Mo Yan's speech "Who is guilty" at the East Asian Literature Forum expressed his gratitude and admiration to Japanese friends for choosing such a full topic for the forum. Human society is noisy, messy, colorful, dissolute and dog-like. It looks extremely complicated, but if you think about it seriously, it is just that the poor pursue wealth and the rich pursue pleasure and excitement-basically that's it. Sima Qian, a great saint in ancient China, said: to entertain the world for profit; The world is bustling for profit. Confucius, a sage in China, said: If you tease the rich, people will do whatever they want; Poverty and meanness are evil to people. People in China say: No one asks to tease the poor in the street, but the rich have distant relatives in the mountains. People, whether saints or ordinary people, intellectuals or illiterate, have a clear understanding of the relationship between poverty and prosperity. Why do people hate poverty? Because the poor can't satisfy their own desires. Whether it's appetite or sexual desire, vanity or love of beauty, whether it's not waiting in line to see a doctor or flying first class, money should be used to satisfy it. Of course, if you are born in the royal family or have served as a senior official, you probably don't need money to satisfy the above desires. Being rich because of wealth is expensive because of birth, family background and power. Of course, if you have money, you don't have to worry, and if you have power, you don't have to worry about money (classic saying). Because rich and expensive are inseparable, they can be combined into one category. The envy and hope of the poor for wealth is human nature and a legitimate desire. Confucius also affirmed this point, but Confucius said: although people's hope for wealth is a legitimate desire, wealth acquired without proper methods should not be enjoyed. Poverty is disgusting to everyone, but it is not advisable to get rid of poverty without proper means. Today, the teachings of saints more than 2,000 years ago have already become the common sense of ordinary people. However, in real life, people who get rid of poverty and get rich by improper means abound, and people who get rid of poverty and get rich by improper means abound. Although they revile those who get rid of poverty and become rich by improper means, there are many people who will do so whenever they have the opportunity. This is the so-called decline of the world, people are not old. In ancient times, there were many benevolent gentlemen who did not envy money or wealth. For example, Yan Hui, the chief disciple of Confucius, teased me for dinner and drank my wine. In a mean alley, people can't bear their worries and don't change their fun when they go back. Ning Guan, the master of the Three Kingdoms, turned a blind eye to the hoe. Hua Xin, who is also a hoe, picked it up and threw it on the ground. Although he has desires, it is not easy to throw them away because of his face. Zhuangzi was fishing in Lishui, and the king of Chu sent two envoys to ask him to be an official. He said to the two envoys: there was a turtle in the state of Chu, which was taken by the king of Chu after his death and wrapped in brocade for the temple. For turtles, it is best to be enshrined alive above the temple or wagging its tail in a mud pond. The envoys said that it is better to wag your tail in the mud pond alive. Zhuangzi's fable contains the intention of concession and avoiding disaster. Although the ancients set a moral example for us, they achieved little. People's pursuit of fame and fortune, such as mosquitoes and bloodthirsty flies, has caused countless tragedies and of course staged countless comedies. Literature, as an art form reflecting social life, will of course take this issue as the most important material for its own research and description. Most writers also love money and seek fame and fortune, but literature criticizes the rich and praises the poor. Of course, the rich people criticized in literature are all rich people who are heartless or get rich through improper means, and the poor people praised in literature are also poor people who do not lose their personal dignity. As long as we have a little memory, we can remember many typical figures in literature. When creating characters, writers often use wealth as a touchstone to test characters, besides giving them the test of life and death, love and hate. Those who have been tempted by wealth are naturally true gentlemen, while those who cannot stand the temptation of wealth will degenerate into villains, slaves, traitors or accomplices. Of course, there are also many literary works, which make his hero get revenge and revenge through the power of money to achieve his own goals. There are also some literary works that give the kind hero a rich and happy ending and positively affirm the value of wealth. Man's desire is a black hole full of discontent. The poor have the desire of the poor and the rich have the desire of the rich. At first, the fisherman's wife just wanted a new wooden basin, but when she got a new one, she immediately wanted a wooden house. With the wooden house, she wants to be a lady, a lady, a queen and a sea overlord, and let the goldfish who can satisfy her desires be her slaves. This is out of line, just like blowing soap bubbles. If you blow too much, it will burst. There is always a limit to everything, and once it goes too far, it will be punished. This is a simple philosophy of life and the law of many things in nature. Many cautionary stories circulated among the people are reminding people to restrain their desires. It is said that Indians made a wooden cage with food in it to catch monkeys. The monkey reached in to grab the