Lin Zixuan, a writer who created fairy tales during the Republic of China, knew one, that is Zheng Zhenduo of the Literary Research Association.

In July 1921, Zheng Zhenduo became the editor-in-chief of the supplement "Xuedeng" of Shanghai's "Current Affairs News".

He opened a new column for Children's Literature in "Learning Lamp", mainly publishing foreign fairy tales translated by members of the Literary Research Association hosted by him to meet the needs of domestic children to receive literary enlightenment.

This is the first children's literature column in the history of modern Chinese newspapers and magazines.

This column was held for more than two months and was very popular among young readers. Zheng Zhenduo decided to take advantage of the situation and simply run a weekly magazine "Children's World".

On January 7, 1922, the first Chinese children's journal "Children's World", published by Commercial Press, was officially released.

"Children's World" opens a publication for Xiao32 and publishes one issue a week.

Almost all of the contents of the first few issues were written by Zheng Zhenduo alone.

In addition to the fairy tales and graphic stories he created himself, he also rewrites them and introduced many foreign children's literary works.

From the ancient European "Aesop's Fables" and "The Story of Lena Fox" to the Japanese folk tales "The Story of Bamboo" and the fairy tales of Andersen, Wilde and others.

He also invited other writers from the Literary Research Association to create Chinese fairy tales.

Among them, Ye Shengtao achieved the greatest achievements, and he wrote the fairy tale "The Scarecrow" in 1922.

The story uses the scarecrow's eyes to observe the painful world: the poor peasant woman, the poor fisherman, the poor suicide, the poor crucian carp, etc.

However, for the tragedy in the world, the scarecrow cannot save or change anything.

In the end, the scarecrow, who was entangled between guilt and powerlessness, "falls in the middle of the field" and sleeps with the tragedy.

Lu Xun once wrote an article saying: "The Scarecrow has opened a path for Chinese fairy tales to create their own creation."

Lin Zixuan disagrees with this.

Writers of this era may have a strong sense of responsibility. When writing, they always think that they are responsible for saving the country and the people, and must write down the reality of this era.

Even fairy tales are written so darkly and so miserable.

This is not for children, but for adults. Ye Shengtao is not writing a story about children. He puts together the tragedy of the world, just to reveal how dark the world is, and never thinks about the child’s feelings after watching it.

From the perspective of adults, "The Scarecrow" is undoubtedly very well written.

But Lin Zixuan would never read this story to his children.

Lu Xun likes this kind of dark text, which is similar to his style and is extremely critical, but he does not consider it from the perspective of children. This story will leave any shadows in the children's hearts.

Fairy tales promote truth, goodness and beauty, and criticize falsehood, evil and ugliness.

It’s not that you can’t write tragedies, but in the end you must leave some hope and light for your children.

For example, Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" is written in a very miserable way. The little girl was frozen to death on the big day, revealing the cruelty and injustice of society.

However, the author arranged the little girl's final fantasy and went to a world without hunger with her grandmother.

The little girl died with a smile, which left a hope for the children who read this story.

It is better to be innocent in the world of children.

The purpose of the Literary Research Association is to advocate realist literature and believe that literature is life. From this we can see what type of fairy tales they created.

Although there are many excellent works among them, most of them are to reveal reality and satirize society.

It is more of a propaganda role than a child's perspective.

When writing children's stories, they always want to express their dissatisfaction with society. Such children's stories have literary value, but lack a sense of innocence.

Lin Zixuan didn’t say that those fairy tales were bad, but they were different from his views on fairy tales.

His purpose in founding children's magazine is to "see the world with children's eyes and maintain a good childlike heart."

Of course, some people will mock Lin Zixuan for the idea of ​​this rich man.

There are so many child laborers in Shanghai. There are so many children in China who have no food to eat, and the north is still fighting, and society is so cruel, just to let children realize the real world.

The children's stories you write are so innocent and cute. They are not in line with reality at all, and will only lead children to unrealistic fantasies.

Lin Zixuan had nothing to say to such people, he could only say that such people had lost their childlike innocence.

You are dissatisfied with life and want your children to be like you, thus depriving them of their fantasy of a better life.

It is possible to allow children to smile after reading fairy tales and retain a little hope for life in their hearts. This is the function of fairy tales. It is too cruel to show the real world for children to see.

He could not solve the problems of the entire society, so he could only do his best to tell every fairy tale well.

The magazine founded by Lin Zixuan is called "The King of Fairy Tales", which is also a 32-year-old publication, and is an issue per week.

He was responsible for the entire magazine, and he was not relieved of fairy tales written by literati of this era.

There are three stories in the first issue, the first is "The Adventures of Shuke and Beta", the second is "The Wizard of Oz", and the third is "The Black Cat Sheriff".

Shuke and Beta are the story of two little mice taking a group adventure together, and this is a very long series.

In later generations, it can be said that he grew up with Lin Zixuan. He actually didn't finish reading it. The main reason is that the story is too long and he can only see where he writes it.

"The Wizard of Oz" is a classic American fairy tale and also Lin Zixuan's childhood memory.

It tells the story of a little girl named Dorothy in Oz and a lion, a robot, a scarecrow seeking courage, kindness and wisdom.

However, this fairy tale was published in 1900 and the original author passed away. Lin Zixuan can only be regarded as a translator.

"Black Cat Sheriff" was originally a comic, and it was a story about the Black Cat Sheriff's struggle against various evil forces that endanger the forest. It is both knowledgeable and interesting.

In addition, Lin Zixuan also left a few alternative stories.

For example, "Cauliwa" and "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf", the Japanese fairy tale "Little Doudou by the Window", the Belgian comic "The Adventures of Tintin", etc.

"The King of Fairy Tales" not only contains stories, but also exquisite illustrations, which are responsible by the students of the Academy of Fine Arts.

Now the three of them are familiar with the style of comics and are creating more comic characters according to Lin Zixuan's settings. It is no problem to draw illustrations in fairy tales.

Zheng Zhenduo welcomed Lin Zixuan to create fairy tales, and there was no competition between them.

In 2019, after Zheng Zhenduo was edited by "Novel Monthly", there was no editor-in-chief of "Children's World". At this time, the editor-in-chief of "Children's World" was Xu Jingchang.

But Commercial Press doesn't think so anymore. The "Fairy Tale King" published by Vientiane Bookstore is obviously competing for the market with Commercial Press's "Children's World".

The two sides are already fierce in competition, and this is even more incompatible.

In fact, children's magazine also has "Little Kids", a subsidiary of Zhonghua Book Company. This magazine was released on April 6, 1922, but its content and sales volume are not as good as "Children's World".

Lin Zixuan's strong entry into the field of children's books will naturally attract the prevention of the other two bookstores. (~^~)
Chapter completed!