Here is the translation of the given content: "Return to the story of Guanzhong" Note: The "" part is kept as it is, since it refers to the Enter key function for line breaks in text.

Author: Chen Zhongshi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: Preface: My friend Tianbao from Guanzhong asked me to compile a short story collection titled "Guanzhong Stories" and asked me to write a preface. This was not difficult, as most of the long, medium, and short stories I have written in my half-century, as well as my essays, have been drawn from my hometown of Guanzhong. Compiling this short story collection named after Guanzhong moved me deeply, as I finally had the chance to put my hometown Guanzhong on the cover of my book. My earliest short stories were written at the end of the 1970s, and my newest one was written in early 2003. I emphasize the writing period because since the cultural renaissance in the new era, or since the era symbolized by the reform and opening-up, the 25 years have passed, and from the perspective of content, I seem to have suddenly realized that these short stories almost followed the footsteps of life's evolution, roughly capturing the changes in the psychological order of Chinese people, especially farmers, over the past 20 years in breaking through layer upon layer of spiritual and psychological barriers. I have become clearer about my own writing, as over the past 20 years, I have always faced reality, facing the violent or subtle tremors of the human heart in the countryside. I can't say for what reason or because of what, nor can I analyze it clearly whether it's out of personal temperament or way of thinking, but the established facts of the works show that over the past 20 years, I have never moved my eyes away from the level of real life. Even during the six years of preparation and actual writing of "White Deer Plain," I couldn't help but be swept away by the rapid changes in life, taking time to write a few short stories, leaving no gaps in this period, which made me very happy and very relieved. At the beginning of the new century, I resumed writing short stories, just like in the past, regardless of any artistic calculations, the content was still in tune with the pulse of real life. In this way, these short stories roughly outline or record the fluctuations of social life in China from the corner of the countryside over the 20 years of the new era. I also gained a chance to re-grasp myself, as the moving reality life is extremely tempting and impactful to me. To put it another way, I am very responsive to the fluctuations of real life, very sensitive, unable to turn away, and unable to change. I have often spoken in many topics about my love and understanding of this land of Guanzhong. In a word, or in a phrase, to summarize my direct feelings, it is: heavy. It is the heaviness of carrying burdens, but more so, the heaviness of the heart. March 13, 2004, in Yongcun, