One may find it difficult to not to be moved by the life experience of Chen Dabei after reading the biography of him - Biography of Chen Dabei： A Pioneer of Modern China Drama. Chen Dabei is a pioneer of modern Chinese literature， the father of modern Chinese drama， the author of Drama Loves Beauty， the introductory book of Chinese modern drama， the founder of China's first training school for modern drama talents – Peking People’s Art Drama College， one of China's earliest professional drama actor and directors， an important member of the famous drama organization - Spring Willow Drama Society... The writer Su Xuelin commented him as the pioneer of new drama and compared him to Chen Sheng and Wu Guang who led the peasant revolution against the tyranny in Qin Dynasty. The drama expert Xiang Peiliang even compared him to Hu Shi： “Chen's contributions to drama are up to Hu Shi’s contributions to literature， though the influence of the former lasted shorter.” Chen Dabei， a playwright， theater theorist， theater educator， actor， director at one， a unique talent and pioneer on the stage of Chinese modern drama， had not been well known for all these years. He had devoted all his life to Chinese drama movement， be it rebellious， radical， idealistic or isolated， helpless and sad， the unique ethos it presents is truly memorable.
　　Back to history， the appearance of Chen is never accidental. He lived over the time of China’s May Fourth New Culture Movement and Literary Revolution， from which it could be said that his personal ideals and literary preparations had suffered a series of new explorations in China’s intellectual and cultural fields. As could also be seen from the biography， the prevailing social thought and Humanism spirit at that time had profoundly impacted on this intelligent but unconventionally-behaved scholar. Chinese literature， poetry， novels， essays at that time began to present a new look， while changes in drama seemed a bit later. Hu Shi only wrote one work on drama – A Great Event in Life and turned to other areas， but Chen Dabei， opened up a new world of modern Chinese drama with his partners Ren Tianzhi， Pu Boying， Ouyang Yuqian and so forth. In the eyes of those "New Youth"， drama has social function， aesthetic effect and entertainingness having a negligible effect on the enlightenment and awakening of the public and the prosperity of the country. Having been aware of the importance of drama education， Chen had not only actively devoted to the construction of modern drama and its practice， but also promoted the specialization and professionalization of Chinese modern drama with greater ambitions and aspirations. He tried to adopt western drama theory and education training， for which he and Pu Boying co-founded China's first training school for modern drama professionals - Beijingers’ Arts and Drama College， and recruited a number of cultural figures such as Lu Xun， Zhou Zuoren， Liang Qichao， Sun Fuyuan and so forth as office managers. Despite the short-time existence of it， the foundation of Peking People’s Art Drama College had become a symbolic event in the Chinese drama field. About his own work， Chen Dabei once said： "I， or we， should contribute everything to China's new theatrical movement's even it’s our own lives； as long as it is conducive to the society， it would never be harmless to our own. Don not mention “hell”， “degenerate matter” or the mocking of relatives and friends to me， as I have never ever been afraid of them！” Such a daring critique， revolutionary spirit and the courage for creation， may probably reflected the social mission and moral sense and dedication for arts of Chinese intellectuals in the May Fourth era. 　　Compared with thinkers， Chen Dabei is more like a practicer. His commercialization of traditional opera and drama， his critical language and firm and uncompromising stance were all for the promotion of the modernization of Chinese drama. The so-called modernization is： the spirit is modern. It goes in line with modern consciousness， including democracy， science， enlightenment consciousness； the discourse system is modern. It conforms to the modern mode of thinking， as a modern dialogue in the spiritual realm； the art manifestation is modern. It meets the modern aesthetic taste and pursuit. Therefore， the beauty of the drama movement that he initiated emerged in Beijing， Shanghai and other big cities in the early 1920s and soon became the mainstream of Chinese drama activities. At the meantime， he published articles on the beauty of the drama and introduced for the first time the theories on screenplay， directing， acting and stage art design and explored the ontological law of theater arts and determined the direction of the Chinese drama， which speeded the development of Chinese modern drama from its infancy to maturity. This monograph is not only the introductory book of China’s modern drama， but also fills in the blank in Chinese modern drama studies. Over half a century， Drama Loves Beauty has still been a required reading for students of theater majors till today.
　　Introduction
　　At 14：28：04 on May 12， 2008， a gigantic amount of energy， equal to that of 251 atomic bombs， erupted from about 19 kilometers under the ground of the Lianhuaxin Ditch. In the flash of 6 seconds， more than 3 million square meters of solids swept over a 2.5km-radius area， dashing at the Yingxiu town nearby.
　　In the shaking chaotic， the villager Dong Yihai saw a huge stone with the height of a two-story building falling from the mountains and dashing to his courtyard. In the blink of an eye， all the four houses “disappeared even without a trail.”
　　Ten minutes later， the first earthquake note announced by China Seismological Bureau was sent to Tian Yixiang， the senior colonel who was in charge of emergency leading group in the army. The national relief system was immediately launched. The note defined Wenchuan County as the epicenter， while the more precise one， Yingxiu Town， was ignored.
　　Twenty-four hours later， the first advance team， composed of 22 soldiers， passed Yingxiu Town. They were astounded at the sight of the horrible scene in front of them： the remaining collapsed houses and the wounded and dead bodies scattering everywhere in the ruins. The survivors were crazily rescuing people with bare hand. They decided at once to take rescue efforts at the risk of disobeying the military orders. 　　Soon， a snatch followed. Splendor Supermarket， the largest one in the town， became the first one being snatched. At first， some people “took” tobacco from it and later some pried open the rolling door with an iron bar. Zhang Xiuyun， the supermarket owner， shouted at them indignantly， “If you dare do that again， I will kill you！”
　　The author spent three years interviewing more than 170 people in the stricken area. He sorted out the oral accounts of over 80 witnesses from the sound recordings with the length of hundreds of hours， representing more than 200 people’s lives in the seven days after the quake.
　　This book shows the tenacity of life and the humanity in a catastrophe， leading people to rethink the disaster profoundly.
　　About the author
　　Zhang Liang， male， born in 1969 in Hubei Province， once studied at The Atmospheric Science Department of Sun Yat-sen University and Department of Journalism of Jinan University. He has been engaged in journalism for over a decade and now is the associate editor of Principal. After the earthquake， he spent three years interviewing more than 170 survivors， rescuers and volunteers in the disaster area. He worked hard in the daytime and slept in the board room at night. He has sorted out oral accounts of over 80 witnesses from the sound recordings with the length of hundreds of hours， representing 200 people’s lives in the seven days after the quake.
　　Digest
　　During the earthquake， there were about one thousand and two hundred people injured in the Yingxiu Town， among which more than four hundred had a very severe condition. Right on the day of the earthquake， doctors had enough medical supplies for first aid. However， from May 13 on， the second day of the quake， the only thing that the doctors and nurses could do was binding. Wounds could not be disinfected. There was even no water for cleaning the wound， let alone anti-infection treatment. Bandages of various materials including towels， clothes， red scarves and even the sanitary pads and tree branches， were used to treat the wound. The cotton fiber became wet due to the two-day rain； as a result， the wounds started to fester and infect. Severer complications ensued.
　　Cui Bin， president of the hospital， could not be more worried on May 14 for he knew that the doctors and nurses could hardly hold on. In the quake， only two doctors were injured and the others spent two consecutive days in rushing for emergency treatment and could not take a nap until suffering desperate exhaustion. They tried all they could do to reduce the casualty. Even though there were few things they could do， their standing by the patient with white coats reassured the patients greatly. 　　At 5 p.m.， this huge task was cast to the medical team of Third Military Medical University.
　　Hearing that a medical team came to rescue， Pu Qian， the deputy director， hurried to receive them. She came across Huang He of Xinqiao Hospital. When she saw the medical team only carrying few boxes of medicine with them in addition to their knapsacks， an extreme disappointment struck her， “You’ve brought so few things here. How to treat the patients？” Huang He didn’t know how to explain it. He could only rely on such objects to prove that they had already tried everything they could do， just like the doctors and nurses in the town health center. He opened his knapsack and took out the medicine and medical instruments one by one. The knapsack that should have held personal articles of daily uses revealed itself at the bottom： there were only two bars of chocolate – provisions for Huang He himself. Seeing this， Pu Qian turned back and burst into tears.
　　At that moment， the medical team was surrounded by the crowd. About half of the patients suffering serious injuries were carried here. In addition to those who had less serve condition as well as their families， several hundreds were gathering on the playground of the middle school. They lay disorderly on the door planks， covered with colorful quilt， sheet or plastic cloth. In the morning it drizzled， but in the afternoon， it turned burning hot. Finally， the wounded on the playground were all haggard. Naturally， they all wanted to turn to the medical team members passing by.
　　The first eight medical members rushing down from the dike could hardly work at the beginning. Liu Minghua， the deputy director of emergency department of Southwest Hospital， was dragged by the patients’ families and had to repeat over and again， “don’t worry. Just one at a time.” The same situation also happened to Xian Jishu， the head nurse. She was supposed to follow and assist the doctor with another nurse， but soon was separated with them in the confusion. The families couldn’t distinguish the nurse and doctors， and they would pull anyone in a Red Cross armband. As soon as Xian Jishu crouched before a patient， she was pulled away to another patient. Her dialogue with the patient was always interrupted， which worried her.
　　Keeping order was one of the responsibilities for the head nurse who was in charge of endemic area. Xian Jishu then， standing on a rubble pile， started to shout to the crowd， “Please keep calm. We promise you that each of you will be safe. Now please keep the order. Or we cannot take any action.” These few common words revealed the dedicated attitude of the medical team. As a result， several young people were moved and then they stood out and said， “Please don’t walk around. We should listen to the doctors.” The order finally was slightly improved. 　　Eight doctors were far from enough. The following medical team experienced the same embarrassment. Wang Weidong， from Xinqiao Hospital was scared by the scores of hands reaching towards him while everyone was shouting， “Me first！” Gong Haiyan from Southwest Hospital was gripped on the legs by a wounded man lying on the ground. Ji Junsheng， the director of medical education office， noticed several patients lying quietly among the swarms of injured and found them dead when looking closely. Most of them were still alive when carried here， but they had been struggling for more than 50 hours， and each hour was an extremely hard test for them.
　　The standard operation procedures were disorganized. The strict separating treatment could hardly work. Doctors walked through the wounded and gave an emergency treatment to those wounded severely after a quick check， while nurses took over the lightly wounded ones and were going to face it by themselves.
　　Wu Ying was led to an old lady whose wound began to scab. It seemed not so serious， but when she peeled the crust slightly， she was shocked suddenly： it was a lacerated wound， deep and long， stretching from her head top to behind the ear and beneath the crust was full of pustules. The gradual adaptation to constant pain tended to create an illusion for the patient that they had been in a stable condition， but the fact was the evil illness would never take a rest. Without washing equipment， Wu Ying could only use gauze to wrap her wound and absorb the pus slowly. Then she took out her own drinking water as there was no saline solution， cut the infusion set head， connected to an empty syringe and washed the wound over and over by the pressure produced by pulling syringe.
　　However， the situation which doctors were confronted with was much more serious. Nearly thirty members of Southwest Hospital medical team had all arrived and were going to conduct more complicated operations—surgery outdoors. The operation team comprised seven doctors and nurses. Two patients with leg fractures were taken to the flat basketball court. With the infusion bottle hanging on the basketball hoop and the operation team kneeling around the injured， here began the first outdoors operation in Yingxiu after the earthquake.
　　A merely broken bone was not a threat enough to require much effort from the medical team， but the osteofascial compartment syndrome caused by a fracture or squeeze was a deadly threat. The bone， tendon and membrane form an enclosed space in the joints of the shank and wrist. While the hematoma and edema caused by fracture would significantly intensify the pressure within the space and it ultimately would lead to an automatic close of the arteriole. Thus， the limb under the joint， due to the lack of blood and oxygen for its muscle and nerve， became necrotic gradually. Eventually， a limb amputation was required and the toxin produced by necrosis limb may easily result in acute renal failure. Therefore， the most effective way to treat shank fracture was to directly cut the shank to lower the pressure in the space in order to restore the blood flows to the limb. 　　Yi Bin and Cui Jian， the anesthetists， had early expected that the operation would be extremely unfavorable， so they prepared all sorts of narcotics， even those “outdated” ones—morphine and ketamine. In the “outdoors operation”， in the basketball court， orthopedist Wu Xue cut the shank with a knife， as soon as Head Nurse Wang Li injected the “outdated” narcotic for the patient.
　　Introduction
　　In the book， Growing up， Chi Li， the author， tells her daughter’s growth experience —from a little embryo， to a teenager， then to an adult successfully stepping into the society upon graduation from the world top university. The 24-year parenting experiences of the author are all condensed in the book. The book not only represents the daughter’s growth experience and the author’s education to her daughter from the perspective of a mother but also depicts how the daughter made the author a mother she is today.
　　It seems to Chi Li that a woman， not being a mom， is always like a teenage girl with an innocent heart， while a woman， being a mom， is not a teenage girl any more but with a complicated heart， as a result of maternity. Chi Li believes the most effective way to educate children neither comes from the school nor the society but the way of living： actually， the lifestyle the parents have endowed their children since pregnancy determines what kind of person the child will be. It is also mentioned in Growing up how the author educates her daughter. Confronted with the current Chinese education system which lays much stress on diploma， Chi Li strongly disagrees with the practices of blindly following the social trends and judging children too harshly with the simple criteria in school and society. Instead， in the daughter’s growth， Chi Li expresses her love and supports. She says a mother will never change her love to the child， but the way of love. Chi Li takes herself and her daughter as an example. When her daughter was young， she would take care of her daughter by herself in all basic necessities. As the daughter grows up， except the basic necessities， she also needed to look after her daughter’s emotion and to consider whether her own words and deeds or the family atmosphere would have negative impact on her daughter. When the daughter steps into the society with her own judgment， opinion and decision to deal with personal affairs， Chi Li never drill down into details of her daughter’s personal affairs， but gives the daughter more understanding， respect and tolerance. Meanwhile， she never compels her daughter to correct the decision that seems rather na?ve or even a false， but makes the daughter learn from it. Chi Li concludes that as a mother， she learns more about how to love the daughter from within as the daughter grows up. 　　About the author
　　Chi Li， a famous writer， now lives in Wuhan. Her major works include long novels like Come and Go， Good Morning， Miss， Love Story of Fire and Water etc. and essay collections， such as Old Wuhan， Until Water Becomes Pearl， Come Here， Sweetie. Many of her works are adapted into films， TV series， dramas and French stage plays and win more than 70 literature awards. The French， English， Spanish， Japanese， Germany， Korean， Vietnamese and Thai translation versions are published in the corresponding countries.
　　Excerpt
　　Love is a Necessity
　　My little Yichi was so sensitive that she was easily frightened by any aggressiveness and rudeness. One day， she kept asking me to play “cross thread” （a traditional Chinese game that two people use the thread to present different patterns） with her. As I was engaged， I threw her an impatient glare. She left sullenly， without a word or a tear， and crawled into her bed until I uncovered the quilt for fear that she would suffocate to death. She then was glazing over the ceiling. Finally， my apology set tears tickling down her cheeks.
　　Her father’s sulky face always portends a coming catastrophic to the little Yichi. When she was still a little kid， not higher than the table， she knocked over a bottle of cough syrup on table by accident. Seeing it spill over the floor， her father flew into a rage. Little Yichi was scared to hide under the table for a whole afternoon until I forced into it to pull her out. Sometimes Yichi played outside in the courtyard and didn’t go back home until it was dark for a long time. The school transcript used to be another hell to her for so long as there were undesirable grades on it， and then her father would show unpleasantness on his face. Yichi would drop her head and shed tears silently， totally stupefied.
　　I know some of my relatives and friends may think Yichi is slow-witted and indifferent， as when facing biting words and explicit dissatisfaction of the adult in each family gathering， she cannot reply them with a ready tongue as delightedly as other children， not to mention blurt some harsh or flattery words.
　　Usually， on such occasions， I feel sorry for her. Then I started to review myself and request myself to avoid rashness， bad temper and aggressiveness when I was arguing in front of her. I also talked to her father for many times， hoping that he would review himself and abandon his violent temper. Of course， he didn’t think it was his fault but mine. It ended up more frequently quarrels between two of us. I cannot change her father， but I can change myself， hard as it is and my effort will not pay off in a short time， but I have to do what I can for my girl. Gradually， I restrained myself hardly and showed as much tolerance and patience as I could when she was present. 　　Little Yichi was an ordinary kid， as I found nothing special or any special gift in her. Among a group of children of her age， Yichi was neither the most quick-minded one nor the cleverest one； instead she was so timid and shy that she could hardly stumble any word. However， once in a relaxed and pleasant mood， she would have a totally different performance. For example， she never cried during the three years in the kindergarten. In primary school， when she was lining up in the playground for a school meeting， she did not cry or shout out even when a mouse was popping in her clothes. I am so proud of my little Yichi for her excellent performance that I often reassure her that she has the most stable mentality in the world. Though thinking I overstate a little bit later when she grows up， she is very happy.
　　Therefore， I must love the deficiencies of my little Yichi. It doesn’t mean to give her money or to buy her snacks， but to defend her and trust her at any time and to create a more comfortable environment for her as possible as I can. I tried hard to argue with anyone who shows her dirty look even if I have to offend or threaten them. When Yichi was in elementary school， I had a talk with her school master. I told her if she implicitly satirized my girl’s admission to the school because of her famous mother in the school conference， I would report it to the newspaper， the education board and the education bureau. I would rather to divorce her father than to forgive his changing temper： at one moment， he cannot be any closer with his daughter and a moment later， he can shout at his daughter loudly.
