Ordinary World (novel)

Ordinary World (Chinese: 平凡的世界; pinyin: Píng Fán de Shì Jiè) is a novel by Chinese author Lu Yao. It consists of three volumes with a total of 1.1 million Chinese characters. In 1991, it won the Mao Dun Literature Prize and was honored with the title "a bright pearl of the Mao Dun Literature Prize crown".

Plot

The first volume

The story begins in the autumn of 1975, a year before the end of the Cultural Revolution in an unknown province in China.. An ordinary teenager going into adulthood in a distant village in Western China, Shaoping Sun goes to the county of YuanXi to complete his high school. His humble descent makes him shy and diffident. He falls in love with his classmate Hongmei Hao, a girl of upper class descent, which is notorious during the Cultural Revolution. However, this relationship is revealed by their classmate Yuying Hou, and the abashed Hao have no choice but to end this relationship. Hao then quickly begins another relationship with her monitor, Yangmin Gu, a young man whose family is relatively much better than Sun's. After Sun's graduation from high school, he went back home and becomes a teacher in the local village school and then becomes friend with Xiaoxia Tian, daughter of Fujun Tian, the vice president of the county's revolutionary committee.

Sun's elder brother Shao'an, who has been working in the field after his graduation from primary school, falls in love with his childhood friend Runye Tian, daughter of Fujun's brother Futang, who harshly disdained this relationship. Shao'an then goes to ShanXi, another province in China, and finds his bride Xiulian He. The two quickly starts to seeing each other and goes back to Shao'an's native village to prepare for the wedding. Runye then obeys his father to marry Xiangqian Li.

Runye's father is the leader of their village. However, in the year of 1975, his village faces great difficulty in agricultural production and his applications are all proved useless.

The second volume

After the Chinese eleventh CPC Central Committee Third Plenary Session in 1976, the CPC decided to end the Cultural Revolution that was first established in 1966 and modified many concepts that are called Maoism, attributed the Chinese Communism leader Mao Zedong, during the Cultural Revolution. The new governor of the province proposed a new Household Contract Responsibility System, which contradict the central belief of Maoism. Futang, a loyal fan of Maoism, however, opposes to operate under the new system but fails; he is depressed by the great turning point of the nation. Shao'an then establishes a factory to fabricate brick in the city and becomes the wealthiest person in the village. Shaoping goes to a near city to find opportunity and finally become a miner in a nearby mine. He then starts to see Xiaoxia, who becomes a journalist after her graduation from the local normal university. Runye's life after marriage with Xiangqian is not happy. She deicides to focus back on family after Xianqian is wounded in an accident. Shaoping's younger sister Lanxiang manages to be enrolled in the Astronomy program of the Northern University of Industry.

The third volume

Shaoping is promoted in the mine but his girlfriend Xiaoxia dies when she is reporting a flood within the province. Shao'an's factory is ruined by a fake technician and he desperately finds himself in debt. However, with the assistance of his friends, he manages to re-establish the factory and becomes the most productive person in the whole region. Shaoping is wounded and disfigured in an accident in the mine. When he is recovering in the capital of the province, his friend's sister and his sister's friend Xiu Jin expresses her feeling to him and her desire to start a relationship with him. After careful consideration, Shaoping decides that he, a disfigured miner, should not marry Xiu, a university student who has great expectations in the future.

^[1] In a survey conducted during 2003－04 in seven universities in China, the novel was considered one of the most influential books.^[2]

References

Mao Dun Literature Prize

1st (1982)	Wei Wei – Orient Zhou Keqin – Xu Mao and His daughters Yao Xueyin – Li Zicheng Mo Yingfeng – General's Chant Li Guowen – Spring in Winter Gu Hua – A Small Town Called Hibiscus

2nd (1985)	Zhang Jie – Leaden Wings Liu Xinwu – Bell and Drum Tower Li Zhun – Yellow River Flowing to East

3rd (1991)	Lu Yao – Ordinary World Ling Li – Young Emperor Sun Li and Yu Xiaohui – Rhapsody of Metropolis Liu Baiyu – The Second Sun Huo Da – The Funeral of Muslim Xiao Ke – Bloody Heaven Xu Xingye – Broken Golden Bowl

4th (1997)	Chen Zhongshi – White Deer Plain Wang Huo – War and People Liu Sifen – White Gate Willow Liu Yumin – Unsettled Autumn

5th (2000)	Alai – After the Dust Settled Wang Anyi – The Song of Everlasting Sorrow Zhang Ping – Decision Wang Xufeng – Three Episodes of Tea-man

6th (2005)	Xiong Zhaozheng – Zhang Juzheng Zhang Jie – Wordless Xu Guixiang – Heaven of History Liu Jianwei – Heroic Time Zong Pu – Lead-in of Wild Gourd

7th (2008)	Jia Pingwa – Qin Qiang Chi Zijian – The Right Bank of Er'guna River Mai Jia – Plot Zhou Daxin – The Scenery of the Lake and the Mountain

8th (2011)	Zhang Wei – On the Plateau Liu Xinglong – Skywalker Bi Feiyu – Massage Mo Yan – Frog Liu Zhenyun – A Word Is Worth Ten Thousand Words

9th (2015)	Su Tong – Yellowbird Story Ge Fei – Jiangnan Trilogy Wang Meng – Scenery on this Side Jin Yucheng – Blossoms Li Peifu – The Book of Life

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