Biography of Shrimp Ball is an unfinished masterpiece of modern writer Huang Guliu. Huang Guliu (1908- 197 7) was born in Haiphong, Vietnam. He once joined the Kuomintang, served as a regimental political trainer, secretary and section chief, and then left the Kuomintang and moved to Hong Kong. 1947 1 1 month, the first novel "Spring Breeze and Autumn Rain" of his novel "The Biography of Shrimp Ball" began to be serialized in Huashang Daily, and the second novel "Baiyun Zhuhai" and the third novel "The Mountain is Long and the Water is Far" were also serialized in this magazine. The story of this novel is tortuous, the plot is fascinating, the language is simple and it has a strong southern style. The book takes the plight of the wandering teenager shrimp balls as a clue, reflecting the life of the lower class people in the city, and has created a new way in the works of the same theme since the May 4th Movement. In art, it broke the limitation of the traditional form of the May 4th Movement and strived to develop in the direction of national form and popularization. In the darkest days before the collapse of the Kuomintang reactionary unified metallurgy, the appearance of "Biography of Shrimp Ball" brought a spring breeze to the suffocating literary world. At that time, it was widely spread in the Kuomintang-controlled areas, especially in South China, and had a great influence.

In Hong Kong in the 1940s, the junior shrimp ball left home alone to enter the world, strayed into the Hong Kong underworld, became a messenger, worked as a pickpocket, engaged in smuggling and went to prison, and experienced disasters and hardships. After wandering, I met guerrilla members and gradually made clear my life direction. He led the street children to seize the machine guns skillfully, joined the guerrillas and started a new life milestone. His works were serialized in Hong Kong newspapers in the late 1940s, which caused a strong response. 1985 was published in the mainland in the form of books, with a sales volume of 200,000 to 300,000 copies. Later, it was adapted into a drama and a TV series, which was familiar to more people through the stage and screen, and has a long reputation.

From the time of creation, Biography of Shrimp Ball is actually not old (1947). The reason why we put it in the "old novel shop" is mainly based on its traditional creative technique-it is a popular novel with a strong entertainment.

"Zhang Hui's novel" is a novel form with China national temperament, which originally originated from "telling history" in folk speech. Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, it has been loved by the people and passed down from generation to generation, and has become a unique aesthetic element of the Chinese nation. "Biography of Shrimp Ball" has no dual title, of course, but it internally draws lessons from Zhang Hui's novel's entertainment way of winning by twists and turns, suspense and ingenuity. Dozens of stories, large and small, run through the legendary growth process of Hong Kong grass-roots juvenile shrimp balls.

Those interesting and thrilling plots always make readers turn over all the pages of a book in the tension of sweating for the protagonist.

In addition to touching stories, the unique colonial urban landscape of Hong Kong displayed in the book is also refreshing. Many people admire the author's familiarity with the human settlement ecology in Hong Kong. Whether it's an introduction to the underworld organization structure, entry rules and slang gestures, or a display of the life of house boat and the lower class workers under the colonial background, it's all in sight.

These entertainment strategies have greatly enhanced the influence of The Story of Shrimp Ball. When it was serialized in China Business Daily, it was widely loved by Hong Kong readers. 1985 was published in mainland China in the form of books, with a sales volume of 200,000 to 300,000 copies. Later, it was adapted into drama and TV series, which was familiar to more people through the stage and screen.

However, the entertaining popular novel form is only a weapon of the author. In essence, Biography of Shrimp Ball can be said to be a red classic. No matter from the growth track of shrimp balls or the clear hatred in the text, it is not difficult to see the big theme of burying darkness into light in this book. In addition, the binary structure of the sharp opposition between the old and new camps in this book. It also shows the author's ideological intention. These places more or less reflected the strong left-wing cultural background of Hong Kong and Guangdong at that time.

Make full use of the entertainment consumption function of literature to convey the author's serious thinking about the times and life, which is the intention of the author Mr. Huang Guliu.