The constancy of love is patience

Author: Zhang Xin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-04-01
Features: This book is the latest masterpiece by the renowned female writer Zhang Xin, attempting to depict the outline of an era through the fate of an ordinary girl. The protagonist Yu Kangmei (later renamed Yu Bing) experienced the Cultural Revolution, military life, and eventually immersed herself in the commercial world of China's transition. Amidst the political fluctuations and the path of life, she sometimes rode the crest of the wave and at other times was cast to the depths, with her personal relationships also becoming distorted and twisted in this rapid change: Kangmei's first love was a "unrequited love" in a rural area of northern Shaanxi. After joining the army, she pushed men away with her extreme left-wing attitude, and later became known as the "henchman of the Gang of Four," isolated and without support. In the end, she chose Yang Zhixi, a sickly descendant of a declining family, and this marriage was inevitably doomed to end in their quiet separation. However, Kangmei's heart was actually kind and warm, and every trace on her was a mark of the historical process. Yet she was not a lucky one, like countless ordinary people, it was the hardships of her life that made her mature and taught her not to complain. In the early days of reform and opening up, Kangmei met Xiao Canghua, a married man, which ( means "destined" and should be translated as "destined") their meeting and falling in love would be a bitter one. Throughout, Kangmei adhered to her classical view of love, so they had no moonlit nights or secret rendezvous, only a near yet distant gaze, an unattainable possession. The novel meticulously portrays the inner journey of the protagonist Yu Kangmei, with a calm attitude, depicting the path of a generation. The story spans a long yet short twenty-six years, which is also one of the most turbulent and ever-changing decades in contemporary China. Perhaps every reader will find a reflection of their own past in the vivid portrayal of the characters in the work.