　　I must love my girl’s weakness to make her adapted gradually to the tyrannical society and the competitive environment where the weak are the prey of the strong. Maybe she has some natures that can hardly be changed， but I will try everything I can to improve her psychological quality and make her stronger. Gradually， she will grow more courageous and tolerant to be part of the crow—no matter how they mock you and rob you. In the future， when you grow up， more people are waiting to trouble you.
　　Introduction
　　Micro-Tibet （Chinese-English Version） is a book showing a true Tibet in the form of “mircoblog style”. This book tries to use the least words to show a true Tibet in the eyes of people who best know it so as to pursue a perfect reading experience in a new media environment. With the combination of both illustrations and words， this book， as a Chinese-English bilingual version， also reveals Tibetans’ daily lives and their inner world through the description of numerous true stories and details. 　　This book includes over 520 good microblogs and 150 beautiful pictures， including numerous first-hand stories and experiences， profound， simple and objective opinions， quotations and talk shows related to Tibet and funny original details as well as pictures.
　　This book is innovative in both forms and contents. On the one hand， it introduces the concepts and essence of new media to traditional books by using “microblog style” which is more applicable to the communication environment of new media， jumping up a new footstep in expression， attraction and appealing. On the other hand， it uses many short stories to form fascinating microblogs. Although they are just fragments， every microblog is the essence， which can present a fact and express an emotion， and in which people， things， issues and emotions are all included. In front of the fashion frontier of “Tibet Fever”， this book shows the outside world a more delicate and true Tibet， which is beyond a pure zeal for exotic customs， natural scenery and religious mystery.
　　Excerpt
　　A Soul Journey to Real Tibet （Preface）
　　When the Commercial Press asked me to write this book， I first think of the remarks of my best friend Ji Yongqiang， a gentle journalist aiding Tibet. He said before his death that some people thought they had experienced life and death after returning from Tibet or they thought they had brushed past death when climbing a snow-capped mountain… “Please don’t fool the public.” he commented.
　　12 years has passed since Yongqiang’s death at his post elapsed in a flash. However， his belief that not to fool readers by virtue of right of speech delegated by the readers has been remembered in my heart forever. Some people said that Tibet is a mistress of travelers， but for me， I go to Tibet once or twice a year and it is more like a magical cloth for every time I went to Tibet， I felt my heart more clean and pure. This land changed me， making my heart more soft and calm. Therefore， apart from my love for Tibet， I always felt I owed it something. What can make me feel comfort is： how to show the outside world a more real， impressive and objective Tibet？
　　That is the power of believing the truth. For people awing words， the flaws of truth matter more than the fake perfectness. I had carefully read many times the book One Year in Tibet written by Ms. Shu Yun， in which what impressed me most is the story of a rural doctor Rahm. She offered medical treatment for more than 5，000 people of his county in a shabby health center， but finally got a serious stomach disease due to overwork. However， as a doctor herself， she believed that her disease was caused by “evils in her previous life” and turned to a sorcerer instead of other doctors. This unbelievable story is not rare but common in Tibet. It may not be a positive example to promote Tibet， but it is real and true. 　　So， this book targets at “Truth” from the right beginning. We have to find sincerely as more people who really know and understand Tibet as possible to show the outside world a real Tibet which is beyond hurry and curiosity， puzzle and surprise and definitely black and white.
　　This book is also innovative in form for it uses the so-called “microblog style”. The reason why I chose it is that not only are many people used to the “mini-article” which is easy to read， forward and spread， but the “microblog style” is beneficial to present a real Tibet by showing more details. And these details combined can finally present a Tibet which is emotional， hopeful and challengeable. I am deeply convinced that the real Tibet is more beautiful and its charm is included in numerous lively and first-hand details， in profound and objective views and in many funny and original short stories.
　　A snow-capped mountain is easy to see from a distance， but to find out fascinating details of the daily lives of Tibetans requires long-term and short-distance watch and immersion as well as the plentiful emotions and the permanent love for this land. As a book pursuing the best reading experience in a new media environment and trying to show a real Tibet in the eyes of people who really know it， I named it Micro-Tibet. The “Wei （Micro）” in the book name is from “weibo （microblog）”， also from “xiwei （subtle）” and “weimiao （delicate）”. I hope that every “microblog” in this book is like a key to help us open the door blocked by imagination and prejudice so that people can know a true Tibet finally.
　　II.
　　In fact， Micro-Tibet can date back to my Tibetan mom， Demen Deqingzhuoga， a famous folk literature specialist. On a night two years ago， at her home in Qokang Temple of Lhasa， she told me a story from her two nannies who just returned. I thought at that time that what a good idea it was to collect enough stories like this and made them a book to guide readers to the inner heart of Tibetans.
　　On that day， 76-year-old Amara drank highland barley wine and ate yak meat with me. She even sang some love songs of the sixth Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso in Tibetan she learned in her childhood and danced to it. It was a little bit late when a nanny， Qu Zhen， who was tying knots quietly beside us just now， came to clean up the table. But suddenly at that time， Amara said to me that “you want to know about Tibetans， right？ I tell you two fresh and true stories that told by Qu Zhen yesterday”. She said，” In the village Qu Zhen lives， a ten-year-old girl was killed by a neighbor’s car on the way to town. The girl’s mother was so sad that she locked herself at home for three days. And the car driver also felt very guilty and worried. But to everyone’s surprise， on the fourth day after the accident， the girl’s mother went to the neighbor’s home to comfort him rather than ask for compensation.” 　　“But why did the mother comfort the car driver？ She said： everyone’s life has its cause and effect. My daughter’s death is not only your fault， but the effect of causes of both her previous and present life. The car accident is only the superficial phenomenon， my daughter’s every thoughts and behaviors combined before her death is the real reason of her death. So， let’s accept the fact. Only when we survivors stop regretting and grieving can the dead felt peaceful.” She added.
　　This story had already shocked me， but another one was still waiting for me.
　　“Qu Zhen’s family fed a head of cattle at home. But right on the day Qu Zhen arrived home， the cattle fell over the cliff and wounded seriously. It was on the brink of death the moment it was saved. So what should they do？ Some said that they could eat it now because it was fed for its meat， whereas her families disagreed. Her families thought they should send for a vet for cattle was also a life， finally costing them more money than that they bought the cattle. This is Tibetan herdsmen whose thoughts， that the lives of cattle and human are no different for it is a head of cattle in this life but may be a person in next life， still remain the same.”
　　After I came out from Amara’s home that night， I felt the Barkhor Street was exceptionally quiet and the prayer flag on the roof was also very clear in the moonlight. At that moment， I suddenly felt as if I had been walking in my childhood hometown， with something familiar， kind and warm flowing in my inner heart. I had never thought then that， two years later， on June 23， 2012， right on the second day after my arrival at Lhasa， Amara closed her eyes forever at the hospital of the autonomous region. When I companied Amara’s body to go across the Barkhor Street for the last time on a raining night， I felt that a sense of motherhood was around me.
　　Amara once told me that many people thought Tibet is very “mysterious”. “Why？ You think what you don’t know is mysterious. After you know about it， what else is mysterious？ If you pay attention to superficial phenomena alone， you see nothing but mysteries. So， I think you have to make clear many superficial phenomena before understanding the heart of Tibetan people.”
　　After Amara’s death， her families lit for her the button lamps for 49 days. On my road to looking for Tibetan spirit， Amara is like an eternal light that always guides me.
　　III.
　　During the investigation and survey of Tibet with Mr. Zhou Hongbo， the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Commercial Press， what impressed me most was conversations with two representatives of “Tibetan Painting”. They are Mr. Yu Youxin， former vice president of Tibet Federation of Literary and Art Circles， who settled in Tibet for 30 years， and Mr. Han Shuli， current president of Tibet Artists Association， who entered Tibet for 40 years. 　　Mr. Yu Youxin regarded Tibet as a place where you can “put your heart in tranquility” and where “you do not feel anxious”. He said that to find and understand the real Tibet， you have to forget all your prejudice and open your heart as a primary student.
　　“Tibetans have their own living status and lifestyles which cannot be measured mechanically by criteria outside or decorated by over-flattered remarks. What values most is to let outside world know a real Tibet and Tibetans.” He said.
　　Mr. Han Shuli told me a story that “One year I went to rural areas to collect folk songs， sitting on a cold rock painting. A local Tibetan handed me quietly a small piece of wooden board after warming it in the sunlight for fear that he might disturb me painting.” Between two persons speaking two different languages and living in two distinct environments， one’s sincere and selfless action warmed the heart of the other people via a small piece of wooden board， even if many years had passed.
　　When it came to the mentality towards Tibet， he gave us three suggestions： first， look at Tibet horizontally， that is to say， see it without prejudice； second， see Tibet with an usual mind without sudden shock or surprise； third， see Tibet tolerantly without a sense of superiority and the Savior.
　　That conversation with Mr. Yu and Mr. Han reminded me of an informal discussion with chief journalists in Beijing of CNN， Washington Post and Time as well as another American Chinese female ambassador. In that informal discussion， a journalist put forward that foreign journalists had less interviewing freedom and space if compared with other Chinese journalists working in Beijing. For example， foreign journalists could hardly go to Tibet for interview. Even if they arrived at Tibet， they would be restricted strictly.
　　The audiences then were mainly postgraduates from International Politics major of Peking University. One student stood up and questioned： Is foreign report about Tibet over one-sided？ Why are you always targeting on what are negative and non-mainstream？ Are you going to Tibet for finding something or to prove your prejudice？
　　During the discussion， an experienced Chinese journalist said emotionally that as journalists， we were all restricted by our personal background， languages， experiences， etc. And these restrictions were， to a large extent， from us rather than outside world. He added that we were all in a cage and the difference was that sometimes we were in a bigger cage and sometimes you were. 　　An association strikes me that there are two frogs squatting at the bottom of a well， staring at the sky and thinking that sky is what they see from the well mouth. In a sense， we are all frogs like them. What differs is that the “well mouth” which restricts our horizon is our prejudice. What’s worse， we even close doors when we should open windows so as to see clearly.
　　Indeed， when crowds are clamoring outside your windows， the wiser decision is not to close both doors and windows or drive away the crowds but open the windows more widely or clean the window glasses so as to let them see clearly.
　　Why not？ A three-dimensional， shadowy but brighter truth is right there. What we should do is to let more people better see it.
　　By Nie Xiaoyang
　　Introduction
　　In Tibetan Mastiffsc are not Dogs， we can see Yang Zhijun’s returned spiritual exploration. The sufferings of Tibetan Mastiff reflect the darkness of human’s heart and people are struggling against the subverted human personality by evils. Is it real that we have rights to commit crimes rather than to be a human？ Who is deciding the life and death of “human”？ The author of Tibetan Mastiffs are not Dogs tells stories smoothly with poetic words， showing us that behind the shocking tragedies of Tibetan Mastiff is unbelievable depravity of “human”. But to our surprise， we also see the sparkling light of human’s personality， the existence of pure souls and the possibility of belief redemption. The Tibetan Mastiffs are coming from Tibetan Plateau.
　　About the Author
　　Yang Zhijun has written a series of wasteland novels including： long novels The Sea Ebbs Yesterday， Adam Who Lost His Cock， Secret Spring and Autumn， The End of Time， People Who Support the Board Areas， Together with Bullets， Deserted Zone， Depopulated Tribes （documentary novel） etc. His novels about Tibet include： long novel The Collapse of Round Lake， Big Tragedy， Traces of Life， Knocking the Head-Made Drums， Camels， Tibetan Mastiff I， Tibetan Mastiff II， Tibetan Mastiff III， Terma， Tibetan Wars etc. His works have won National Literature Prize for many times and been translated abroad in many foreign languages.
　　Digest
　　Chapter I Gaduojuewu
　　Yuanzui didn’t give up asking for a month while Qiangba didn’t agree either. During this month， Yuanzui nearly repeated his request every day that “I should have given you tens of hundreds thousands yuan. But you see I am not rich. A poor wretch shouldn’t have come here. But here I am and I won’t leave. You won’t drive me away by whips or send Tibetan Mastiff to bite me， right？ You have seen that I walk around the holy stones every day and say holy words in order to pray before Buddha that you can change your mind. What do you think？ Please agree my request for Sakyamuni’s sake. I know Tibetans like pearls and agate， and I have a string of pearls， which is my sole treasure， at hand， worth about ten to twenty thousand yuan. Take a look. How beautiful your wife will be if she wears it！ Ok， no more words. You keep the pearl and I take the Tibetan Mastiff.” 　　Qiangba tied his horse to a stake after returning from Temple and dodged Yuanzui as usual in case that Yuan would squeeze the pearl into his hand. He said in broken Mandarin firmly that “It is not the money that matters， but because your taking my Tibetan Mastiff will hurt my heart. You’d better leave. I will leave my Tibetan Mastiff unless the grassland cracks and the snow-capped mountains collapse. ”
　　Yuanzui said，” The snow-capped mountains are impossible to collapse， but the chains on your Tibetan Mastiff， right？”
　　Qiangba thumped his chest and said：” I mean my heart will be like the collapsed snow-capped mountains if you take my Tibetan Mastiff.” Then he took a packet of salt from an oxhide bag on the horse back and went into the watchtower in a hurry.
　　Yuanzui nearly cried. He felt this was his last request and could not help being sad. Over these days， he tried every effort only to find that he just touched himself instead of Qiangba. He wiped his tears exaggeratedly and headed toward the goal he would never give up.
　　That was a female Tibetan Mastiff with eight children， right at the foot of watchtower.
　　The female Tibetan Mastiff had red mouth， chest and legs just like the iron covering gold， with black hairs like a new satin dyed and polished right from the dyer， as if the beautiful sunset glow had lifted up the black sky. What surprised Yuanzui most was that the hairs of natural grassland Mastiffs were black without luster but the female Tibetan Mastiff right in front of him had hairs of polished black as if we could reflect ourselves on them. It was also very strong， bigger than usual male Mastiffs. And another attractive feature was that it had large nose， quadrate mouth， slant eyes and big head， with unique expressions and behaviors. The tenderness of this female Mastiff covered by its strong and ferocious appearance reminded Yuanzui of his mother suddenly. Yuanzui thought that this female Mastiff must been the best of all on Qingguoama Grassland.
　　Yuanzui didn’t want this female Mastiff though it is perfect. He wanted two young Tibetan Mastiffs， one male and one female are better. The little Tibetan Mastiffs were born less than a month， so it was hard to judge them from their appearance. But Yuanzui didn’t worry about their appearance for their dad was Gaduojuewu， the best male Mastiff on Qingguoama grassland.
　　He came here just because he heard that Gaduojuewu’s spouse---Gezigeya， had borne babies. He didn’t want to leave once he came here. Just thought that what kind of offspring would be when the best male Tibetan Mastiff married the best female Mastiff. Their baby Mastiff must been proud son of heaven. He dwelled on the grassland one hundred meters from the home of Qiangba without a tent， bed or quilt. He slept with only a sheepskin clothes. In the night， he would burn bonfires when he was too cold to sleep. The fire once burned his clothes when he huddled himself up beside the bonfire， so he rolled a few rounds on the ground to put the fire out. In April， the early spring on the Qingguoama grassland was much colder than winter. He had meals more casually. He made meals on an aluminum pot bought from Maima Town on a temporarily built stone kitchen and had Zanba with pickles. Although Zanba could alleviate his hunger and thirst， his stomach hurt. He began to vomit stomach acid later. Apart from the time of eating and sleeping， he spent all of his time staying with the untied female Tibetan Mastiff and her baby Mastiff in front of Qiangba’s watchtower， staring at them tirelessly. 　　Qiangba’s home didn’t have courtyard wall but three piles of dry cattle waste as high as small hills in the direction of East， West and South. The three piles of cattle waste formed an intangible courtyard wall between each other which was the limit of this Tibetan Mastiff， for Gezigeya would bark and roar thunderously at anyone who stepped inside. But to Yuanzui’s surprise， the female Mastiff just stared at him alertly and allowed him to watch her and her eight children in a close distance rather than barking at him since his first appearance till now. It also puzzled Qiangba’s families that “My female Tibetan Mastiff---Gezigeya has never allowed strangers to come close watchtower before. What happened to you？”
　　Qiangba seemed not to drive away this stranger the Tibetan Mastiff didn’t barked at， allowing his coming and leaving. Qiangba’s wife， Lamuyuzhen， said in more fluent Mandarin that “Gezigeya seems knowing you. What’s your name？ Where are you from？ ” Yuanzui told her his name and that he came from the Blue Island in the coastal areas. Lamulazhen said that “I have heard of sea. It is a place full of water and boundless as grassland. But what your cattle and sheep eat， and how your horses run？”
　　Lamulazhen was the only person who talked to him since Yuanzui’s coming here， with a smile on her face. When she smiled， her eyes narrowed into a string and her shallow dimples showed on her flushed face. She even gave him a bowl of milk tea and said that “we people here are warmer and you people beside the sea are colder. Drink some warm milk tea or your guts will be frozen into ice. You are not Tibetan Mastiffs， without thick furs to resist coldness.” Yuanzui was touched by her. He thought that he had a hope to get two little Tibetan Mastiffs once he gained her sympathy. He replied that “My sister， I don’t want milk tea but your little Tibetan Mastiff. Please allow me to take two little Tibetan Mastiffs and my frozen guts will melt. Take the pearl， please.” Like her husband， Lamuyuzhen refused his sparkling pearl and left with her back turning around. Watching her back with slim figure， Yuanzi begged in his heart that “Please pity me， kind woman.”
　　No one would pity him even if he went down on his knees. Actually， when Qiangba was out pasturing and Lamuyuzhen went to fetch water in the river， Yuanzui had really went down on his knees in front of Qiangba’s father---Gangqueba and said：” I didn’t have much money but I really love Tibetan Mastiff， just like men’s love for women and cattle’s loving grass. Good man， please give me two little Tibetan Mastiffs and I am willing to call you father， grandfather or ancestor.” Then he kowtowed to this old man. This old man sat in front of the gate and organized wools in the sunlight， with his three-year-old grandson sitting on his legs. The little boy spread his legs and peed at his head. Yuanzui wiped his wet hair when straightening himself and said：” how can you do that？” 　　Surprised， Yuanzui saw Gangbaque’s indifference and firm attitudes which is reflected from his bloodshot eyes and the three-year-old boy’s alerts and worries in his little face. He couldn’t help asking himself：” what’s wrong？Am I a monster？”
　　Yuanzui would know later that， in the eyes of Qiangba’s families， he was at least the omen of the appearing of monsters if he was not a monster himself. Nearly everything changed since his coming. In addition to the abnormality that ferocious Gezigeya didn’t bark to warn this stranger， other changes also occurred： in the past， little grandson would take one of the little Mastiffs inside to accompany him sleeping. But now， Gezigeya didn’t agree any more. And she would take her babies out once the little boy took one inside， as two enemies were dividing their properties： mine is mine. The grandson was so angry that he kicked and hit Gezigeya with his small hands and legs. Qiangba glared at her and said：” do you know your master， Gezigeya？” Gezigeya was an excellent night patrol Tibetan Mastiff whose patrolling methods was to pee at the crosses which were far away from the watchtower and herds， and where wolves， bears etc. were likely to appear. Then she patrolled round home secretly like a haunting ghost. But now， she was not only reluctant to be away from the watchtower but roar all nights as if she had met with stronger enemies every second in every direction. Qiangba knew that there were not so many beasts on the grassland， so he scolded at Gezigeya that “What’s wrong with you， Gezigeya？ Do you have the so-called mental disorder Han people mentioned？”
　　It seemed that Gezigeya’s mental disorder had become severer. Once on daylight， she ran into the watchtower all of a sudden and knocked the little grandson outside the gate. He lied on the ground blubbering， but Gezigeya showed little sympathy for and roared at him， not allowing him to come back inside home. Lamuyuzhen came by to hold the little boy and slapped Gezigeya. She said to Qiangba who were cutting rubber ropes in front of the watchtower that “Look， Gezigeya are kind to that Han people instead of us.” Qiangba replied unhappily that “It is because you talked to and smiled at that man. Gezigeya was just imitating you.” Lamuyuzhen added that “Gezigeya bitted at my hair and cut one of them last night.” Qiangba was surprised and said，” Last night， you mean last night？” He had never heard that an excellent Tibetan Mastiff would run home at night instead of going out patrolling unless threats were inside home. But why Gezigeya ran home just to bite one of his wife’s countless hairs？ Qiangba looked back blankly and saw that his father sat huddled up on the threshold with hands wiping tears and nose making a “wuwu” sound. Qiangba asked his father that “Abala （la is for respect）， why are you crying？” His father pointed a ceiling of the watchtower and said，” It is our house that is crying， not me.” In this cold spring， the whole families watched the tears of the watchtower shed through the links between stone wall and ceiling， as clear and crystal as the spring from rocks. 　　Later， Gangqueba would pray in the Buddhist Hall and hoped that Sakyamuni， Bodhisattva and god of mountains and families would bless the whole family and prevent disasters from falling. Every person in this family became very worried including the three-year-old boy and any strange signs would be regarded as inauspicious omen. People thought something terrible would happen and guessed in their heart what it would be.
　　Qiangba went to Temple to visit Lama Naola when he went to buy salt in town. But Naola went out that day. One of Naola’s disciples told Qiangba that “My master went to chant sutras for Gaduojuewu for Gazangbu sold it yesterday. There must be something delaying the master.” Qiangba froze for a moment and muttered，” This is a bad thing.” “Please tell me what anything else bad will happen on the grassland.” He added. The disciple replied that “Yes， yes. Maima town will hold a Tibetan Mastiff Festival tomorrow and Mastiffs across the country will come here. I dreamed that the Mastiffs ate the sun and moon last night. Maybe some terrible disaster will fall on Qingguoama grassland. How is Gezigeya？ I heard that she bore eight babies. You can’t sell Gaduojuewu’s children for money like Gazangbu.” After hearing this， Qiangba left immediately for he thought disasters that Gaduojuewu， Gezigeya’s husband， had been sold had occurred. In the heart of pastorals， nothing would be more unfortunate than this. He hurried home to do nothing but protect Gezigeya and her eight children. He said to himself that he wouldn’t’ sell Gezigeya to anyone no matter how much money he/she offered for selling Gezigeya was selling my own life and the grassland’s life.
　　Introduction
　　This book tells a story about the work， life and love of generations of villagers in a seaside village， expressing their longing for good future in the hard time. It shows the people’s affection for “homeland”， which is similar to Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and William Faulkner’s Light in August. Everybody in this book faces the desperation and hope alone and experiences the vicissitudes and warmth of life silently. They guard a homeland of love in their heart and keep asking： where are we from， who are we， and where are we going？ Isn’t it a reflection of our real life？
　　About the author
　　Zhang Wei， born in Longkou City， Shandong Province， has published over twelve million words and got more than 50 prizes. His representative works include Ancient Ship， September’s Fable， and Heart of Fire and so on. Many of his works have been translated into English， German， Japanese， French， Korean and other languages. He is one of the most representative talented writers in contemporary China. 　　Excerpt
　　Chapter I Night Resumes Her Reign
　　Who have ever seen such a wilderness？ Twisting around the bushes， the overgrown couch grass and kudzu look like flaming fires when the wind blows after being baked under the sun for a day. The wild animals in the wilderness squeak out and the green berries give off pungent smells. Rabbits， badgers， hedgehogs， moles...run around. She stands in the thick grass， looking at the twilight. The grass spreads all over the ground and has covered the path up， with awns growing on the grass stalks. The lypteris palustris and willow grass lead her to a puddle of water， but her clothes are firmly hooked by the barbed wild jujube trees. Being a child without parents， where should I go？
　　He goes up to pull the white fat girl who looks like a water plant， but she gets rid of him at once. He implores， “Fei...”
　　Fei keeps going ahead and goes into the knee-deep wormwoods. He looks at her back shadow， with his hands quivering. When he is about to shout out something， again he covers his month， “oh， my god， where am I？” What in front of him is a deserted path， which was the only path to the small village from the work area over a decade ago！ But where’s the village at the end of the path？
　　Everything has disappeared， but only the flaming wild grass...
　　For a long time， he can’t close his mouth up. Then， he finds some collapsed walls and broken bricks in the grasses and rattans. There is no doubt that they have really entered that village in their mind. Something sounds under his feet. Long ground fractures are scattered everywhere， with small clumps keeping falling. Before he could think about what happens， the first thing comes to his mind is the dangers that Fei may meet. He runs up， later he finds that Fei is sitting on a waste grinding base safely. With some cold sweat seeping from his head， he squats down and buries his head in his hands.
　　Couch grass grows abundantly around the grinding base， which easily reminds him of his bald-headed father， a mining engineer. He often worries that he would inherit the bald head gene from his dear father... Up to this day， he may feel grateful to his father that he gave him such a good lucky chance. In those days， his father was stuck in lots of romantic affairs， in the end he had to move to a small desolate plain with his families for a new life. Hence he found a coal field here while his son met a girl named “Fei”.
　　Fei lived in the village not far away from the factory. The children of workers working in the factory felt lonely at that time， so they often went to the small village. There were not many girls in the village， and most of them were passionately in love with boys in the village， so those boys from the factory area got nothing in a whole year. The learned bald-headed engineer couldn’t find a stage to play his talent， so he drowned his sorrows in drink all day long. His wife， who is a frail and petite woman from Sichuan， always accommodated herself to his husband. When her son just got sensible to the world， she told him “Your father is a talented and romantic man.” The son hated his father somewhat since he knew a bad mannered man would bring endless troubles to his children. But different from his father， he was tenacious and stubborn， and just loved one girl when he was young. In those days， he went to that village to visit Fei all day long. Seeing the smoke curling up and small roofs remotely， he would feel as if he saw the hope of lifetime clearly. 　　The father’s bread was rubescent， and the color of his face looked extremely odd， just like he had powdered his face with a layer of white frost. He had expressed his dislike of that white frost more than once， afterwards， even his long-suffering mother couldn’t bear his complain and wanted to slap him. She said： “You know what！ Your father is good on nothing but this point...” As the specific geologic structure in the new coal field， the coal mining would bring great damage to the plain. Cannons thunder under the ground， then gangues and coals spring up to the ground. Sometimes his father also went underground. He thought， his father carved out a way in front and everywhere he passed by would sink down. That is why swales appeared piece by piece on the plain. Orderly wheat beds and pretty melon fields sank down and reeds and reeds grew and spread everywhere.
　　A group of moles pass over him， rustling the broken tiles. Suddenly， he hears a sound of “bang”. He thinks something falls into the ground fracturing with moles. The cracks spreading all over the ground directly go downward and connect with the crisscrossing underground tunnels and also his father’s shady heart. Those moles turn back again， seek in the darkness and eat straws around， with a sound of clack. How long did his father’s workers take to hollow out the base of this village？ He would rather believe it was a slow and gritty process. This old man’s patience and courage are admirable but he hated this old man at the same time. They have destroyed his beloved village. At this moment， looking at the withered grass swinging in the endless darkness， the broken walls and bricks， he knows his beloved Fei can’t find her home any more.
　　Now， where is that impressive village？
　　This is a nourishing book for mothers， helping them give their full love and confidence to their children. Each rhyme and story in this book is filled with the care of mothers to their children. Based on their life experience， mothers have considered various possible pains such as separations their children might face in their future lives. From children’s point of view， the author passes warmth， courage and wisdom of life on to children through her fairy tale warm words.
　　About the author
　　Can Ran is a promoter of parent-child readings. She once published novels Grand Seasons， Letters of Love and Hate， fairy tales You Are the Best Mom in the World， and Journey of Whale Rider： Magic for 0-2 Parent-child Readings in the press. 　　The author’s words：
　　During the preparation of my wedding， one pregnant friend of mine wished me sincerely， “May you soon have a baby”. She also joyfully imagined the scene of “we two families travel together with children， feeding and changing diaper together”. I was so scared that I had a nightmare of “giving birth” that night and waked up with cold sweat all over. –Right， I once was a literary youth with “DINK complex”， thinking that 70% of my life should be spent on reading， traveling， falling in an easy love or just being absent-minded in the scent of bread at home. To me， a cross-grained， slobbery and loud crying baby must be an edge tool to defeat myself and make my life a mess！
　　With these worries， I unexpectedly got pregnant soon as she wished. Despite pregnancy， I worked 8 or 9 months shuffling among several cities， but I was still brought back to the obstetric table in my hometown Xiamen at last and painstakingly gave birth to my son Mini.
　　Digest
　　Dealt a Bad Hand
　　My son’s pet name “Mini” came from a translation of my husband. In that book， there is a little cat with magic power named Mini. It wove through various worldly streets and alleys filled with gossips， laughing at hardships and changes. –I find out later that those young parents of my generation all like giving their children such a humorous pet name. It seems each life， at the very beginning—no matter for the child itself or for its families， starts with little emotion of jokes， happiness and laughers.
　　However， life showed us it grimness very soon. As if right in the next moment， I was tied tightly by trifles， monotonous repetition and rigid time schedule in parenting. I still hold that until now， the year after my childbirth， as to me （including young parents like me）， is a landmark test symbolized a major psychological turning point. Various suspending and half-veiled conflicts （in economy， career planning， living condition， and concepts of both the couple and their families….） generating in my drifting years to pursue ideals， in my years as a petty bourgeois and in the first year after marriage all flooded out， along with a little brat who needed to be fed and have his diaper changed once every two hours and needed your care 24 hours a day， finally made me stuck.
　　At that time， to cite an improper old saying， I， a new mom， was dealt a bad hand： my father-in-law died before my childbirth， for which we spent all the savings for “parenting”； after childbirth， my husband decided to start a business in the north alone； once in the physical examination of my baby， I was told that he was suffering an unmentionable disease， and it wasn’t decided on whether to take operation until he was one and a half year’s old….One night， after tucking my son in bed， everything was quiet， suddenly a sense of sadness coming out from somewhere， and I cried sadly under my quilt. I cried， unreasonably， lonesomely and helplessly， shedding tears which I was afraid of being seen by others. The cry belongs to a real housewife. When thinking that I was going to say farewell to my youth light as a feather in which I could talk about ideal of literature in beautiful dresses， chase soap operas while doing exercise to lose weight， and have internet chat with my friends， I was so desperate but I had to hum and pat my child with one hand while dry my tears again and again with the other hand. 　　“The first preparation to be a mom is to prepare to lose”
　　Only when you have a child can you understand there is no periodical success at all， and all you have is jitteriness. You are like standing on a thin ice， surrounded by coming changes， mind wearing trifles and endless mistakes.
　　Later， whenever someone asked me what preparations shall be made to be a good mother， I would think of that embarrassing night on which I shed streams of tears， and tell him， the first preparation to be a good mom is to prepare to lose. In the past several decades， I， like many others， held that the praise “Maternal love is great” is prepared for some certain moments. For example， when you are confirmed to get pregnant， your husband is wild with joy and spin you a half circle； when you give birth to a child， the whole family would burst into tears； when your child run towards the aged you with a graduation certificate in hand… Only when you have a child can you understand there is no periodical success at all， and all you have is jitteriness. You are like standing on a thin ice， surrounded by coming changes， mind wearing trifles and endless mistakes. Yes， only when you taste many failures， yet still get up the courage to love， can you reap growth of both you and your child.
　　I set up my mind to start over after that night. In early parenting， many inexperienced mothers， like me， are easy to get lost. The future of my child in the following 2-3 years is clear： I can predict when he can crawl， when he will have teeth， and when he will learn to talk….However， I completely lost the control of my future under the lactation， diaper changing and cuddling once every two hours. But， it doesn’t matter， for I can choose to enjoy the every moment.
　　Two months after Mini’s birth， I got up early with him every day and went to the beach in front of our house waiting for sunrise and chasing the waves in all weathers； I read to him all kinds of picture books； I read book carefully and wrote fairy tales for the elder him after cuddling him to bed and finished all the housework. Thus， we lived a difficult but wonderful life in this way. I had never lived a life so attentively and diligently.
　　During these years， I had done nothing but the three things each day： digging sand on the beach， reading fairy tales together， and writing fairly tales for him. It seemed that I did these all for Mini. However， doing them over days mechanically and contentedly despite of difficulties， that arrogant and paranoid me was defeated， and I slowly understood why to love， how to love and what to love during the process of listening to the calls of my son. 　　You Are the Best Mom in the World is a collection of “Mother’s” fairy tales and poems， written before Mini was two years old. As a mom， I tried my best to guard my family although there were times when I felt powerless in front of some things and his growth. With all daily housework done， in the evening I always got up from sleeping Mini to write fairy tales. I sealed my worries in them as wishes that one day I could read with Mini and laugh at them together.
　　With A Child， With a Broader Growth
　　I am just an ordinary mother， but thanks to the maternal love I learnt slowly to live with， Mother Nature represented by the sea in front of our house， and the magic kingdom composed of picture books and story books guarded my family， pulled our life closer to fairy tales.
　　Probably with the idea that “these fairy tales are letters stored in the time capsule”， or in order not to be ridiculed by radical children in the future， I talked with “future Mini” sincerely. My fairy tales contain things within one mile around my house， including places where children usually go， such as the sea， the cape， old ruined temple， bar by the sea and banyan wood where gods and spirits hide by day and come out by night， protecting and enlightening the growth of children in their own ways. Through fairy tales， I discussed with my son about death， departure， morale， dream， forgiveness and love which he has the right to know since he was born and has to deliberate all over his life.
　　Certainly， the deep reason why I began to write children’s fairy tales is that I hope my child and I can realize： fairy tales shall not only be funny to please others. They do have to be humorous， but cannot be booms that ruin children’s future by exaggerating princess’s beauty and prince’s fortune. I don’t want children to grow up with soap bubble tales - when they are old enough， suddenly they have to make a choice， either to break with fake tales （and childhood fantasies represented by fairy tales） or to live in presumption and suffering “prince or princess syndrome”. I hope that in their fairy tales there are always unmovable homeland and the truth of life that kindness and beauty are always with them.
　　That I said so is not to boast my own tales for containing them. I am just an ordinary mother， and thanks to the maternal love I learnt slowly to live with， Mother Nature such as the sea in front of our house， and the magic kingdom composed of picture books and story books guarded my family， pulled our life closer to fairy tales. Isn’t so？ Either for children or parents， the thriving of mind itself is a fairy tale. 　　Parents at a prime age， like me， are experiencing a broader growth from parenting. Standing among the egos scattering on the ground， we meet another great， round and complete ourselves we’ve never known before.
　　Content recommendation Love Beauty sets a hero named Zhang Wenxue， coming from Heilongjiang Province. Zhang Wenxue was dispelled when he was a sophomore and after muddling along half a year in the dormitory， he came to the south alone. Bypassing Guangxi and Leizhou Peninsula， he arrived at Hainan， becoming one of the 100 thousand migrant workers in Hainan. He lived doggedly. By cooperating with Liang Weiping， his senior in university and a son of a high-ranking official， to resell materials at a profit， he made his first fortune. At last， he built his own real estate empire successfully. However， he had a great psychological gap on his emotion flaw during this process……
　　About the author
　　Liao Zenghu， born in 1969， pen name Ye Kai， is from Lianjiang City， Guangdong province. He graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature， East China Normal University. Now he is the editorial department’s director and associate Editor-Auditor of Harvest. Works published are Dry Mouth， Story of My 8th Uncle， Three’s Company， Secret Butterflies， Critical Biography of Mo Yan， Against Chinese， The Republic of Mo Yan’s Literary， etc.
　　Digest
　　In my hometown， there was a small railroad crossing outside our village， beside which stood a red iron brand with white words， saying：
　　First， slow down； second， look around； then third， pass！
　　This railroad separated my home and the village primary school on each side. Each day， I had to pass through this crossing 4 times. Since there were few trains， I could only see train twice every day， one was in the morning and the other was in the afternoon. When I went home for launch in the noon， there was nothing on the railroad.
　　When I went to school， the goods train would pass by me from left to right to the far place， filled with timbers. While， when I was off school， the train with obscure faces would pass by from right to left as if a butterfly flushed over in the shimmer.
　　Person on duty at the railroad crossing received a signal when the train was still far away， and he would place down the barrier painted with red-white zebra stripes. We usually could get through before the train came. When the barrier was declining， pupils would try very hard to rush forward， and those who left behind usually ran while lowering their head. Army green schoolbags hit our asses and bounced back when we were running， as to those short ones， the bends of their legs would also be hit. There were always someone left behind， lowering their heads， sulking their snivel， breathing while mumbling， and looking around with dismay. As soon as we ran across， we would slow down or even stop on purpose， and turn around to laugh at those laggards， and make faces toward them， looking forward the train roaring here. So many timbers transported from the mountains to the south through the rail way， I had no idea where they were transported to at last. Some timbers were even taller than us in diameter. Once I saw a platform body on which laid a section of huge trunk， looking like the corpse of a giant died in the battle， passing over slowly in front of us. This distressed huge tree was murdered by the greedy human. Its huge body was bleeding sap silently on that platform. 　　The platform truck loaded with the corpse of a giant tree crawled slowly but staunchly.
　　Under the gaze of my shocked look， this iron python composed of tens of cars gradually trailed off and faded in the maze of corn wood.
　　Sometimes， I went there late with an ear of corn in mouth. Seeing the barrier falling slowing， and hearing the siren coming from far away， I was anxious and couldn’t help speeding up. The farther I went， the faster I got， and at last I ran， hoping to get through before the barrier fell down completely. The siren was still far away， as melodious as water， as signs of flute， stagnated above the crops. The siren signs came through the sky above vast corn fields， as limpid as running streams， flew over the bed of clean pebbles and silently came to me.
　　This clear lighting speeded my heartbeat up and my feet went quickly in spite of themselves.
　　Time of my growth， these anguish years， filled in these hurries.
　　My hometown was a small village in Huachuan County， Heilongjiang province， where black lands were fertile and crops were bumper， but villagers were all emaciation with sallow complexion. Although various crops with sweet taste and rich nutrition came out from the land， villagers yet had to worry about their daily meals.
　　Three River Plain stretched itself in the northeast， as gentle as water， without boundaries， while surging yet clean flood running like brothers. Strong maize rods came up from the sweet-smelling soil vocally in the summer， pulling hard to suck the nutrition of the black land， and growing up crazily. Thick crops stood straight in lines in the field， as if a soft wall. Taking in the light of both the sun and the moon， and the nutrition of the land， the maize turned from light green to dark green， getting mature from sprouts. Their rods were so thick， leaves were so solemn， and their corns were sleeping. Thanks to the wind， we could smell the fragrance of sweet. In autumn， golden yellow corns were like newly born chubby children， screaming on the land with laughers. Autumn is a season for pillow fight； both human beings and animals are very excited as to incoherent ranting. We reaped， we picked and we handed in public grain； all the beautiful grains were to be transported out by the long train again and again. In these dark cars were our golden yellow corns， and these trains went far away to the inside Shanhai Pass in the cold wind， along with our envious looks.
　　Glorious sticky corns！ They all went to support the national construction！ All support the national construction！ My father， old and stubborn Zhang， who is the village head， looked lovingly at the tail of these trains， waving his rough black hands， murmuring. His face was as black the sole， his expression was as severe as the black land， while his tongue was as gentle as rutting wasp and wrinkles on his face were like terraces in the south. 　　Villagers said farewell to these corns sincerely， not knowing where they would go.
　　There were nobody died of hunger even in the most sever 60s beginning， of which old and stubborn Zhang was proud. Then， villagers all had a flabby stomach， as if been ironed on the fire. My mother said， their skins were as thin as a piece of paper， and they would wrinkle just being pinched. Males wizened as neutered goats， with dried ingratiating smiles on their faces. Only a small patch of steamed bun and a bowl of hot water， the stomach would be bulged， then with a little sunshine， they would be completely full and grin with satisfaction. I could imagine that these fellow countrymen were as thin as big pancakes， as if shallots wrapped in big pancakes.
　　Fengma Flag is said to be used in the rites of seeing off souls of the departed in Tibetan customs. Seen from its change and development as a symbol to sacrifice mountain gods， the Fengma Flag had went through a large shift among religious cultures ranging from Bon with the culture of supporting to Buddhist with a main content of praying. Opening with the introduction of various elements of Fengma flag， Fengma World is mainly to discuss the material and spiritual customs related to these factors.
　　About the author
　　Nima Jiangcai， a Tibetan man， was born in 1974 in Yushu， Qinghai province. He lived with his grandmother in his childhood， making him be familiar with many Tibetan folk cultures. Then， he went to Yushu to receive primary and technical secondary education and furthered his education in the Chinese School of Qinghai Normal University and the Folk Custom School of Minzu University of China later， during which he went back to fields for many years and published several articles. Now， he works at Yushu Museum.
　　Excerpt
　　The universe had already opened the book of nature at this vast space before human’s history began. Many years later， our ancestors started to learn about themselves and this mysterious land surrounding them from the book of nature soaked with challenges and glories. Before that， there was only light in the world. And， it is said that since then there emerged the beginning and ending， time and space and the definiteness and indefiniteness.
　　As the most primitive maternal call sounded， an emotional world emerged finally.
　　In order to begin and continue the story， human and god met in the vast universe by accident. Oh， no. We should say： they met by appointment. They met for their mutual reliance in fate and for their mutual help when in trouble. Therefore， the widespread myths of Tibetans about ancient times were deeply imprinted with symbols of emotional world. 　　According to ancient classics， the world was emerged from several primitive materials. They first formed one black egg and one white egg which turned into the Sanshe God in the sky and the Arrow God on the ground. After yielding the ruler of this world in the center of the eggs， those primitive materials generated fogs and rains， and finally formed a boundless sea with violent sea waves through endless pain of thunders and lightning.
　　When the wind blew over the sea surface， the mother of everything， Sazhi Aisang， was born.
　　How far it is！ Old men imitated people who were older than them to stare into the distance and said that in the time many years ago， Sazhi Aisang， the mother of everything， and Sangbo Benchi， the ruler of the world， integrated without even touching noses， thus birds and beasts emerged. Then Sazhi Aisang bore nine gods and nine goddesses when she touched Sangbo Benchi’s nose with her own nose. Afterwards， the nine gods made another nine women as their wives； likewise， the nine goddesses made another nine men as their husbands. Those gods were known as Heaven’s nine gods， during whom some were the ancestors of the god of sky and others were the god of guardian…
　　The myth is really a long story. There were birds as many as stars and beasts as many as stones when ancient people told the myth around the bonfire. But a horse which was not mentioned in the myth was wandering its road to find humans .Striving for water and grass for survival， its elder brother was killed by a ferocious wild yak with its sharp horns and its second elder brother who was unwilling to avenge the killed brother then escaped into the forests cowardly.
　　This book is about various foreign museums written by Zhao Mei after she visited various kinds of foreign museums in the world in nearly 20 years. It not only introduces many characteristic museums but includes many of the author’s personal feelings and experiences. In particular， the unique history and charm showed in different museums as well as their touching or sad stories and figures borne in them form this fascinating paper cultural journey.
　　About the author
　　Zhao Mei， who accepts special allowance from the State Council， is a member of China Writers Association， the Director of Editorial Department of Free Forum of Literature magazine， a director of Tianjin Writer Association and a first-level writer. She started to publish her works since 1986 and has published 15 long novels， 4 medium and short novel anthologies， 9 essay anthologies and 4 Zhao Mei Selections， amounting to more than 5 million words. She is always brave enough to try new things and is regarded by commentators as a “pioneer writer”. In 1990s， she finished “A Woman's Trilogy in Tang Dynasty” - Wu Zetian， Princess Gao Yang and Shangguan Wan’er， adding new models for historic fiction. 　　Digest From Here to Eternity
　　I don’t know how to describe my feeling when I walked into the former home of Faulkner. I thought that this house was a holy place for me. I waited for a long time on the wooden stairs in front of the door of Faulkner’s former house alone for all doors were locked at this moment. It was so quiet because there were no people living or any visitors coming here but my interpreter Yi Fang and I. We were there waiting. We had waited for a whole noon， only to stroll around in Faulkner’s grove， grassland and gardens. We also visited his oxtall and stable. There is a long and twisted path paved by little stones， on both sides of which there are many tall cedars and oak trees. Faulkner liked leading his horse to go through this little path .He was also fond of wearing plaid shirts of suits. He had many photos when he wore plaid suits， which were hung in the “Plaza Bookstore” of Oxford.
　　For this southern town which is baked by sun in most time of a year， autumn is a pleasant season for people here can finally say goodbye to the horrible sun， annoying sweat and intolerant body odor. But Faulkner liked to describe the horrible scene of this southern town in summer. He always made people fall into the misery of hotness in his works and saw them struggling.
　　However， in autumn， everything is different. In autumn， there are cool winds； there are oak trees and cedars straightening upwards and bald Fraxinus chinensis in Faulkner’s garden； there are also fresh and glittering fruits and golden grass swinging to the wind in distance.
　　But there everything is full of boundless desolation， arousing the sorrow of anyone who comes here.
　　Maybe， this is because we have visited the home of Elvis before. In the home of Elvis， we missed and respected him， who left mysteriously， like his fans. We thought， Faulkner must have had a very decent home as well. However， only when I stepped on this little stone path， I realized how a great writer differing from a great singer. Faulkner is like a star in a dark night illuminating human’s souls whereas Elvis is like the collapse of a mountain which nearly changed the behaviors of a whole generation. They are all eternal artists but they had such a widely different home. Faulkner’s home is desolate and depressed like a distant sad song， but Elvis’s home is bright and enchanting like the sun in the sky.
　　I felt much more depressed as if I was re-reading Faulkner’s sad novels. 　　Now， the home of Faulkner belongs to the Southern Cultural Center of Mississippi University. So， after leaving Memphis， we visited this center along highways. Professor William Ferris warmly welcomed us. When he asked about my purpose of my journey， I said it is Faulkner---my favorite writer. Then， professor started to find out upstairs and downstairs for me all data including newspapers and magazines about Faulkner. He also told me that Mississippi University would hold a seminar about Faulkner every year for Faulkner once was a teacher here. He was the pride of Mississippi University and had fans generation after generation. The yearly “Faulkner Week” was also very colorful and fruitful.
　　Professor found me a poster of “Faulkner Week” in 1994 on which there was a piece of exaggerated watercolor picture not as depressed as Faulkner himself. Besides， in the picture， people with various faces and expressions， on the oxford plaza of Faulkner’s hometown， gathered together under a tree listening to a person telling stories with his hands and arms moving continuously. Whereas right behind the crowds， a person who held a tobacco pipe pretending nonchalant was Faulkner. It is no doubt that this poster shows the scene of Oxford at that time and tells people that Faulkner got his written materials and inspiration from scenes like this. He stood there still like an excellent “thief”.
　　Professor Ferris also told us that the vacation hotel we were going to live was on the street near Oxford plaza. Faulkner went to the plaza nearly every day. So professor reminded me to watch it carefully so as to gain more.
　　Then， I walked round the plaza and looked at the famous Soldiers Statue with reverence. I also entered into and exited from governmental buildings， courts， cathedrals， bookstores， restaurants and grocery stores carefully because I believed that Faulkner must have often been to these places before his death. It is said that this town nearly remained unchanged even though more than 30 years passed by after Faulkner’s death. Thus， I could imagine that Faulkner and I were living in the same time. Maybe， he just brushed past me on the narrow street of Oxford.
　　I was feeling the hometown of Faulkner as I was feeling the vivid scenery of Jefferson town， Yoknapatawpha County in Faulkner’s novel.
　　Although Oxford town is very small， it is a typical town in southern America. Various commodities and the warm-toned clothes in the show windows and their expensive prices all indicate southern rich people’s zeal for elegance and luxury， the rigid hierarchy， the severe polarization between the rich and the poor and the race discrimination which was criticized and attacked by Faulkner… The sun irradiates strong sunlight to the Oxford town from the clear and light blue sky. The clock hung on the top of the governmental building shows time for people passing by. The watch hands move on slowly， without loud hurrying and pressing ticking Quentin heard before his suicide in The Sound and the Fury. The white Soldiers Statue stands high at the center of the plaza in the sun and guards the morning tranquility of Oxford. Not like the scene drew on that exaggerated poster， there were no people sitting on the green bench. I knew later that people were used to gathering in dusk and exchanging their strange and eccentric stories occurred in Oxford here. 　　Oxford’s famous “Plaza Bookstore” doesn’t open in the morning for it is a store which closed latest in the night. It awaits its guests till the last. “Plaza Store” is obviously very famous because people mentioned it continuously since Memphis. They said that you must go to “Plaza Bookstore” if you went to Oxford. So we did it in a late night.
　　What will happen if women itch for power？
　　Filled with desires， he is always hesitating but cannot resist the temptation in romantic thing finally. He always constantly changes his lovers before he separated with his old ones.
　　They， in order to get powers， are tempting men superiors tirelessly and even trade their bodies and souls. For them， their bodies are not taboos but commodities which are used for trading instead.
　　How would they end in the last in the circle of love and desire？
　　About the author
　　Zhao Mei， Manchu， is a librarian of Tianjin Research Institute of Literature and History， a member of China Writers Association Committee and a first-level writer.
　　Digest
　　She was like standing on the clouds at that moment
　　She thought as if she were standing on the clouds the moment when she was awakened by loud phone rings. In the dark night， she couldn’t find the phone or hear the winds outside. But she still jumped up from the bed into the darkness instinctively. It took her a long time to get awake， but she forgot the story in her dream just now.
　　When she finally turned on the lamp， hurrying rings stopped all of a sudden. It might be a wrong call， she thought. She emptied her minds in the deathly stillness when watching the phone lighted by lamp.
　　She didn’t know what kind of people would call her in such a late night though she had already gone through such disturbances many times. The feeling at the moment she was awakened in sound sleep terrified her as if fears would jump out from her throat. Then on the other side of the phone， there was often a woman’s hysterical crying with anger. Calls like this were usually for her husband， which she had got used to.
　　Her husband would leave their bed when answering calls but she had obviously been awakened by the woman’s hysteria. Afterwards， he changed the original phone for a wireless one and gave her a fine-sounding reason that a wireless phone wouldn’t disturb her sleeping. Then he would leave bedroom with the wireless phone right away and head towards the study with door closed when he answered phones. Of course， she heard nothing and didn’t have to think how he would appease the midnight hysterias. 　　All right， she didn’t have to care about a wrong call. Or， her husband’s employees didn’t know now he wasn’t home for business. As the head of a company， he had， of course， a lot of business to deal with. She thought he must have reached his destination at this moment.
　　She went back to the warm bed and stretched her body casually no longer thinking that wrong call. She was just sympathetic to those who had to make calls in the midnights whatever they did it for.
　　Then she felt sleepy gradually with the surroundings becoming dim. She thought that sleeping in the midnight is one of the best states in life. No matter what would await her the next day， she felt a sense of comfort every time she thought that she could lie quietly on the bed in the nights.
　　In the silence， she heard winds outside whose sounds she liked and was familiar with. Even if the winds outside blew so violently that ground and mountains shook， she felt comfortable as long as she can be in peace at home. Likewise， she also liked to huddle herself on the bed when outside was raining heavily and heard thunders and rains beating the windows. She felt so sad that she could not warm those cold stars and moon in the sky. She should have fallen asleep again if the phone had not rung again.
　　She picked up receiver skillfully this time. But rings seemed not to stop even if she put the receiver near her ear and there wasn’t any sound from it. This time， she really didn’t know why somebody called her in midnight. She thought that it might be him but she negated it immediately for he never called her in the midnight no matter what happened.
　　Then， she was sure that it was a mistaken call， but why didn’t it stop？ The ceaseless rings seemed to tell her something. She got up from the bed and walked towards the sound source. Not until she walked into the living room did she realize that it was not phone rings but bell rings. She became so nervous suddenly that she dared not to answer the sound of knocking outside for there was only her at home after all. Standing in the dark near the door， she waited and was even afraid to breathe. But right at the moment she was nearly despairing， she heard a familiar voice outside.
　　“It is me， Kang Zheng”， said by the people outside.
　　“Kang Zheng？”
　　There was a sound of opening the door， but suddenly， it stopped.
　　The woman said that “no， you’d better leave.”
　　“Don’t do that to me. Please open the door.” 　　“How can I let you in the midnight？”
　　“Please！ Open the door.” The person outside was nearly begging.
　　“No， no. I can’t.”
　　“Please listen to me…”
　　“You know he is not at home now.”
