Canglang's Water

Author: Yan Zhen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: The author writes with a conversational tone and a fluid narrative, depicting the struggles of Chi Dawei, a medical graduate student, who harbors grand ambitions but lacks power and status. The story also explores the challenges of sudden success and fame. While vividly showcasing his life journey, the author also unravels the life dilemmas that trouble him. Readers are unintentionally deeply drawn in, as if they are enjoying a novel while also experiencing reality. "The water of the is clear, it can wash my; the water of the is muddy, it can wash my feet." — Qu Yuan, "" In the work, Chi Dawei loses his spiritual anchor in the traditional "nation and state," but the "vacuum of meaning" the author speaks of clearly goes beyond that. At this moment of social transformation, the original spiritual anchors such as "the nation," "ethnicity," "the people," and "freedom" all appear to be floating and unstable. When Chi Dawei, like all of us, faces the "vacuum of meaning," I cannot help but recall the "nothingness" faced by Wei Lianhu, the solitary figure in Lu Xun's writing. The vacuum of meaning is a tragic thing for humanity, but it is also the confusion and pain faced by intellectuals when making choices. For people like Chi Dawei, however, they no longer find the desperate resistance of self-negation in the style of Wei Lianhu. Wei Lianhu could still "step into the thorns and walk for now" in places where there was no path, but in front of Chi Dawei, even the "thorns" have disappeared, and after the road disappears, they are lost and confused. From Chi Dawei's constant compromises, what we see more is the insignificance of the individual and the helplessness of life, because they were born without a strong weapon to fight against nothingness. Their alienation becomes natural, thus losing its tragic nature. Therefore, when reading "," we feel a strange sympathy for Chi Dawei, as if we are sympathizing with ourselves. Understanding their "fall" is understanding our own lives. This is the peculiar charm of "" — it does not give readers the opportunity to look down upon others' souls from a high vantage point, but instead constantly forces readers to reflect on themselves: When faced with the vacuum of meaning, what should we do?