successfully graduate and further his studies, so as to become a professional literary researcher. This is also the unanimous expectation of the teachers. But just as graduation was approaching, Dan Fei resolutely decided to take literary creation as his career, and resolutely gave up his graduation writing, and turned to the publishing industry and engaged in cultural and creative work, so as to better exert his creative talent. This was a deliberate decision in Danfei, and of course the teachers regretted it, but the advice was ineffective, and they could only respect his choice.
Facts have proved that Danfei's choice is a very successful turnaround and transformation, and since then he has been like a fish in water in the literary publishing-cultural and creative industry, and has done well: first in 2004, he joined Bertelsmann Books Asia Publishing Company, performed very well, and accumulated experience, and transferred to the editor-in-chief of Motie, and then served as the deputy editor-in-chief of Manyou, the general manager of Naimu Art Space, the investment director of Damei Education, and the vice president of Aite ......He quickly became a well-known independent planner in the cultural and creative industry, and made many achievements.
The first remarkable achievement is that Danfei, as a creative planner with golden ideas, has given full play to the role of an intermediary who is good at giving advice and good at communication and coordination in the introduction of foreign cultural products and promoting the relationship between many online writers and publishing media, which has effectively promoted the development of cultural exchanges and creative industries. For example, the introduction of important works in Europe and the United States such as the finale of the famous American writer Robert James Waller's "Covered Bridge Trilogy" "Tango on the Plateau", the 2005 Booker Prize-winning work "The Sea" by the top Irish writer John Benville, the promotion of the film and television adaptation rights of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" from the Internet to the publication of physical books, and the promotion of the gorgeous turn of film and television, as well as the planning of all copyright assets of "Wolf Totem" except for theatrical films, are among them.
The second achievement is the take-off of Danfei's personal creation. In the past 20 years, in addition to his busy publishing and planning work, Dan Fei has not forgotten his personal dream of literary creation, and has been busy as much as possible. Dan Fei has published a variety of poetry collections such as "The Sound of May", "The Beautiful Woman at That Time", "I Am the One Who Counted Ten Thousand Snowflakes", "The Next Stop Love Turns Left" and a variety of children's books, and several novellas, novels and essay collections are being published.
The third aspect of achievement is that Danfei, as a person in the cultural and creative industry, has made many kind observations, expert comments and sober analyses on online literature and the cultural and creative industry, which are concentrated in the articles collected in this book. I am glad to see that in these articles, Dan Fei gave full play to his literary literacy and cultural vision, so there are many vertical and horizontal discussions. What I particularly appreciate is that Dan Fei, as a person in the lively scene of online literature and creative industry, often has a calm and even cold critical reflection, which is very rare. For example, Dan Fei accurately pointed out that thanks to the development of the Internet, literature has blossomed everywhere, greatly reducing the entry threshold of the "market" of literature and the artificial restrictions of the literati circle, so that more people can freely enter the literary production and literary market, greatly liberating the productive forces of literature, making literary writing more free, and thus showing the special vitality and charm of the literary publishing industry that is different from the serious paper mediaHowever, Dan Fei is also keenly aware that the biggest problem of online literature is that it is easy to be typed, homogeneous, and easy to form a phenomenon of convergence with the trend, so he has repeatedly reminded writers, publishers, and planners to focus on the careful innovation of content and the in-depth exploration of human nature, and earnestly admonished his peers
My so-called identity as an independent planner, writer (film and television adaptation rights) agent, writer, songwriter, producer of micro-film online series, and ** program host all revolves around the word "content". Although the total volume of film and television is climbing to new highs year by year, it is not comparable with the volume or profitability of industry, network companies, game companies, and new enterprises, despite this, various formats are still cutting their heads, due to the spotlight effect and communication effect of film and television, and the amplification effect of brand influence. I have successfully brokered dozens of film and television drama adaptation rights, as well as the success of the "Wolf Totem" animated film incubated by "Dawang" and the full copyright of "Dawang", which I have cooperated with other bookmakers to invest, and I feel that the essence of the cultural and creative industry is the "content industry", and the CPU of the content industry is undoubtedly the text - the book. The importance of the "book man" has come to the fore. (See "What are we talking about when we talk about good books?") in the book.)article).
In the online literature-cultural and creative industry that is keen to build momentum and renovate patterns, this is a rare and commendable sober theory. In my opinion, Dan Fei's observation and analysis of emerging professions such as online literary works, cultural and creative industries, the trend of the publishing industry, the bookstore industry, and independent curators will undoubtedly become an important reference for future research on literary and cultural history in the past two decades. At least for scholars like me, who have been confined to the campus for a long time, reading these words has indeed increased a lot of new insights and broadened my literary horizons. I'm happy to admit that reading these articles makes me feel that Dan Fei, the brilliant graduate student in literature, is back.
Dan Fei is an emotional person. He traveled north and south for cultural and creative activities, but he still can't forget Beijing and Tsinghua Park. In a 2011 article, Dan Fei affectionately said
I'm going back to Beijing, but it's a good opportunity for me to return to Beijing. The purpose of my return to Beijing is also to be nostalgic for Beijing's winter, to yearn for Beijing's golden autumn, and to love Beijing's spring and summer by the way. Tsinghua Garden, which has been established since 1707, is 304 years old so far, and Tsinghua has just celebrated its 100th anniversary. ......I studied at Tsinghua University for ten years, during which I studied a bachelor's degree in hydraulic engineering, a double degree in law (minor), a double degree in editing and publishing, and a master's degree in modern and contemporary literature (degree). Being closer to Beijing and closer to Tsinghua is more about the need for psychological "homecoming". (See the article "Independent Planners: How Far Can You Stretch Your Hand" in this book).
Since then, another ten years have passed, and Danfei, who has been wandering abroad, has a successful career, but has not been able to return to the north for a long time. Danfei and I also met again in Beijing one day in October 2021 after a long absence. The day before that, I received a ** from Dan Fei, saying that he had recently been on a business trip to Beijing and wanted to see me. The next day we met at a coffee shop in the east gate of Tsinghua University, and I was pleased to find that Dan Fei was different from the thin and gentle scholar image in school, giving people a particularly robust, cheerful and energetic feeling, but he was still so humble and courteous. We gossiped about the past casually, and suddenly Dan Fei said to me with a smile: "Teacher Xie, I saw you this time, in fact, because I happened to see someone on the Internet that you 'pitted' a graduate student back then, so that he failed to complete **, get a degree, and lost a good way out. I'm here to tell you in person that the graduate student who is said to have been 'trapped' by you is me!But Mr. Xie, don't be upset, in fact, the teachers, including you, are very good to me, and no teacher has ever 'pitted' me. I gave up writing, changed careers to publishing, and engaged in creation, which was my decision after repeated thinking, and my subsequent development was also very good, you can rest assured. "I don't actually mind those gossip, but I still thank Dan Fei for his comfort, and I am even more glad that Dan Fei has a successful career, and I am happy for him in my heart, and I believe that his career will definitely go to the next level.
So, congratulations to Danfei for a more successful career, and welcome Danfei to return at any time - even if he can't return to Beijing to work for a while, he can take the time to go back to his cultural hometown and go back to his alma mater, Tsinghua Park.
On February 9, 2023, the grass was in the chat hall of Tsinghua Garden.