　　It was like a gust of wind with flowing snowflakes. In the snow， she couldn’t help leaning in his arms. Since then， she knew that she was free of worries， sorrows and loneliness， that is to say， she wouldn’t be woken up by midnight phone calls. She was totally free. She firmly believed that she loved this man. But did anyone， including herself， believe in it？
　　She didn’t know when the heavy snow started to fall. But the sky on that night when his body was dragged out from a car was very clear. Thus， his death was supposed to have nothing to do with the weather and she didn’t want to complain about weather or anyone else.
　　No one knew how his car fell into the ditch. It was an accidental passing-by person on the expressway that found it and called the police with sympathy. The police said that when he was saved， his body was totally cold and he had no breath. They did everything they could but still failed to save his life. But it was strange that in this car accident， the dead had no bruise in his body. Moreover， that car， without any scratch， seemed to be stopped in the ditch on purpose. Afterwards， when that car was dragged from the ditch， it could spur on the highway immediately.
　　From a distance， she saw the accident spot. The snowflakes danced casually and recklessly again in the sky among the interlaced lights gave off by various flashlights as if they were the dancing spirit， sky the stage and dark night the background.
　　This is a great book which makes you re-think the value of your life. In life， there is no assumption but reality. On the basis of the basic necessities， only people who have a trained heart can get final peace and happiness. In the play of life， we all don’t have a second chance. Therefore we have to cherish everyone in our lives. But how can we perform well in our own life play and at the same time not getting in the way of others’？
　　In this book， many life questions and ordinary things in daily lives are included， and Master Xiarongbo Kanbu will guide every reader how to train and temper their heart so as to get rid of pains and hardship and to obtain final freedom and happiness.
　　Under the guide of this unconscious power， we are to get away from sufferings and desires and to find benevolence and mercy inside our heart so that we will become more cherishing to fate， more resolved， calm and wiser. And we can better lead our lives at present. 　　About the author
　　As a professor at Wuming Buddhist Institute， Xiarongbo Kanbu also assists Master Ruyibao to manage various affairs of the Buddhist institute and is in charge of the behaviors and studying of all disciples in this institute.
　　He also establishes a Zhaxichilin Meditation Center and a Welfare Home in Degeyulongkuo. Besides， he has supported numerous poor kids and funded those who cannot afford the charge of medical care. At present， Kanbu is constructing a hospital in order to offer more medical assistance to farmer and herder in the neighborhood.
　　Kanbu has a simple but delicate understanding about Buddhist philosophy. His main published works include Blossom in Order， Philosophy of Quietness etc.
　　Digest
　　Every Flower Represents an Entire Apring.
　　The Buddha doesn’t really encourage people to believe what he said blindly without any serious thinking and verification. He hopes that people can integrate his philosophy and disciplines with their own knowledge and experience so as to understand other people and find what has hidden behind many phenomena in daily lives. Buddha also encourages people to doubt for he deems that doubt represents one’s spirit of exploration rather than prejudice that everything can’t be believed. As a matter of fact， not believing everything can’t embody objectivity and soberness.
　　The sky is always there regardless of clouds. Likewise， the nature of Buddhism will always remain unchanged， whether you understand it or not. Though the nature of Buddhism is inborn， people’s understandings， which refer to spiritual rather than intellectual ones， on it vary. The beginners of Buddhism or those who do not know Buddhism had better not talk profusely about inaction and deem that doing as one’s wishes or letting everything go is the supreme essence of Buddhism. Indeed， the nature of Buddhism is not from outside， but the understanding on it is also not from letting go everything.
　　Every flower can represent an entire spring. If you really understand this， you can feel the approaching of spring when you get close to a small flower. If you really understand this， you may realize how the entire spring is encompassed in a small flower and how the indefiniteness is included in the present and how everything out is reflected in our minds.
　　Self-conceitedness doesn’t mean sunyata. A clear and clean heart which is away from greed， hatred， infatuation， slowness and suspicion， is more easily to see the truth of the world. 　　Don’t be sad when meeting with setbacks and hardship.
　　One has said that he had endless work and housework to do everyday apart from taking care of his children， so he didn’t have time to practice Buddhism.
　　It is right because the work and housework has occupied a lot of time of ours， we need to cherish the rest of time even more. No matter how busy we are every day， we should arrange for some time and make the best of it to practice Buddhism.
　　In daily life， we can also practice Buddhism to live a life without egotism. For example， you can practice tolerance and compassion if you have disputes with colleagues； you can practice sunyata and tell yourself that everything present is not real but like a dream if your children have made a mess at home； you can pay back your parents love as well as to bless yourself by taking care of your parents and leading them to learn Buddhism； you can also understand the supreme essence of Buddhism if you protect animals and eat only vegetables， which is sure not to occupy much of your time.
　　Don’t let anything to wobble your resolution and do not disturb that of others. Go on thinking and practicing Buddhism of your own so as to make everyone around you be confident about Buddhism through your change in both your behaviors and soul. Besides， you can also explain the philosophy of Buddhism to your friends within your capabilities. Everything has cause， and dependent origination decides who we can help to end their sufferings. Therefore， as a beginner， what you should attach most importance on is to calm yourself down and continue to make improvements on practicing Buddhism.
　　The Buddhism reads that when meeting with setbacks and hardships， you don’t have to worry about it. People who hold a Buddhist belief should firmly believe the cause and effect in the world， thus， when suffering any hardship and misfortune， they should positively solve those that can be solved and bear those that shall be borne. With endurance and compassion， people should repent of what they did wrong in the past and avoid making the same mistakes in the future so as to end the vicious circle of cause and effect and to generate its virtuous circle. The so-called broad-minded people refer to those who are far-sighted and know about the law of thing’s change and development in a broad space and time so that they can make the best of it to do something good for the world.
　　“Although scratching one’s itch makes him relaxed， getting rid of itch is more relaxing. Likewise， meeting one’s desires makes him pleased， but getting rid of desires is more pleased. ” 　　This book is an essential dietetic wellness handbook for families and a dictionary with the most complete Chinese home-cooking foods.
　　This book collects 278 kinds of foods， which are divided into 11 classes including live stock， poultry meat， aquatic product， fish， dairy products， vegetable， fruit， beverages and condiment， grains and beans， nuts fruit and insect miscellany， basically covering the common family-cooking foods. Under the guidance of the wellness concept of traditional medical book， the Huangdi Neijing， and combining with the dietary habit of the modern， this book introduces the essence of Chinese traditional food wellness comprehensively， highlights the compatibility of foods and the compatibility and incompatibility of daily diet and expounds each kind of food from the aspect of property and flavor， pharmacopeia quintessential thesis， nutritional ingredients， edible compatibility and incompatibility， healthy benefits， purchasing guideline， usage essentials and wellness medicated diet etc. It is detailed and practical， making you learn wellness from daily diet.
　　About the author
　　Zhu Furong， male， Han， born in Huaian， Jiangsu. Now he engages in Chinese traditional food culture， life aesthetics and educational research and has published more than 100 articles in newspapers and periodicals in the mainland and at abroad. He also acts as the Chief Planner and Chief Editor of Chinese Dietetic Wellness Popular Science Library.
　　Digest
　　The human life is sustained by energy and the energy of human body mainly comes from food. The main functions of food on human body are： first， to meet the desire of our olfactory and gustatory organ for fragrance and delicacy and eliminate the hunger of human body at the same time； second， to provide various nutrition for the growth and development and kinematics of our body； third， to prevent diseases. Eating healthily or not is not only related to the health of our body， but also will determine our living quality and life extension. There are more than 40 nutrients essential to human body in the food and each is of unique physiological function. The human body intakes these nutrients from the food to ensure the basic needs of its growth and development and daily activities and these nutrients are an essential material basis for the maintenance of the immune function of the human body， antioxidant function， neuroendocrine function and even brain function.
　　The contents of Chinese traditional dietetic wellness are divided into 4 aspects in this book： dietetic wellness， dietetic therapy， dietetic control and dietetic compatibility and incompatibility. The dietetic wellness and dietetic therapy can be summarized as two aspects such as tonifying deficiency and reducing excess in which reinforcing qi， nourishing blood， nourishing yin， supporting yang， replenishing essence and promoting production of body fluid etc. can be regarded as tonifying deficiency； relieving exterior syndrome， clearing heat， clearing damp， purgation， dispelling cold， expelling wind and eliminating warmness etc. can be regarded as reducing excess. The Huangdi Neijing holds that the food and drug are of same source and are natural products. The food and drug are somewhat in common in terms of property， characterized by same shape， color， smell， taste， quality etc. The food has cold， hot， warm and cool properties and sour， bitter， sweet， spicy， and salt tastes， in which each property and taste dominates an organic organ and channel tropism. The unreasonable food pairing or dietary bias is harmful to the human health. The Plain Questions of Theory of Qi Production and Its Utmost Ability of Huangdi Neijing points out： “The reconciliation of five tastes will make the bone strong， vein soft， Qi and blood smooth and striae and interstitial space dense， thus， the backbone and qi will be fine and strong. Therefore， if attention is paid to the wellness and the wellness is conducted in a correct way， the vitality will be maintained in a long term.” This indicates the importance of reasonable pairing of 5 tastes. According to the opinion of wellness in the Huangdi Neijing， the five tastes cultivate the five properties and the body fluid will be produced in case of reconciliation of Qi， both promote and supplement each other. In case of reconciliation of five tastes， people will be longevous， but in case of dietetic bias， people will be sick. For the “five tastes” of food in the Huangdi Neijing， in case of any disease in tendon， do not eat sour food； in case of any disease in qi， do not eat spicy food； in case of any disease in bone， do not eat salt food； in case of any disease in blood， do not eat bitter food； in case of any disease in muscle， do not eat sweet food. Huangdi Neijing says： “The sour taste acts on the liver， the spicy taste acts on the lung， the bitter taste acts on the heart， the sweet taste acts on the spleen and the salt taste acts on the kidney. So if the food is too salt， it will lead to excess of kidney （water） qi and failure of heart （fire） qi， so as to be demented， hostile， of hematemesis and uneasy； if the food is too spicy， it will lead to excess of lung （gold） qi and failure of liver （wood） qi， so as to be cowardly， sad， blinded and of white hair； if the food is too sweet， it will lead to excess of spleen （earth） qi and failure of kidney （water） qi， so as to be obsessed with carnal desire， of lumbago and backache and pyemia； if the food is too bitter， it will lead to excess of heart （fire） qi and failure of lung （gold） qi， so as to be valiant， of choking cough and thoracic fullness； if the food is too sour， it will lead to excess of liver （wood） qi and failure of spleen （earth） qi， so as to be of dyspepsia， deaf and of intractable disease”. These are dialectical based on the principle of generation-inhibition in five elements according to the five elements property of five internal organs and five tastes. The five tastes are called “Five Food Tastes” in the Chinese traditional medicine. 　　This book will bring you appreciate the existential philosophy and wisdom folk prescription facing the complicated environment by the historical figures in each dynasty in china with 16 topics and about one thousand historical stories in the aspect of art of personhood， official career， work， speaking and life.
　　About the author
　　Huang Yihe， master in history， has ever held a post in the organs of state and then engaged in lecturer in colleges and universities， editor of publishing houses and chief director of advertising companies. He has studied the history for a long time paying close attention to the ancient official circles and published several small history books in succession with copyrights sold to Taiwan and Korea etc.
　　Excerpt
　　Chapter I Personhood Principles of Ancestors
　　Topic I： Secret of winner
　　As the situation is much more important than a person， to be successful， the likes and dislikes of an individual should not be dominant. Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty nullified the original prince and set Liu Che， namely， Emperor Wu of Han as the prince. Emperor Wu of Han could take the thrown owed mainly to his aunt Princess Royal Guantao， so he made her daughter named Chen Ajiao as the Empress and gave ground to Chen Ajiao. But Chen Ajiao was arrogant and willful and the Princess Royal Guantao was imperious relying on her contributions， so Emperor Wu of Han resented them and drifted apart from them gradually. Emperor Wu’s mother， the empress dowager， persuaded him and said， “As you have taken the thrown not so long and offend the grand empress dowager， resulting in that the foundation is not steady， you will be in risk if you offend your aunt.” Emperor Wu of Han woke up and then gained over the Princess Royal Guantao and her daughter； finally he went through the political risk period successfully.
　　The entrepreneurs are often very hard in terms of action， not only on their enemies， but also on themselves. In the Wu-Yue Hegemony， King Goujian of Yue became a servant of King Fuchai of Wu after defeated by King Fuchai. Once when King Fuchai was ill， Goujian tastes Fuchai’s excrement resoluted and said happily， “Your excrement is sour with slight bitter， it seems that you are only of “epidemic infectious disease and certainly will be well a few days later. Please be at ease！” By this opportunity， Goujian lulled Fuchai and was released to home before long. After enduring hardships for several years， Goujian finally conquered Wu. 　　In start-up period， it is a good quality to adventure. When Tong Guan， an influential government official in Northern Song Dynasty， accepted a military mission for the first time and was to go to war with main forces at the frontline， he accepted an order from Emperor Huizong saying to stop the war as the palace caught fire and Emperor Huizong thought it was ominous. Tong Guan put the order away casually and told the generals， “The Emperor gives an imperial edict to wish us an early success.” Soon a complete victory was gained. In the victory banquet， Tong Guan showed the order and all the generals were terrified. Tong Guan said， “As we have won the war， the Emperor must be very happy. But if we lose the war， I would bear the charge.” The generals felt grateful and admiring to him， so Tong Guan not only made a military exploits， but also established his authority through the war.
　　Only when experienced some frustrations， will one be mature and better. Zhang Juzheng in the Ming Dynasty was called “a prodigy” since his childhood. He came to the top when attending the provincial examination at the age of 13. After reading his examination paper， Governor Gu Lin struck the table in surprise and kept exclaiming “state talent”， saying that he was the state pillar. But unexpectedly， Governor Gu disqualified him to pass the provincial examination for the reason that just as an uncut gem goes not sparkle ， a talent would be ruined if he was famous at such a young age. At last， Zhang Juzheng passed the provincial examination 3 years later and then became Prime Minister smoothly.
　　The importance of life lies in persistence. The success or failure is hard to be seen until the last moment. In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty， when Zhang Shicheng， born in Jiangsu， raised an army to overthrow Yuan Dynasty， Prime Minister Tuo Tuo besieged the army of Zhang Shicheng in Gaoyou City with a huge army. When the army of Zhang Shicheng exhausted their supplies and ammunition and it seems that there was no hope to get out of such situation， let alone turning the table， Tuo Tuo was dismissed and exiled. Hearing this news， Yuan army surrendered to Zhang Shicheng one by one. Then Zhang Shicheng， who was still alive， and with stronger forces and better morale， made counter attacks and occupied most of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
　　There is a saying called hiding the incompetency to show the mercy. As Cao Rui went hunting with his father Emperor Wen of Wei， when Emperor Wen killed the doe and asked Cao Rui to kill the deerlet beside it， Cao Rui said sadly： “As you have killed its mother， how could I kill the deerlet just losing mother？” Hearing this， Emperor Wen thought he was kindhearted and determined to make him as the Princess. This was not unique in the history， when Daoguang Emperor went hunting with his forth son and sixth son， the sixth son hunted the most for his good riding and shooting， but the forth son moved Daoguang Emperor due to his “mercy” for he took “mercy” as an excuse and refused to kill livestock. The forth son was the later cowardly Xianfeng Emperor and the sixth son was the shrewd Prince Gong. 　　Everyone has some skills which cannot be used at ordinary times， but may be the living means in an emergency. In the early Qing Dynasty， the Qing Army slaughtered many people in eastern and southern parts of Liaoning Province， most of which were Xiucai （one who passed the county level imperial examination in the Ming and Qing Dynasty）， except cordwainer， carpenter， tailor and actor or actress. A man named Yang， a Xiucai， said that he was an actor when captured by Qing soldiers and finally was released after singing a few words which sounded like opera. He survived luckily and was Governor of Sungkiang finally in the years of Emperor Shunzhi.
　　An official must perform its own duties and a person must know its own place. There is a saying that “in your post， seek the politics”， that is to say， do not exceed your duty. In the years of Emperor Wen of Han， Zhou Bo and Chen Ping were the Prime Ministers. When Emperor Wen asked Zhou Bo how many cases were handled in a year and how much the financial revenues and expenditures of the court was in a year， Zhou Bo could not answer it and Emperor Wen was quit unhappy. But when Emperor Wen asked Chen Ping the same questions， Chen Ping answered： “Please ask Tingwei （an official of feudal government） the question related to cases and ask Neishi （an official of feudal government） the question related to finance because we are only responsible for appointing outstanding talents.” Emperor Wen thought it was true.
　　The unique thoughts often produce a winner. Once Gao Huan， the Prime Minister of the Eastern Wei Dynasty， asked his young sons to sort out the habijabi. When others sorted them one by one； Gao Yang clipped them with a knife. Gao Huan was surprised and asked Gao Yang why， Gao Yang answered： “Be decisive！” Gao Huan thought Gao Yang must be promising and later， Gao Yang established Northern Qi Dynasty.
　　Many people think that Zen is profound， mystery and hard to understand. Actually it is waiting for your discovery in the poem. In the description of very familiar and seemingly ordinary sceneries and feelings such as “While picking asters neath the eastern fence， my gaze rests on the Southern mountain”， “Walking until the end of brook， just sit down to watch cloud rising”， rich Zen interests are contained in them. Integrating the author’s research of more than 30 years on Chinese classical literatures and exploration of traditional culture， this book incisively appreciates and analyzes about 100 ancient poems in China， to make readers understand the extensive and profound Chinese Zen culture. This book is of profound connotation， graceful and concise writing， thus making readers tranquil and sublimate their hearts during reading. 　　About the author
　　Luo Yuming， Professor and Doctoral Adviser of Chinese Language and Literature Department of Fudan University， has written the Concise History of Chinese Literature， published by Brill Academic Publishers， a famous academic publisher in Europe， which is the first literature history work by a scholar in Chinese Mainland that arouses the concern and attention of the western academic circles.
