Deductive-reasoning fictions: An eye for detail (2)

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Chinese writers rising

The idea of Western detective fiction arrived in Japan and China in early 1900s. When social sect literature was popular in Japan, China's situation was not suitable for a serious critical type of writing.

Cheng Xiaoqing (1893-1976) is the No.1 detective fiction writer. Since he translated many of Arthur Conan Doyle's novels, his writing was hugely influenced by Doyle.

"Although works by Chinese writers at the time showed signs of learning from Western classic detective novels, their quality was comparable to Japanese writers of the same time period… But Japan quickly discovered a different way while China faced a broken cultural environment," said Zhu.

Social sect, for instance, was a result of Japan's innovation on the genre.

The second wave of Chinese mystery was more like spy fiction, and commonly portrayed the war between China's communist party and the Kuomintang in the 1950s. It was not until the 1980s that Chinese readers were able to find a large number of detective fictions, though, not all the publications came out in a legal way since the copyright issue was not as important in China back then.

The communication between Japan and China regarding deductive-reasoning writing has also improved. One example is that Japanese writer Soji Shimada has kept an eye on writers in Asia that have potential and has been actively involved in selecting younger writers.

According to Zhu, there are also Chinese writers that have become known by Japanese readers. The writer Shuitian Yise (a penname) has published her work Butterfly Dream in Japan and made to one of the most popular detective novel recommendation lists.

This year, writer Lei Jun from the Chinese mainland has been nominated as one of the three potential candidates for the Soji Shimada's deductive-reasoning literature prize held in Taiwan, making him the first writer from the mainland to be nominated for the prize.

Beyond literature

When looking at the experience of many popular Japanese writers, it is not difficult to find that many of them share similar experiences before rising to fame: writing as a hobby, winning a prize, writing as a job and then continuing to be productive.

This is the common trajectory of their career development. Haruki Murakami, Keigo Higashino and Banana Yoshimoto are all examples.

The mature Japanese market gives their writers as much pressure as freedom for keeping productive, even for the most famous figures in this field.

Zhu finds that besides the hard work of the writers, the industrial chain also plays a key role. Many of the new writers that are not able to publish their books can find magazine publishers for a serial release.

These magazines have built channels of cooperation with film or television production companies so that popular stories can have a chance to be produced. This cooperation further helps the promotion of the literary works as well as the writers.

Zhu Meng, a publisher specializing in detective genre at New Star Press said in an interview with China Art News that for Chinese detective fictions to develop, writers, publishers and readers should all be more open-minded.

"The first of these Japanese writers, Edogawa Rampo, defined his works as 'omnifarious novels with mystery' and the readers accepted his style… By doing so, more writers later continued exploring new possibilities to eventually find paths that were suitable for Japan and helped the genre maintain its popularity till today. Their experience is worth studying," he said.

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