Annual Observation Report on Creative Writing in China (2021)

After more than a decade of rapid development, creative writing in China generally slowed down in 2021 and entered a necessary consolidation period, in which academia scrutinized creative writing’s fundamental theories, development mode, and teaching experience. This allowed for the consolidation of theories, which paved the foundation for the disciplinary development of creative writing in the Chinese academic context and the strategy for education in the new arts and humanities. Creative writing studies in 2021 witnessed the opportunities that arose from the development of the new arts and humanities, the development trend toward interdisciplinary integrations, and the spotlight on societal practice. It also saw new progress in fundamental theoretical research in creative writing, more clarity in disciplinary development modes, and new vigor in the research on youth creative writing in 2021. At the same time, the research in creative writing studies during the reporting period was remarkable. With the “International Youth Creative Writing Conference and Forum on Research on Creative Writing in Primary and Secondary Schools” “世界華文青少年創意寫作大會暨中小學創意寫作研究高峰論壇”, and the 1st “Taishan: Forum on Applied Pedagogy of Chinese Creative Writing” 首屆 “泰山·中國創意寫作教育教學實踐峰會” as the driving force and platform, the feature of the year in the research on creative writing became clear. In summary, creative writing in China in 2021, saw an accumulation of practical and theoretical research that focuses on the theory of reading, writing patterns, digital writing, youth writing, interdisciplinary writing, and other topics. As more teaching and pedagogical research continues to develop, the academia will reach more consensus on understanding Chinese creative writing as an academic discipline and its fundamental principles.