　　Excerpt
　　Contents
　　Singing birds make a more secluded mountain. / Everything will be alright. The deep peace would never change when everything is changing.
　　The flower， as well as an epiphany， can bring a smiling face. / The flower， as insignificant it is， is a reflection of this wonderful world.
　　The flower， as well as an epiphany， can bring a smiling face. / The flower， as insignificant it is， is a reflection of this wonderful world.
　　Where does the dust come from？ / Only with no worries and cares can one be enlightened.
　　I sail back with nothing but the moonlight. / There was nothing gained. I set out with nothing， and I come back with nothing； but I have a bright mood after doing it.
　　I sit there leisurely， watching the rising clouds. / The fallen flowers flow away with the running water to where there is another wonderful world stretching before you.
　　Spring is fully sprouting on the branch. / The one whom you can find nowhere is actually standing by your side where you’ve never noticed.
　　One can only know himself by himself. / The cycle of life and death continues. No one knows where the circle starts.
　　I am not you. / The shadow is mine， but I am not the shadow.
　　Bells break the ship-borne roamer’s dream at the still night. / Life is always full of sufferings. You have no one to tell but yourself.
　　The moon makes one think. / There is but one moon which yet appears everywhere in the water； while for all the moon in the water， they are reflections of only one moon.
　　It is the right thing to treat every day as a usual day. / Secular knowledge and desires are much like the wet clothes， wrapping us so tightly that we cannot get away from it.
　　Have a cup of tea. / Life is changeable just as everything is changing. He who is coming will come. He who is leaving will leave.
　　Mountain is mountain. River is river. / The things we can see clearly may not what it really is.
　　The wild goose flies past without any trace. The shadow has no intention to be reflected in the water. / Life is but an accident. All is in a constant change. 　　Autumn comes when hearing a Chosho./ A solitary moon is hanging on the dark sky， and infinite mountains and river are stretching on the ground. What moves the heaven and the earth is a darkness-piercing Chosho by a Buddhist. So the bleak mood diffuses around after that.
　　The grass turns green as the spring comes. / Zen is in nature as well as in the simple life.
　　Buddhist is always full of energy. / Put boundlessness on your palm and you will gain eternity in a split second.
　　All four walls were swamped by the shadows of flowers. / Sincerity will be lost together with childishness， and the true self will loss the moment losing sincerity.
　　The focus of Baby is not the children of the family， but the love experiences and life courses of different families during the marriage crisis. As concluded by Liuliu， when the post-70s are considering having a second child， the post-90s don’t know why people must marry and the post-80s don’t know why people want to have baby. Meanwhile， issues， like one child policy， emotional infidelity， midlife crisis and pension burden， which are consuming the modern people， are thoroughly exposed in this book.
　　Jingbo， a dominated wife， and Sun Zhe， the husband， desperately want to be “Dink”， but all their Dink efforts end in vain. Waiting before them is a flood of happy troubles. Jingbo’s brother， though with the belief that life is just a game， yet gets married after an unexpected baby comes into his life. Now and then， he quite enjoys the happy family life. Right when Feng Yin， Jingbo’s cousin， is struggling for her second child， yet her husband was confirmed to a love affair with another woman……
　　Baby integrates the intriguing life stories of Dwelling Narrowness with the unique concepts of Intension. Liuliu was pushed to the terminal of the social chain by the topic of child.
　　About the author
　　Liuliu is a famous contemporary writer and play writer of China.
　　Digest
　　Li Chuanqi is driving slowly along the street， with the car window open， while Jing Bo， sitting besides， seems to be preoccupied by her own thought. Then she says， “Finally I can have a short rest after a whole day’s meeting. Now I can understand why leaders like you will feel so exhausted after a trip with public funds.” Hearing her words， Li Chuanqi smiles faintly without saying anything and quietly listens to Jingbo’s description that she loves this misty night.
　　They drive along through a road and come to a boisterous coffee shop at the end. The door of the shop opens and closes from time to time， and the noisy inside can be heard clearly. Jingbo is curious about it and asks， “What’s this place for？ How could it be so busy？” Glancing over it， Li Chuanqi tells her that it is the birth place of the first cup of Irish coffee. Jingbo got confused， “What is Irish coffee？ I only know Latte， Mocha and ESPRESSO.” 　　Li Chuanqi pulls up the car somewhere at the street corner and takes Jingbo to the coffee shop. With a wind coat hanging on his arm， he pushes open the coffee door. After sitting down， they notice that the one who is making coffee actually has the skin of the Asian. He is such a skillfully coffee maker that he can make 20 cups at one time. Li Chuanqi smiles and says to Jingbo， “Do you know who he is？ He is the nephew of Shao Yifu—Hi！ Jack！”
　　Jack has a typical Cantonese’s face. After saying hello to Li Chuanqi with a friendly smile， he continued talking to the guests and doing his work. Then Li Chuanqi asked him， “Jack， do you still remember me？”
　　“How cannot I？ You only gained a little weight and had some more wrinkles. Oh， of course， you had a new girl friend. She is not one of the other girls you brought here，” says Jack.
　　Jingbo opens her eyes widely， “Other girls？ He got other girls？ Are you sure？ He never told me about it！” Then she turns around and shouts at Li Chuanqi with English， “You’ve said you came here for work， but you bring different girls here each time. How can it be fair to me and our child？”
　　All of a sudden， the men and women around quiet down and turn their eyes to Li Chuanqi. Li Chuanqi almost sweats with fear and has no idea of what to do. Jack is so sorry and says immediately， “Oh， I’m sorry. I don’t know she is your wife. Honey， I was just kidding. It was not the fact. I’ll treat for today’s coffee. What flavor would you like？”
　　Jingbo snickers. She turns around and says in a low voice， “We’ve got somebody pay the bill for us.”
　　Mayor Li is such a naughty boy that he says to Jack， “You’ll treat， right？ Give me two cups of the mildest coffee.” He then gives a quick wink to Jack. Jack knows well what exactly is in his mind.
　　The coffee is served to Jingbo. She gets stuck at the first sip， “No. It’s so strong！ You didn’t tell the coffee is made of alcohol！”
　　Li Chuanqi bursts into laughter， “One hundred years ago， here was the closest coffee shop from the dock. As soon as the fishermen came back， the first thing they would do was to come here for a cup of coffee with wine to warm up and have a chat. This shop was once the busiest social club in the town.”
　　Jack says to Li Chuanqi， “You should take a photo with your wife to memory this wonderful moment. We’ve appeared on the magazine thousand times！ I’ll take it for you.”
　　Li Chuanqi passes his mobile phone to Jack. Jingbo and Li Chuanji are standing shoulder by shoulder. Jack is not satisfied with this posture - “Not typical enough. You’re not like fishermen.” 　　Mayor Li gets Jack’s mind and turns to Jingbo， saying”Look at me！” He covers his lips with the foam on the surface of the coffee and grinned with exposed snow-white teeth. Jingbo follows him. They two smile to each other. Jingbo also passes her mobile phone to Jack and asks him to take a picture for her.
　　Jack gets so excited that he asks them to be closer， so that he would hang the picture on the wall to tell other women that this man is married. And Mrs. Li can be relived.
　　Jingbo bursts into laughter. With her legs propped up on the table， she throws her hand around Mayor Li’s shoulder and purses her lips， pretending to kiss Li Chuanqi. Jack then clicks the icon in Jingbo’s mobile phone. Another picture was taken. Jingbo winks brightly to the coffee maker， “Do remember to hang it on the wall！ I’ll send the picture to you.”
　　When they are talking， a couple elbow their way through the crowds to get out of the coffee shop. The man pats on Li Chuanqi’s shoulder and gives a weird smile， “Poor man， wait and see what will happen tonight.” While the woman lowered her voice and said to Jingbo， “Darling， for man， you must keep an eye on them for the whole night.” Jingbo then knocks hard her head.
　　Jingbo and Li Chuanqi walk out from the coffee shop， supporting and cuddling with each other and singing something in their mouths. Mayor Li puts on his wind coat， listening to Jingbo who is intoxicated in her own singing， “I love this place！ I ask you how much you love me. I can’t love you more…”
　　Li Chuanqi reacts affectionately， “My affection for you is true， and I love you deeply. Only the moon can tell how much I love you.”
　　They teeter their way through to the dock， where is not far away from the coffee. And the bubble car is pulled up next to them. In the distance， the ship fire is flickering among the misty fog. Jingbo’s eyes glances over the distance blearily. Behind her， Li Chuanqi is standing with the same absent-minded look. Jingbo utters a faint sigh， “It’s too beautiful. Just stay a little longer.”
　　As a cold wind is blowing over， Jingbo shrinks her neck. Li Chuanqi gently unbuttons his wind coat and wraps Jingbo in it. Behind them， a tramcar with San Francisco style passes by， taking away their shadows in the wind.
　　The novel depicts a “coward” who suffers much controversies and suspects through a intricate and moving anti-Japanese story. Wang Wenqi is well-learned and refined and is of great tenacity. In order to save an obstructive fellow villager， he exposed his special status in a critical condition when Japanese entering village to mop up. From then on， he had to fight a battle of wits with Japanese， which raised the hated acts of the villagers. Therefore， Wang Wenqi was pushed into a hard condition……he need to obedient to， or even please， Japanese ostensibly， which lead to the meanness and bulling by them. But， in such conditions， he never dare to fight against them in violence， and bears an indignantly resent to them. At last， he chopped off the head of the local Japanese official in person. Wang Wenqi， who resists violence with obedience and shows strength with weakness， is an upright and kind-hearted “coward” living between the ferity of enemy and the outrage of nationality. The novel expresses not only the fear for lives， the care for humanity and the eagerness for peace， but also a kind of life wisdom to fight against the strong with the weak and the hardness with softness. 　　About the author
　　Liang Xiaosheng， a famous contemporary writer， creates and publishes many novels and essays which amount to almost tens of millions of words. Many of his works were adapted to movies and TV plays or became best-sellers and have considerable influence in society.
　　Digest
　　The well-educated Chinese， in his thirties， was standing there solemnly with his head lowering and his arms dangling. Although Fujino was questioning him with Chinese， he still replied him with Japanese. He not only said one or two sentences but at least four or five sentence. His Japanese was rather pleasing to ears； even more pleasing to ears.
　　His fellow villagers stunned， thought they didn’t know what he was talking about.
　　Some Japanese soldiers also astounded. They gathered a semi-circle around him with every bayonet pointed at him. When he was talking， they gradually drooped down their bayonets and some of their bayonets even touched to the ground. Even the villagers behind him could see the Japanese soldiers were astounded and they had a subtle but obvious change on their faces—they seemed to appreciate him a little， admire him a little and have changed a little their views to him. All these little subtle expressions leaked out from their malicious looks， as if the steam leaked from the boiling drawer cloth.
　　The Chinese Fujino knew， after hearing his talk for such a long time， was apparently not enough to continue to question him. He would not like to and not allowed this Chinese who was standing so close to him to speak Japanese， which would be embarrassing and annoying. What’s more， he thought these Japanese words spoke out of this Chinese guy was very pleasing to ears and so familiar that it even sparkled his nostalgia for his homeland.
　　So， he could only continue their conversation with Japanese.
　　This was how it went. A junior Japanese officer， standing there， with his right hand on bayonet handle and an majestic posture and an arrogant expression， who might throw into a rage at any moment and kill someone mercilessly， was having a smooth and responding conversation with this over 30-year-old well-educated Chinese， who was wearing a pair of glasses and sleeveless waist coat and whose life or death were completely depends on the one who was talking to him.
　　This well-educated Chinese who seemed to have no reason to be here in the village was still looking down and still standing there solemnly with his arms drooping down. His fluent Japanese was still so pleasing to ear. 　　They continued their talk for a long time without changing anything.
　　Some Japanese soldiers began to relax themselves and some even carried their guns on their shoulders.
　　The piggy on the cart stopped crying.
　　Two men with much bravery helped Untie Han up the ground and held her back to these villagers. In spite that Fujino was watching the whole process， he did not burst into any anger.
　　After Fujino said something to him， “the glasses”， still with his head hanging down， knelt down on one of his legs slowly. The entire Japanese soldiers laughed. Some pointed at “the glasses man” and were murmuring about something.
　　Fujino poked the man’s chin with a docketed bayonet. His head was lifted up so that they two could watch each other eye to eye. Fujino again said something， though in a low voice but with a harsh tone.
　　Then， “the glasses man” knelt down the other leg. His chin was still poked by Fujino’s bayonet. They were still staring at each other. Fujino put his left hand in his pants pocket and produced a handkerchief which is as white as his gloves. He held it on its corner right before “the glasses.”
　　“The glasses man” lifted his right hand and took it over. Then， Fujino took his bayonet back from his chin. And at the same time， he raised his left boot on the right shoulder of the man who was wearing glasses.
　　Then， “the glasses man” started to wipe Fujino’s left boot.
　　Japanese soldiers became overjoyed and started to sing a nameless Japanese song loudly and dance around “the glasses man” and Fujino.
　　Fujino laughed.
　　The villagers who witnessed the whole process all lowered their heads， again. The fragile pride that existed one moment in their mind vanished so completely that they even felt more humiliated and sorrowful being in the collective group.
　　Han Zhu’er started to swear loudly again. But what he swore was not the Japanese any more but “the glasses”. He probably thought that it would not any difference to curse these son-of-a-bitch Japanese soldiers for they were always beasts and never being humans no matter they were cursed or not. They would not change into human beings after being sworn. So they even didn’t deserve a curse. What was the sense to curse them？ Of course， the idea that came up to this young villager almost came up to every villager’s mind. This was a kind of wisdom or a surviving rule， which they had learned from the reality. So he did not curse the Japanese but “the glasses man”. Now he was not even kid any more. He was not formal students of “the glasses man”. But in his free time， he liked to listen to the classes “the glasses man” gave the other kids and learned some characters. He even used to respect “the glasses man” as a teacher. 　　At the moment， the respectable image of his teacher in his mind collapsed all of sudden. Few minutes ago when the teacher did not kneel himself down， his teacher’s image still remained unaffected in his mind， though it was not so lofty enough. What was the difference of him to a traitor when he was looking down， hanging his head and talking to a little Japanese officer so softly， so gently in Japanese？ How could he be lofty？
　　But he never expected that his teacher would kneel down， and on both knees. Even if he didn’t kneel down， the result would never be worse than a death. Was he really so scared of death？
　　So these curse words were all about how coward and how hard-hearted was he and how he embarrassed the whole village and even the whole nation. The young man unyielding in nature did not even feel any less abhorrence to swear so badly at him. If he was not tied up on the tree， he would certainly give some kicks to the man who was cursed.
　　But “the glasses man” seemed as if to be deaf. Turning away his ear to any sound in the world， he felt he was really a shoeshine man： he was wholeheartedly polishing the boot on his shoulder， as it was his life-time career.
　　Fujino got furious by the swearing from Han Zhu’er. He had no idea of what he was cursing， but he knew he was cursing. He was quite confident about his own judgment---the man was not cursing him but the Chinese kneeling down in front of him.
　　This novel is about two 17-year-old girls who were much closed friends. One of them was called Zhang Xiaopu， who was beautiful and fascinating； the other was called Ouyang Xixia， who was kind and ordinary. Zhang Xiaopu published a piece of writing on the school magazine， and received lots of letters from her readers. One of them was a boy called Shen Jiabai， who liked Zhang Xiaopu very much. But at this time， Zhang Xiaopu loved two college students， so she paid no attention to the fresh boy， Shen Jiabai. Ouyang Xixia wrote back to Shen Jiabai for Zhang Xiaopu， and repeated the mistakes afterwards. She kept connecting with Shen Jiabai in the name of Zhang Xiaopu， and deeply fell in love with him.
　　Xixia was like a mermaid who would become rose bubbles when the sun came out. In the end， she had to return Shen Jiabai to Zhang Xiaopu， and kept this secret for many years. One of Xixia’s college classmates loved her very much for a long time， in spite of knowing Xixia’s secret， he still accompanied with her silently. Many years later， Zhang Xiaopu married a Japanese man， and told the secret to Shen Jiabai. Shen Jiabai knew that the girl he loved in these years was Xixia until this moment. But when he found Xixia， Xixia and Chuntian were preparing for their wedding. Love was like a missed bus that once missed， you wouldn’t catch it forever. Xixia was like a butterfly who had missed its springtime， and Shen Jiabai became a tattoo carved deeply in her heart， and made her painful forever... 　　About the author
　　Xue Xiaochan’s published works include collection of prose “Love Zen”， “I Live for Myself ”， short stories “A Ground of Lovesickness， Two People’s Cold”， and full-length novel “No Love， No Happiness” and “The Story of Fireworks”.
　　Digest
　　With the start of the sophomore year， Zhang Xiaopu’s love affair was over again.
　　In her words， the boy was as rustic as the small Phoenix Town， so it was OK to stay with him for a while but boring for a longer time.
　　If you see today’s Zhang Xiaopu， you can’t recognize her definitely.
　　A strong prostitute feel spreads from her. Her bag always has different kinds of lady cigarettes， she said， “As a girl， cigarettes are necessary. What good props they are. When you have no lover， you should have cigarettes.”
　　Unfortunately， her loves were like half cigarettes all the time.
