From the People’s Daily app.

And this is Story in the Story.

The numbers of internet writers and readers are growing in China.

By the end of 2017, the number of China's internet literature readers had reached 378 million, while the total number of works of all genres reached 16.46 million, written by some 14 million writers.

There has been increasing efforts from the China Writers Association (CWA) and local writing associations to draw the large numbers of internet writers closer to non-fiction themes.

In attracting internet writers, the CWA not only has built organizations for the writers at different levels, it has also fostered their sense of belonging and also has carried out forums to enhance guidance. Many excellent internet writers are members of the CWA. The association also arranges tours for internet writers to visit Party schools, Wenchuan in Sichuan Province, or border areas, allowing them to have a first-hand experience of Chinese history.

Today's Story in the Story will look at how talented young internet writers are shifting to stories about national development and red culture.

(Photo: VCG)

He Changzai, a famed internet writer, is busy working against a deadline on his new novel these days. Unlike his previous works that focused on fantasy, and then on officialdom, his new novel is set against 40 years of reform and opening-up in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, a mainstream subject usually chosen by traditional writers. 

While choosing this serious subject might make many raise their eyebrows, He said he feels obliged to write a novel closer to life and ordinary people to reflect the big changes of our time.

"In the process of writing other novels, I found that when it comes to the historical changes and achievement of reform and opening up, there is no work that deeply reflects the times," He told the Global Times. 

He is just one of the many internet writers who are choosing to write about themes closer to our times. 

Internet writers in China are known for making up stories detached from reality with sheer imagination. 

However, more and more writers, who mostly have built their reputations on major literature websites in China, are dropping mythological figures and stereotyped historical plots and throwing themselves into the creation of works that demonstrate the country's political and economic achievements. 

Some of the writers are joining literary programs launched by writers associations in different regions, including Shanghai, to explore red stories in their local areas, retracing the footprints of former heroic Party leaders and revolutionary martyrs and trying to tell their stories in a vivid way. 

In early July, the Shanghai Writers Association launched a program named "Red Footprints" that encourages writers to explore red stories surrounding Shanghai and retell the stories in a way that could be better accepted. 

Besides well-known writers like Ye Xin and Zhao Lihong, a number of popular internet writers, including Xuehong and Kulou Jingling (Wang Xiaolei) also joined the program. 

"Heroic figures that save the world and humanity, as created in the works of many internet writers, are in essence or spiritually the same as the heroes in red stories," Xue Shu, deputy secretary general of the Shanghai Writers Association, said. "It is spiritual sublimation."

Xue said she hopes that the internet writers will find new and invigorating ways to tell red stories from refreshing angles. 

According to Xue, among the more than 300 revolutionary sites in Shanghai the association’s members chose more than 80 to explore. They will perform investigations and interviews in order to craft stories that revolve around the history of the sites.

The stories to be covered will involve different periods of the Party's construction, including the site where the first National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held, the former residence of Mao Zedong, and even the site of the Party's first secret radio.

Xue said the writers are voluntarily program participants and are showing great enthusiasm for the stories they hope to tell. 

The program’s first bunch of stories will be finished within two months, according to Xue, and all 400 stories will be completed by 2020. All the stories are expected to be published in a collection before July 2021 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party. 

“They are all about pursuing the good things in life,” Xue said. “In the red stories, the young people at that time were also striving for their ideals, which is romantic and idealistic. Before their dream was realized, they were all Don Quixote.”

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Raymond Mendoza, and Lance Crayon. Music by: bensound.com. Text from Global Times and People's Daily.)