food, but his hand couldn't come out. If you want to take your hand out, you must put down the food, but monkeys never put down the food. Monkeys have no wisdom to tease the ground. Do people have wisdom to tease the ground? Look, some people know, some people don't. Some people sometimes have it, and some people sometimes don't. Some people can resist the temptation of money, but they may not be able to resist the temptation of beauty. Some people can resist the temptation of money and beauty, but not necessarily the temptation of power. There are always things that people can't bear to let go. This is a human weakness, but also a human richness. In China's philosophy, there has always been such rationality and wisdom, but people always make redundant people forget to put their hands behind them, and there is no way to turn back at present. Greed is human nature, or its dark side. Relying on moral exhortation and literary preaching can sober people up, but it can't solve the problem fundamentally. Therefore, Buddhism tries to suppress people's greed by teasing that everything is empty and nothing, because greed is the source of all evil and all kinds of pain in life. Therefore, there is a good song in A Dream of Red Mansions: Everyone knows that immortals are good, but fame and fortune cannot be forgotten! Where will the ancient and modern look? A pile of grass is gone! Everyone knows that immortals are good, but gold and silver can't be forgotten! In the end, I just hated to get together and closed my eyes for a long time! Everyone knows that immortals are good, but my wife can't forget them! You said hello on your birthday, and you died with others! Everyone knows that immortals are good, and only children and grandchildren can't forget them! There have been many infatuated parents since ancient times. The most direct and effective way to control human greed is law, which is like a cage and desire is like a beast. What human society has done for thousands of years is the struggle between law, religion, morality, literature and human greed. Although wild animals have rushed out of cages from time to time and injured people, they have basically maintained a relative balance. Friendly relations between people need to be realized by restraining desires; Peaceful relations between countries can only be achieved by suppressing desires. A person's desire is out of control, which may lead to murder; If a country's desire is out of control, it will lead to war. It can be seen that it is more important for the state to control its own desires than for everyone to control their own desires. In human society, besides the temptation of money, fame and power, another biggest and deadliest temptation is the temptation of beauty. This problem seems to have nothing to do with women, but it does. In history, there were wars because of a beautiful woman, and there were rulers who lost their country because of a beautiful woman. It is certainly wrong to absolutely deny lust, because without this desire, human society cannot continue. The rulers of China held a negative attitude towards human sexuality, but most of them were duplicitous. Although there are many wives and concubines in the deep palace, the people want to preserve justice and destroy human desires, and the love between men and women is regarded as a scourge. This concept was embodied in the laws and morals of the feudal dynasty. For human greed for wealth and power, literature is basically consistent with law and morality, but for sexual desire, especially sexual desire sublimated into love, literary works often play the opposite role, and sometimes even play the role of trumpeter. China has The Peony Pavilion, The West Chamber and A Dream of Red Mansions, and foreign countries have My Fair Lady's Lover. This is also the eternal theme of literature. Without the desire between men and women, without affection and love, there seems to be no literature. Undoubtedly, wealth and desire are still the main contradictions in today's world and the source of human pain or joy. China people's material life has been greatly improved in recent years, and their personal freedom has been greatly relaxed, but the people's happiness has not been greatly improved. Due to the unfair distribution of wealth, the disparity between the rich and the poor caused by the improper enrichment of a few people has become the main reason affecting social stability. And those nouveau riche who get rich illegally are arrogant and extravagant, bared their teeth, causing hatred of the lower class, thus forming a strong hatred of the rich. The collusion between the powerful and the powerful has created all kinds of bad policies and unjust cases, which makes the people hate officials in addition to the hatred of the rich. The psychology of hating the rich and hating officials has set off waves after waves with the help of China's network, a modern communication method. Even if some people talk to the class about China's color change, and the evil deeds are restrained, the network in China itself has become a place to shelter evil people and shelter evil practices. 