Mao Zedong Academy of Literature Writers congratulate Lan Xin on winning the Best Theme Award of THE WRITER MONK

By Zhang Yuanwen (China renowned writer and poet)

Translated by Lan Xin (Lan Xin)

World Memory Heritage The Only Female Inheritor of Dongba Culture, International Renowned Writer & Poet. Internationally acclaimed bilingual writer, poet and translator, member of the Chinese Writers Association. The only female inheritor of UNESCO-listed Dongba Culture, International Disseminator of Dongba Culture and practitioner of Chinese culture’s global outreach. Winner of the Italian Francesco Giampietri International Literary Award, President of Lanxin Samei Academy and Dean of Yulong Wenbi Dongba Culture Academy.

Eva Lianou Petropoulou
Αποκλειστικη Eκπρόσωπος για την Ελλάδα για την προώθηση της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς – Dongba Culture Κίνα

Congratulatory Address to Lan Xin on Receiving the Best Theme Award of THE WRITER MONK

The Writers of the 9th Writers Seminar of Mao Zedong Academy of Literature
Respectfully Offered in the Spring of the Bingwu Year

Spring of the Bingwu Year heaven and earth are in harmony
The waves of the Xiang River grow warm
The snow on Yulong Mountain shines bright
It is with great joy that we learn Lan Xin has won the Best Theme Award of THE WRITER MONK
With the boundless light of all things and the eternal love of the universe
And with compassion for all living beings under the sun and moon
Having received this high honor her classmates could not help but cheer
This is not only a glory for Lan Xin alone but also the pride of Huxiang and the light of China

Lan Xin was nurtured in the hometown of Lianxi
Steeped in the land of Qu Yuan and Jia Yi
Her backbone stands as tall and unique as Nanyue Mountain
Her heart is as vast as the waters of Dongting Lake
She drank from the Xiang River in her youth and understood the profound origin of the southern spread of my way
Living in Lijiang in her adulthood she absorbed the ethereal spirit of Dongba culture
Therefore she lives with neither arrogance nor humility unmoved by glory or disgrace
Her writing silent and subtle is sometimes as heavy as the ancient steles of Yuelu sometimes as ethereal as the snow on Yulong Mountain
When somber it is like the tears of the Xiang Concubines
When bright it is like the blooming flowers of Dayan
When I congratulated her on winning the Italian literary award last time I wrote she holds jade in her bosom gentle and elegant

Today I see even more clearly
Huxiang is her root Dongba her wings great love and compassion her heart and great sorrow and mercy her soul
First her roots run deep and wide with the momentum of a mountain
She does not chase vanity
Her style is free and unworldly

The Huxiang spirit of caring for the world and daring to take the lead has become her heart as wide as the sea with a clear conscience
The Dongba belief in all things have spirits and heaven and man are one has become her traces of wood and stone supreme love in the great
With the stubborn perseverance of the people of Hunan she guards Dongba culture in the snow-capped mountains
With the gentle patience of Hunan women she spreads the charm of Eastern poetry to the world

Her roots are firmly planted in the thousand-mile soil of Xiaoxiang
Her wings spread across the ten-thousand-ren peaks of Yulong Mountain — this is her first great quality
Second her light and love are vast shining across the universe
Her mind is broad and full of vitality going straight to the source
Poetry is the light of all things the love of the universe
With the heart as the door love as the key poetry as the bridge connecting the community of common destiny for all mankind — these are not rhetorical devices but her true beliefs

Reading her poetry is like seeing her standing on the top of Yulong Snow Mountain holding a lamp to drive away darkness
No resentment no anger only kindness only light
One lamp can break a thousand years of darkness
One love can melt a thousand miles of ice — this is her second great quality
Third her feelings are profound and subtle touching the heart
Under grand narratives her style is gentle and profound with hidden depths
Clear as autumn water a gentle smile like a blooming flower like the dawn of a new year
Under the magnolia tree the weight of a thousand years rests on a single mark of cinnabar
By the wind and water infinite affection is hidden in the fragrance of flowers

She sees the big picture as heaven and earth and writes the small details as a needle’s tip
As strong as the surging Xiang River as soft as the dewy magnolia — this is her third great quality
The ancient scholar Zhang Zai taught Four Aspirations

Lan Xin practices them with a soft brush
To establish the heart of heaven and earth — her heart is light
To secure the life of the people — her mission is love
To continue the lost learning of the past sages — passing on Huxiang culture continuing the legacy of Dongba
To bring lasting peace to all generations — using poetry as a bridge no matter east or west

As her classmates from Mao Zedong Academy of Literature we know her well
Soft on the outside strong on the inside
She has weathered countless storms yet kept her childlike heart
She cherishes classical culture yet lives in the ancient city of Lijiang with her eyes set on the world

Her gentle words comfort the world helping others and herself without boundaries
We have watched her step by step from the Xiang River to Lijiang from Lijiang to the world
One lamp lights ten thousand lamps
One love turns into ten thousand loves

We cheer for her and we are inspired by her
True friends are hard to meet and kindred spirits are even rarer
May Lan Xin hold fast to her original heart with poetry as her boat and love as her oar
Carrying the charm of the East to faraway shores

As the poem goes
Rooted in Xiangshui with grace from the snow-capped peak
Magnolia blooms again her clear spirit spreads far and wide
Light is sown in her pen love leaves traces in her heart
A single four-leaf clover the soul of Huaxia for a thousand years