　　It was Li Mingluo from whom Zhang Xiaopu learned to smoke.
　　And it was also Li Mingluo who made her no longer believe in love.
　　When she was very young， Zhang Xiaopu watched movies in a dark cinema. She envied those female spies very much. Most of them had wavy hair， painted bright red nail polish on fingers， and blood red lipstick and heavy coats of eye shadow on their white faces. All of these were fatal attractions to the ten-year-old girl who had wicked ideas.
　　In addition， usually there were cigarettes between their fingers. The hand clamping a cigarette was slender， fascinating， and of an enchanting feel.
　　The attraction of a cigarette is beyond of imagination.
　　Sometimes， a girl will grow up to a woman because of a tiny thing. As to Zhang Xiaopu， the cigarette between that bad woman’s fingers was the thing. In essence， maybe she was always dreaming to be a woman like that， but the real life always ran counter to her dream.
　　After falling in love， she liked those smoking girls more and more. Duras， the woman she liked， smoked， and San Mao also smoked.
　　There is a photo of San Mao， in which she sat on the ground cross-legged and smoked with her long hair hanging down from the middle. That is a decadent black-and-white photo taken in front of a tea house in Sichuan Province.
　　How will a woman spend life with cigarettes if she has no profound loneliness？ Zhang Xiaopu said， their gracefulness and loneliness had nothing to do with evil， but their elegant posture called forth people’s random thoughts.
　　I also like the words and expressions on cigarettes. People who often smoke Marlboro say， “Often smoke Marlboro， love slows three steps.” Is it because smoking women are so lonely or too narcissistic that they are happy-go-lucky people on love affairs？ But Zhang Xiaopu’s attitude to love was just opposite to that. 　　Li Mingluo， the man she once loved liked smoking. He even couldn’t live without smoking. As long as he was awake， he needed smoke every ten minutes. The brands of cigarettes he usually smoked were Septwolves and Zhongnanhai which were brands men usually chose.
　　At that time， Zhang Xiaopu didn’t smoke， but he always gave one to her. Being afraid of being laughed at， Zhang Xiaopu lit one， and pretended that she could. As a result， she was choked to tears. He sang Kunqu operas for her， one sentence by one smoke. At that moment， he looked a bit like Zhang Guorong. Zhang Xiaopu smoked on the opposite， and she was like Ruhua.
　　“Common people enjoy marriage happiness at home， wives are as beautiful as flowers， while boudoir repining fill in the Forbidden City， youth passes as a fleeting wave.” He usually sang the two lines. They were once as innocent as flowers， but with cigarettes， they thought everything would pass as a fleeting wave.
　　Did those women once happy and lonely as Zhang Xiaopu also smoke with their beloved man？ After leaving Li Mingluo， Zhang Xiaopu learned smoking， and she usually had Salem， a kind of mint cigarette. Someone told her， it was smoked like first love. Sure enough it was.
　　Once I went to a pub， and met a 30-year-old woman smoking Mild Seven. She lit a cigarette lightly， spitted smoke rings in a very elegant posture， and said， woman who was once hurt by love， and learned about that of placid should smoke Mild Seven.
　　The last lover of a woman will be cigarettes. Smoke and smoke， eventually， she may understand that the one knows about her loneliness is the smog curling upwards. It is really a pity that most women will throw a half-smoked cigarette away， leaving it lying on a road side lonely and reminding people of love given up halfway.
　　One day， strolling along a street， she saw a kind of cigarette called Camellia， on whose box it read： “It’s my first meeting with you， but the feeling is like an old friend.”
　　Somehow or other， tears dropped down from Zhang Xiaopu’s eyes.
　　He said， “There’ll be a day， seeing cigarettes， you may think of me and that smell of smoke in my mouth.” “I also think of another two sentences， we once sang： poor bones on the bank of Wuding River， the man is still in his lover’s dream”， she thought.
　　But she just thought of that， and then she smiled and bought a pack of cigarettes， lit one， had a few puffs heavily， then walked away with smiles. 　　This is the story of Zhang Xiaopu， which is sad and blurred.
　　She also had a kid of his， but she aborted it in a strange town with my company.
　　There is a song sung by Xu Meijing， The Cigarette He Smoked. I think she sang it to Chen Jiaming， and afterwards， she got crazy. Maybe it was for him， or for love？
　　The cigarette he smoked must have a smell of extreme temptation.
　　Because of love， so she loved him， and loved the cigarette he smoked.
　　In Red Rose and White Rose， Wang Jiaorui， a willful charming woman fell in love with Tong Zhenbao. After he went to work， she hold his clothes alone to smell the man's smell， and picked cigarette ends he left to smoke， just like a willful child.
　　Maybe， in her mind， it was her first kissing with him？
　　Afterwards， I saw a film whose name I have forgotten. In the film， a girl fell in love with a man， a smoking man， so with yearning expressions on her face， she looked at the man smoking. She liked the cigarette he smoked because she loved the man. She even ran around the town to buy cigarettes of this brand. The way she ran touched me. Only falling in love with him， she could do everything for him， even if just going to buy the cigarette he liked.
　　I like The Cigarette He Smoked of Xu Meijing. I like her voice. It is lonely and magnetic. The slight melancholy in her voice makes me addicted.
　　Once I went to a supermarket and heard the song unexpectedly. Somehow or other， my tears dropped down with several boxes of MAUM （Mind Act Upon Mind） facial tissue in my hands. I never smoked， but I felt sad because Zhang Xiaopu liked smoking， and she once loved a smoking man.
　　If two friends are closed enough， their heart can connect together definitely.
　　I believe in this very much.
　　Once Zhang Xiaopu got drunk， she said， “Love is a fucking poison. The thing you loved， even its smell can make you heart ache.”
　　Yes， the smell.
　　Smell makes people miss. One day， she found the familiar smell never disappeared， so she bought a pack of 555 cigarettes from the nearest shop， locked the door， turned off lights， and there only left her and her loneliness in the darkness... She smoked cigarettes one by one， tasting the remote but clear smell she once was infatuated with. She heard her heart was weeping， helplessly like a child. Slight sorrow gradually spread over and filled in the house. The smoke spreading over slightly like mist intoxicated me. Her eyes blurred with tears. So cigarettes made people drunk， the cigarette she smoked was the kind he smoked. 　　At the beginning， I advised Zhang Xiaopu to quit smoking， but afterwards， I didn’t do that anymore.
　　Because， the girl immersing in smoke was really quite pretty.
　　I admit that I liked her.
　　Even if she was bad and corrupt， but she had a fascinating taste that you couldn’t tell which was bad， blurred and even chaotic， but the taste may attract both men and women to indulge.
　　A college entrance examination separated Yu Geyao and Qin Yongyan far apart， one studied in north， the other in south. During college， Tan Rongsheng， a man much older than Geyao trapped her in a conflictive chaotic emotion， but the reunion of Geyao and Yongyan put a sudden end to the emotion. Geyao chose Yongyan eventually. But a mistaken dubious behavior between Geyao and Xia Kai， the husband of her good friend， was discovered by He Xiaoling. Their relationship soon went sour. In the end， the short marriage of Geyao and Yongyan was filled with frustrations because of the Yongyan’s lover in college days coming from afar， adding the serious suspicion between them...
　　About the author
　　Zhang Qiuhan from Jiangsu Province， is engaged in novel writing， and draws illustrations and takes photos in part time. His works of all kinds can be seen in emotional magazines such as Flore， The South Wind， Lover， Pretty Girl， Best Love， etc.
　　Digest
　　Yongyan was standing in front of her， both of them are speechless.
　　In the past several years， Geyao had imagined the scene of meeting Yongyan for several times.
　　Maybe it was in the dim light shadow in the subway station they nearly brushed past each other， but for some reasons only God knows， both of them stepped back， and then saw each other gleamingly across the thick air and sparse passengers. After standing in dull for a good while， they finally greeted to each other and said， “Long time no see， hope that you are well.”
　　Maybe it was on a big festival that they met each other by chance in a supermarket. They saw each other’s figure in a distance， then pushed the crowd enjoying price cutting away crazily， didn’t want to miss each other again nor lose the short remaining youth.
　　Or maybe it was in the Tomb Sweeping Day of a year， both of them went back to Heying， their hometown， to sweep graves. Without prior arrangement， they both went to revisit the sad place， standing on the levee of Qinghe River to see the spring tide lifting the water level of the river and flooding green grass on banks. Then they turned round and saw the old friend was just standing in the near distance. The heart was filled with sorrow and happiness， just like a dream. 　　Women always try to perfect their imagination. They wish their loves look bright， magnificent， making people miss， but imagination is floating delusive fireworks which may not be so fantastic once being practiced.
　　It became brighter little by little. It seemed there was an enormous knob between heaven and earth which had been turned on by hands hiding in the dark， then the current flew to the earth， the world became bright. From darkness to brightness， a moony illusion happened to Geyao， as if she had dreamed a dream， but now the dream was to wake up， so nothing would go on with ambiguity.
　　Geyao cried out. This was the first time she shed tears in front of him after the released date of the result of college entrance examination. Yongyan didn’t dissuade her， but he just hugged her in arms. She cried for a long time， then she pushed him away until the sun came out totally and the strong light was like roaring flame and was baking their skin， she wiped tears away with the back of her hand casually and said： “Just let it be， don’t look for me anymore.”
　　When she was to go back， Yongyan took her by the arm brutally. He was too sad and anxious to control his power. He made her hurt. Then he said： “I don’t say anything. I’ll leave first to settle down in Gucheng City earlier， then I can give you a stable contact way of me.”
　　This was the last sentence that Yongyan said to her in that summer. Across so many years， this sentence was the nearest to her， so she remembered it very clearly so that it seemed she could touch its edge and tone as long as she stretched out her hand.
　　It was summer daybreak again， which was the same as the daybreak on which they parted that very year. The sky in the south was like moist and light blue colored glaze， some sparse clouds dotted it far away. Streetlights were off at the same time， but they were to start a grand new day by lighting off. Gardenias in the garden of the housing estate were to fall， the bloom-falling fragrance spread out as if opening an occult formation. Some white birds flied up together to a building and tweeted in a row， looking forward the daybreak that would come soon.
　　At that time， it was also in such an ambiguous time that they bid farewell to each other. The young boy and girl parted their hands ignorantly in their flower and raining season without knowing what their future would be. They parted till today but didn’t know what year it was. Looking back， it was boundless and indistinct mist， the incoming road had long disappeared. 　　Suddenly Yongyan came up to grasp her hand. Being off guard， Geyao admitted at the moment when their fingertips touched， she felt lost in love in a flash of lightning， as if the broken bridge was fixed well， even the broken intersecting surfaces were not worn and they could be pieced together very well. But the intellect mind followed by held her back.
　　She shook her head and said： “I won’t send you. Are you going back to Gucheng？”
　　Yongyan said： “Yes. I’m on a business trip， inattentively， I slop away.”
　　Geyao suppressed the tempting trend in time， and said： “it’s not true. In the middle school， teachers always praised your concentration in front of the whole class.”
　　Then both of them laughed.
　　She saw he went across the street with vigorous strides， stopped a taxi and left. Geyao had wanted to wave at him， but her arm seemed being hung with lead so that she couldn’t lift it up by any means. Or it was enough for her to stand there and watch him leaving.
　　This work analyses Huangdi Neijing with the theory that man is an integral part of nature and explains the theory of “Everthing generated from Tao”. The book aims to teach the readers to focus on the essences of things in daily life， study and work. There are part I and part II. The work is divided into 18 chapters including meaning of the title of Huangdi Neijing， methods recorded in Huangdi Neijing， wisdom of Huangdi Neijing， Suwen – Theory of Qi， brif introduction to tips and methods of health preserving， Suwen – Adjustments in Four Seasons， Suwen – Naturally Tonify Qi， three main mechanisms of senility， health preserving in 12 two-hour period of a day， health preserving laws， analysis of figure of the 5 elements in Huangdi Neijing， Suwen – Classic books and Lingshu – Nature. It systematically analyzes Huangdi Neijing， helping readers understanding Huangdi Neijing better and clearer.
　　About the author
　　Wang Yin， born in 1960s in a traditional Chinese medicine family， teaches as guest professor in Shanghai Jiao Tong University and keynote professor in Zhejiang University. His lectures are mainly about Chinese ancient civilization including analysis of Huangdi Neijing， Analects and Tao Te Ching. He was also invited to give lectures in many governmental departments and corporations and gained good reputation. Now he is also the chief collaborating expert of China in cell experimental team of Science-rich Clemson University and guest professor and visiting scholar in Auburn University. 　　Digest
　　Chinese culture focuses on the “Nei” （inner part） while Huangdi Neijing is a book specially discusses issues of the inner part. So what does the “Nei” in the title mean？ “Nei” in the title Huangdi Neijing refers to a concept of “Nei” mentioned in Zhuangzi – Way is Objective that “for things outside the Liuhe， sages know their existence but talk nothing about them； for things within the Liuhe， sages talk about them but do not discuss them； for classic books， sages discuss them but do not comment.”
　　What is “Liuhe”？
　　“Liuhe” refers to 6 positions that are “east， south， west， north， above and below”. These 6 positions form a space which we can see and feel. But is there anything beyond the space？ Do things exist outside the “Liuhe”？ Yes， there is.
　　Space outside the “Liuhe” is the space which we called “another dimension”. What exists in this “another dimension”？ They are god， immortal， ghost and tao， things beyond the “Liuhe” and not exsisting in our space. Huangdi Neijing distinguished traditional Chinese medicine doctors from witch doctors at a very early time. It made the dividing line. In ancient times， doctors were called witch doctor because at that time witchcraft and medical skill are closely related to each other. But such theory of god， immortal， ghost and tao disappeared gradually since appearance of Huangdi Neijing.
　　Zhuangzi – Way is objective that “for things outside the Liuhe， sages know their existence but talk nothing about them； for things within the Liuhe， sages talk about them but do not discuss them； for classic books， sages discuss them but do not comment.”
　　Our ancients told us to research things existing within the “Liuhe” in a down-to-earth way. There may be things outside the “Liuhe” but sages do not talk about them because there won’t be clear conclusion. We can’t see or feel those things； so talking about them is meaningless. For things within the “Liuhe" which we can see and feel， sages talk about them but do not discuss. These things exist in their own way in accordance with nature rules. There's no need to discuss them. Eliminating them by violence regardless of nature rules will result in uncontrollable disasters. For classic books， sages discuss them but do not comment. For historical record about deceased sovereigns in former times， we can discuss it to understand wisdom of these deceased sovereigns but do not make comment. For example， his achievements amount to 30 percent and his mistakes to 70 percent. Comments on happened things do not make sense. So sages only spend time on meaningful things. 　　For people born in 1960s to 1970s， they remembered not only their childhood but also stories and experiences which shouldn’t have appeared in one’s childhood. Medically， an amnesiac can clearly remember his experience in childhood. Unfortunately， returning to the past only happens in dramas but not in real life. Beauty of childhood can only be kept as memory. The only thing we can do is to remember it， no matter in dream or in silent night by writing or recalling.
　　Childhood in Beijing is the tile of a series of works by Mao Daqin， describing his childhood in Beijing. A Lost Childhood is a part of this series. As a man born and grown up in Beijing， Mao cherishes his memory of childhood in Beijing through detail description of food， cloth， residence， traffic and entertainment in Beijing when he was a child. People born in period from 1960s to 80s can think of something about their own childhood when reading the book. Moreover， it is a good text for learning changes of Beijing in recent decades and local culture of Beijing.
　　About the author
　　Mao Daqing， Professor， Vice CEO of Vanke Group， General Manager of Vanke Beijing.
　　Digest
　　My “Strong Root” – Story about the Game “Bagen”
　　Eileen Chang once said that： “We urban people see images of sea before seeing sea； read love stories before knowing love.”
　　“Bagen”， also called “Balaogen” is a kind of game popular in North China in autumn when I was a child. It integrates entertainment and economical efficiency and was popular among male pupils. The essence of the game is stronger leaf stem. Generally， leaf used in this game would be fallen leaf of poplar. This is because poplars were seen everywhere and it's easy to get its fallen leaves. Children would look down upon player who had leaves from other kind of tree. Two children would respectively take a leaf and hold the ends of the petiole with both hands. The two leaves would cross the petioles. Then the two boys shall pull towards themselves. The one whose petiole was broken shall be the loser. The petiole which broke many other petioles was called “strong root”.
　　Result of such game， basically， is not decided by the player. Even strength of the player or the skill has little to do with the result that they can be ignore. Of course， cheating influences a lot. For example， someone would secretly pinch his opponent’s petiole with nail. That is to say， the result is totally decided by the petiole. Therefore， players pay much attention to select petioles for game. First， a good petiole shall have proper thickness. A too thin petiole is not strong enough while an over thick one will be too soft； the second point is the color. The black-yellow petioles are the best. Over-yellow indicates the petiole is not mature enough while over-black means over-development that makes the petiole not strong enough； the third point is the shape. Some petioles are flat， looking like thin belt. This kind of petiole is the worst choice. Boys need petiole which is round throughout and has no edge. This is because stress distributes evenly on round face. Therefore， best petiole is brown， flexible and thick. 　　I remembered at that time when autumn came and leaves began to fall， on our way home， many children played this game together. Under the tress， on the street， everywhere I could see children selecting petiole or paying “Bagen". Sometimes， in order to win the game， children made every effort to make better petiole. For making their petiole stronger， many children put their petiole in shoes and took them out for game when the petioles turned dark， black and more flexible. Sure， they always won. This kind of processed petiole was called “Laojiang”. Some children， for proving that they were extremely good at selecting petiole that they could win even in a battle with “Laojiang”， would act shamelessly. They inserted a very thin iron line into the petiole. If they did good job in hiding the iron line， nobody would discover. But there's risk that clever children might expose the cheating. This would definitely embarrass the cheater. And some would also overlap another petiole to the original one unawares. This game companied me for a long period of time. Children form pairs and challenged to each other. Everyone was emulative. Sometimes we played the game on our way from school to home so when we arrived home， our hands were black and dirty with bruises in strip.