100 years ago, advanced intellectuals in China put forward the slogan of saving the country through science and technology. More than 30 years ago, politicians in China put forward the slogan of rejuvenating the country through science and technology. But today, I think the greatest danger facing mankind is the combination of increasingly advanced technology and expanding human greed. Stimulated by human greed and desire, the development of science and technology has deviated from the normal track of serving people's health needs, but is driven by profits to develop wildly to meet human morbid needs-in fact, a few rich people. Humans are frantically demanding from the earth. We drill holes in the earth, pollute rivers, oceans and air, crowd together, build strange buildings with steel bars and cement, and call such places cities, where we indulge our desires and make garbage that will never be digested. Compared with country people, city people are guilty; Compared with the poor, the rich are guilty; Compared with ordinary people, officials are guilty. In a sense, the bigger the official, the greater the crime, because the bigger the official, the greater the desire and the more resources are consumed. Compared with underdeveloped countries, developed countries are guilty because they have greater desires. Developed countries not only make trouble in their own land, but also go to other countries, to the high seas, to the Arctic and Antarctic, to the moon and to space. The earth is smoking everywhere, shaking all over, the sea is roaring, the dust is flying, the drought and flood are uneven and so on. In this era, our literature actually shoulders a great responsibility, which is to save the earth and save mankind. We should use our works to tell people, especially those rich people who gain wealth and power by improper means, that they are sinners and the gods will not bless them. We should use our works to tell those hypocritical politicians that the so-called national interests are not supreme, but the long-term interests of mankind are truly supreme. We want to use our works to tell those women who have 1000 skirts and 10000 pairs of shoes that they are guilty; We will use our works to tell men who have more than a dozen luxury cars that they are guilty; We should tell those who buy private jets and yachts that they are guilty. Although they can do whatever they want with money in this world, what they do is a crime against humanity, even if their money is earned by legal means. We should use our literary works to tell those nouveau riche, speculators, marauders, politicians, clowns, corrupt officials and corrupt officials that we are all in the same boat. If the ship sinks, whether you are wearing a famous brand, covered with jewels or penniless, the outcome will be the same. We should use our literary works to convey many basic truths to people: for example, houses are made, not used for speculation; If a house cannot be built, it is not a house. We should remind people that before human beings invented air conditioning, there would not be more people dying of heat than now. Before the invention of electric light, myopia was far worse than it is now. Before television appeared, people's spare time life was still very rich. With China Net, people's minds do not store more useful information than before; Without China, there seem to be fewer fools than now. We should let people know through literary works that the convenience of transportation makes people lose the joy of traveling, the speed of communication makes people lose the joy of communication, the excessive food makes people lose the taste of eating, and the easy availability of sex makes people lose the ability to fall in love. We should tell people through literary works that there is no need to develop at such a fast speed, and there is no need to make animals and plants grow so fast, because animals and plants grow so fast that they are not delicious, have no nutrition and contain hormones and other poisons. We should tell people through literary works that under the stimulation of capital, greed and power, the morbid development of science has made human life lose a lot of interest and full of crisis. We should tell people through literary works, take it easy, take it slowly, be smart, use five points and leave five for future generations. We should use our literary works to tell people that the most basic substances to maintain human life are air, sunshine, food and water, and the rest are luxuries. The days of mankind are numbered. When people are in the desert, they will understand that water and food are more precious than gold and diamonds. When earthquakes and tsunamis occur, people will understand that no matter how luxurious villas and mansions are, they are all a mass of mud in the hands of nature. When humans make the earth uninhabitable, then any country, nation, political party, etc. Become meaningless, and of course, literature is meaningless. Can our literature really restrain human greed, especially the greed of the country? The conclusion is pessimistic. Although the conclusion is pessimistic, we can't give up our efforts. Because, this is not only to save others, but also to save yourself. Mo Yan, whose real name is Guan, was born in February 2005 1955, and his ancestral home is Gaomi, Shandong. He was the first China writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He rose with a series of local works in 1980' s, full of complex feelings of mocking homesickness and resentment, and was classified as a writer of mocking root-seeking literature. In 2000, Mo Yan's Red Sorghum was selected as one of the top 100 novels in China in the 20th century by Asia Weekly. In 2005, Sandalwood Punishment was unanimously shortlisted for Mao Dun Literature Award. 20 1 1 Mo Yan won the Mao Dun Literature Prize. 20 12 mo Yan won the Nobel Prize in Literature. On February 6, 65438, Mo Yan was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature by the University of Macau. 2065438+03101030, the first public welfare university in China to train the original authors of China's online literature encouraged the successful opening of China Online Literature University, with Mo Yan as its honorary president. According to incomplete statistics, Mo Yan's works have been translated into at least 40 languages.