In that speech he argued that only realism is adequate to express the past suffering of Taiwanese people. He also stated that currently literature in all countries is facing the problem of "loss of time and place." Writers are too focused on the fleeting moments of modern urban life, he opined, overlooking people's relationships with history (time) and the land (place).
當時他特別表示，如果不是寫實主義的表現手法，不足以傳達台灣人過去所遭受的苦難；他並且指出，目前世界各國在文學創作上都正面臨「時空喪失」的困境，作家的描寫過度集中於都會，忽略了人與鄉土、歷史的關係。