　　But natural petiole that can satisfy requirements of “strong root” is rare. This is because air in autumn in north is dry， when the leaves turned yellow-black， they were almost dried. And there were so many children looking for petioles. Therefore， it’s really hard to get a “naturally good one” and we needed to do some artificial processing. I remembered that at that time， there were several “strong roots” in my shoes under the insoles constantly. The senior children told us that gym shoes could provide perfect conditions for “processing” high quality petiole. Petiole incubated in gym shoe for a period of time would be really good in both color and flexibility. But this processing method was by no means a secret. At that time， it’s a quite popular “etiquette” that children would first took off shoes， then cover nose and finally play Bagen when met each other.
　　Therefore， selecting petiole was just the first procedure. The real expert in Bagen would pay most attentions to “petiole processing”. If the petiole showed by the opponent was thin and black with odor， you shall gather your energy. Such a petiole showed that the owner was an expert in this game and the petiole looking ugly had already been well processed. The following record by someone vividly reproduces the painstakingly processing. 　　The standard for petiole for process is quite different. You shall pick those ones which are yellow-green in whole and are thick and big. Collect 10 to 20 qualified ones for backup. First， soak these petioles in water and place the container at a position close to the heating installation or stove in your house. After a whole night’s heating， only little water is left in the container； then wrap the petioles with wet towels and put them back at the original position； the next procedure is difficult because you need smelly feet， the more smelly the better （that’s why few girls are interested in this game）， then divide all petioles into two and respectively put them under the soles in smelly gym shoes； take them out three days later， then test them by Bagen completed by your left and right hand to obsolete some. Remember to put a soft paper between the two petioles when testing for preventing wear. The last survival petiole selected among all processed petioles in this way will definitely be the “ever victor”. Because of the above processes， this petiole must be out of all recognition and have insufferable smell… Sometimes you may meet with “super petiole” which broke lots of petioles but still remains intact. Just in the next day， the owner of the “super petiole” will be the man of the hour in his school and enjoy his days. However， there may also be a situation that someone may meet his match. Both of the two player’s hands are covered with bruises in strip but the result is still undecided. In this case， they need external force. Lean against the wall or ask for help， do whatever they can for victory. If the two petioles break at same time， this “hard battle” must be a hot topic in the following period of time.
　　Though this game is old-fashioned， it is a nostalgic game of that time. Once a special “Bagen" competition was held in Shijia Hutong in Beijing.
　　Ji Xiuhui， Director of the Neighborhood Committee of Shijia Community told me that it’s the first time for the community to hold a Bagen competition. The objective of this competition is to commemorate the traditional Beijing game which is almost forgotten by many people. “When I was a child， every year， my friends and I looked forward to the period at the turn of autumn and winter when leaves began to fall. We picked a lot of leaves during this period. Sometimes， for winning the game， we would secretly insert iron wire into the petiole. That’s really interesting. Nowadays， few children know these （traditional） games. They learn how to play instruments， finish homework， play computer or watch TV. They rarely get close to the nature.” Director Ji said that besides recalling memory and getting close to the nature， this game is also held for promoting the residents to collect fallen leaves. “The fallen leaves in Hutongs can’t be cleaned up. If everyone could pick dozens of leaves， all family members would participate in， our Hutongs would be cleaner. This really serves two purposes.” Tao Junxiang， winner of the competition said this happily. In my childhood， a relatively strong petiole would be stored in gym shoe for several days to make it more flexible. “Now we don’t process petiole in that unhygienic way anymore. This petiole of mine was soaked in salty water for a whole day. But too long time’s soak will also make the petiole weak.” Tao Junxiang said. A strong petiole is very important but the competitor also needs skill while pulling. “In fact， many of them got better petioles than mine. If they were good at pulling， they could be the winner. But it’s a pity that they had no idea about the skill in pulling.” The secret is that the player shall grasp the petiole with his two hands as close as possible. And pull relying on the finger power. And balanced strength of two hands provides better result. 　　See， what similar memories！ How vivid they are！
　　Year after year， children at that time have grown up to adults. Now people don’t play Bagen anymore. Children at present are busy attending class and having extra tutoring. They know nothing about this game which was really popular among their elder generation. Their life today is dominated by electronic products such as computer and PSP. Who can still feel the happiness full of fragrance of earth？ Who will still check petioles one by one for finding the “super petiole” on the street as we did at that time？
　　This book gathers selected several short youth stories by Liu Maijia published on magazines including “ZUI Novel”， “ZUI Fount” and “After School”. What’s more， following each of the story， there is a newest postscript of thousand words which recording the mood of the author when writing these stories and the inspirations from reviewing.
　　About the author
　　Liu Maijia， who once adopted a pseudonym of Liuxi， is a contract writer of Shanghai ZUI Book Co.， Ltd. She is now a student of University of Western Australia majoring in accounting and finance for master’s degree.
　　Digest
　　Part A
　　The long road winds along the edge of the mountain like a coiled-up boa. The tedious coverage with vast crack above head where you can see no exit provides dark green silence which appears in every suspense film. A black cat is walking in the middle of the road leisurely. Its pupils constrict into a graceful thin line. Paying no attention to the deserted surrounding atmosphere， the cat walks in its way and leaves a track on the ground. At a curve not far away， it turns its head and smiles. Suddenly an auto runs over its body and moves as quick as a flash towards Yin Yeye.
　　Yin Yeye opened her eyes at this moment， lying on her bed， daring to have only shallow breath. Her nerves are still trapped in that dream， feeling the auto’s light is just in front of her nose. Although she is awake now， she is still in a cold sweat.
　　This dream reappears again， a dream of road in dense fog. All moods are infinitely extended. A black cat walks in the middle and suddenly an auto runs over it. Yin Yeye watches this as an outsider in her dream till the auto finally gallops towards her. At that moment， she feels herself.
　　Remind herself that it’s just a dream and turn her face to the ray-less sky outside the window. The short noise made by the suddenly passing by vehicles makes her tremble again. It’s too early to get up so Yin Yeye wants to fall asleep again. She tried to recall some pleasant things， longing for a better dream. However， she failed and just closed her eyes， thinking about nothing. 　　But， “thinking about nothing”？ How？ She has constantly had this dream for a long time.
　　Long long mountain road， heavy， depressing dark green and lonely， mysterious black cat.
　　Yin Yeye makes a slight sigh. At this moment， the sun is silently rising and hanging on a place which is tens of thousands light years away from her right atrium.
　　Part B
　　Yin Yeye rubs her not yet fully opened eyes and gets on the No. 48 Bus which is still in stopping. At the moment she steps on the bus， she sees the boy sitting in the second back row. She adjusts her scarf to make it satisfy her neck and naturally walks to the position in front of the second back row and stands with her back facing the boy， grasping handrail tightly.
　　During the journey in the jolty bus， Yin Yeye suddenly regrets about the choice to stand with her back facing the boy. She wants to see the boy but finds that turning back deliberately in this situation will make her silly. So she can only imagine the boy’s dress and movements in her mind.
　　The dark blue uniform is covered by a coat. Inside is the partly hidden partly visible plaid shirt. He never wears glove but also has smooth hands with slender fingers. He is drinking a 550 ml carton of milk. Wind from the opening window disorders his hair but he doesn’t mind. He will close the window before getting off the bus.
　　Yin Yeye struggles out from the crowd immediately and gets off when the bus arrives at her station. She dares not to keep too close to the boy not far away in front of her but walks following him in a proper speed. Finally they arrive at the school. But the boy blended himself into the crowd so Yin Yeye failed to discover the building he entered.
　　It has already been one year， since the beginning of spring till the winter. Yin Yeye and the boy took a same bus to school and get off at a same station. The only thing she knew is that the boy is also a student of her school. Sometimes she would meet the boy in the school but Yin Yeye was not courageous enough to ask him about his name. She could only try to know him through her schoolmates. However， there has always been little information about him.
　　Is him a senior student in grade 12？ No， he is more likely to be a student of same grade with her.
　　“His skin is quite white and has extremely black hair. He is thin and tall， about 178 cm high. He likes basketball. And about his appearance… Not bad.”
　　These are all clues she got. Oh， one more thing， his family name is Wu. 　　She knew this not long ago. On her way to the playground with classmates， someone called “Wu…” behind them. Then she saw a similar figure passing by. Like slow motion in film， the boy turned his head. At that moment， his well-proportioned features fuzzed up Yin Yeye’s sight and were frozen in a shadow of time. She heard he said “hurry up” to the source of the calling and then ran away.
　　Yin Yeye even had no time to be excited. She cared nothing but the content following the word “Wu”. But she got nothing， not even unclear sound but only heard the wind. She was dying to stop the one following him calling his name， begging him to say the boy’s name once again. But she didn't. She just adjusted her cuff and turned her head to corner the boy disappeared， hoping she could find more clues in reference to him.
　　“Oh， one more thing， his family name is Wu.”
　　That’s all she got.
　　Love shall be prudent， and one should make the right decision. This is the most entangled and heart-tortured sentimental novel of Wu Danru， who is known as “the national love consultant”. This book is abundant with the helplessness and release in love.
　　This is a story related to the current emotional lives of every social level. It exposes that people hesitate and choose in the courses of meeting， loving and living together. Liao Zijuan has an unrequited love towards Zhang Baigang， willing to be his loyal servant. Guo Susu and Li Yunseng are like two lonely souls who finally find a company to keep warm. However， will they stick to each other regardless of temptation and reality？ Will people find everlasting happiness only if they cast their past and keep running away？ Never， a death-upon-light love is doomed to receive no benediction， then， how could they be happy？
　　Heroines in the story are like lonely trees in the forest， which have few decision-making powers when facing flying birds coming to stay now and then. To keep the warmth longer， they decided to go for the gloves， but the ending has been predetermined at the beginning. From desperate love to resolute leave， it isn’t because their love is too shallow but too deep… Perhaps， the ending of the story is the best arrangement for their fates！
　　Digest
　　Li Yunseng was assigned as a charger to the branch Security Company in the new business center. On the day he took up the post， he received many flower baskets， among which some were sent by his old colleagues， some were form his superiors. There were so many of them， stretching from the door to the corridor and filling his newly decorated office. All of them were very seething with joy. 　　Upon walking in， he was welcomed by stuffs， standing in lines， with smiles piled on their faces. To send his regards， he also shook hands with them sincerely.
　　He encouraged， to the greatest extent， himself to perform as vigorous as a reformer， just like an enterprising and trustworthy supervisor. However， his heart kept falling down inevitably， and he felt increasingly that his risible muscles would get out of control and walk off the job.
　　If nobody is around， he would look dull within several seconds.
　　A female colleague with sweet smile holds a pot of flowers in front of him and asks： “Sir， this pot of flowers must be from your good friend. Where shall I put it？”
　　He sees the signature—Huiming. It’s his wife.
　　She must want to give him a surprise to order such a bonsai. She is so attentive. This bonsai is a green plant with a nickname of “wealth tree”， and a small red ribbon is tied on one of its branches. Reddish brown foaming stones are paved on the soil， and at the central of the pot is embellished with a golden ingot， with four words “treasures fill the home” on it.
　　Li Yunseng forces out a smile and thinks to himself that it’s really the thing Huiming would do.
　　Huiming is quite practical and she never loves flowers， since “Flowers are trouble-makers， because they can only last several days and have to be thrown away when they fade， in addition， I have to buy garbage bags for them！ That’s really sick！”
　　Not until three days before did Li Yunseng tell Huiming the news about his transference. In fact， he had known the news for more than a month， but he kept it deep in his mind， for he didn’t think， from the bottom of the heart， that it was a piece of news worthy of announcement. Actually， he dislikes this position. When he heard of it， his heart was likely to sink into water and became speechless. “This isn’t what I want”， he wants to roar it out， yet he wears a mask toward everyone.
　　“I’ll do it， just lay it at the corner.”
　　Wealth plant has a strong drought resistance， so it doesn’t bother to water it frequently.
　　Similar to Huiming， instead of being taken care of， he absorbs a peaceful strength from her. Although she could do nothing to advance his career， yet she takes well care of the family and sticks to her position quietly.
　　She must be a good wife with 90 points.
　　The 10 points deprived is for lacking of romance. She is not like flowers but bonsai with a fixed poise. 　　In such a noisy situation， I’m afraid only he himself knows that he is unhappy.
　　This is not the position he wants.
　　He used to be the most promised youngster to be the deputy general manager， and his colleagues thought so， too. He had waited for it for so many years. Last year， he recommended a more experienced assistant manager Cai to the chairman， in considerations that he was still young. Unexpectedly， he was sent out of and excluded from the power core by an order from HR several months ago.
　　Regardless of the word “senior” added in front of the title and a slight increase of his salary， he was defeated in any insiders’ look. Once sent out， he almost has no chance to get back to the power core.
　　Moreover， the one defeated him is his best friend， Zhang Baigang， who came to this Security Company together with him after graduation.
　　In The Deathly Love， Li Tian developed a deep exploration of Stockholm Syndrome of heart-tortured love. Heroes in this book display their understanding to love， abuse the vigor and impact of their youth， and combat with their fate over and over again in their own way according to the suspense set by Li Tian， yet they still cannot get rid of their fate and bound to pay a brutal price for their growth. Between the lines of Li Tian， life is a splendid struggle， men are like puppets. The hero， a play writer， has met three important girls in his life. One is his girlfriend， with whom he have had a romantic relationship for ten years； one is a perfect girl as he dreamed； the last one is an editress， with whom he falls in love at the first sight. How will their love end？ Nobody knows.
　　About the author
　　Li Tian， living in Beijing， is a contract writer at Shanghai's World Cultural Development Co.， Ltd and a Master of Fine Arts in the field of Literature of Theatre Film & Television， with a book named Now Return Road published in 2012.
　　Digest
　　Lin Haochen had a dream at the eve of his date with Lan Xintong. He dreamed Su Jingyi.
　　Su Jingyi used to say that her mind had been captured all by him while she was working in the day and dreaming at night in those past sweet days. Every time when she woke up in the midnight， she would play the women and said to Lin Haochen around his shoulder， “Honey， I just dreamed about you. Did you？” Lin Haochen didn’t want to lie to her， so he replied： “No”. Su would be unhappy for his reply and Lin usually stretched out to fondle her face in half awaken said， “Isn’t it a kind of happiness to see me by your side when you wake from your dream？ Why aren’t you satisfied？ Moreover， dreams are not in control.” Su questioned again， “Then， what did you dream？” Clear in Lin’s mind that if he continued， she would be more upset， so he told her that “I seldom dream”. 　　He lied， this time.
　　Actually， he dreams a lot， and could still remember it when he woke up； however， he just can’t tell her all these dreams. According to Freud he read in college， dreams were reflections of constrained desires. Su Jingyi dreamed about him， because she loved him， and wanted to stay with him all the time. Lin Haochen didn’t dream about her， because apart from her， there were more important things and persons in his world. He knew this was unfair， but he would finally dream about her as he loved her deeper.
　　In his dream， Lin Haochen went to Changsha to see Su Jingyi by train in his college times. The moment when they met， they hugged each other tightly， not willing to be apart. They ate delicious roast fish and drank ice beer at the river bank just as what they did before. They took a stroll along the river after eating and drinking to their heart’s content. Until late in the night did they look for accommodation. While it was on weekends， lovers had taken over all the taverns around the school and there was no vacancy for them. Finally， Su Jingyi got tired and she asked coquettishly Lin Haochen to carry her on his back. Lin accepted. She stood at the step beside， then， she groveled on his back with her arms around his neck and her legs half-circled his waist. Lin Haochen carried her forward， as if he had already known it was a dream. In reality， he had just done it once when they climbed Mount Xiangshan. He was even reluctant to carry her bag in ordinary times whatever Su Jingyi did. Later， they took a taxi to the remote downtown and finally found a hotel with empty rooms. After checking in， they were led to the room. It was a huge room with tens of beds placed in line. Lin thought it was not a room for them. He asked the waiter whether there were individual rooms. The waiter replied， “Youth Hotels are all the same”. “Honey， you are tired， how about we stay for tonight and look for another one tomorrow？” Su jingyi suggested. Lin Haochen swayed his head， saying “Sweetheart， it isn’t real. I have never seen such a hotel. We are dreaming”. Tears slipped down from Su Jingyi’s face， and her mouth was twitching. “Honey， you finally dreamed about me！”
　　It was still dark outside when Lin Haochen woke up. He leaned against the headboard， fishing out a lighter and lighting a cigarette， and then smoke slowly. Words of Su Jingyi were sounding in his head. After finishing one cigarette， he forced himself to leave those dreams aside and lay in bed again. He felt his pillow was cool. Not until he touched it for a while did he realize that he had cried in the dream. He closed his eyes wishing to continue that dream， but all those efforts were in vain. Those peevish words sounded again when he was half-awake.
　　“Honey， I dreamed about you. Did you？”
　　“I did. I know I would dream about you， but it’s too late.”
　　Lin Haochen subconsciously stretched his hand out while suspended in the air. He stunned. This time he didn’t lie so there was no need to comfort her. Actually， she needed nobody’s comfort， including his， long before. Lin Haochen withdrew his hand and dried his tears.
　　It was the first time that he had cried after the death of Su Jingyi.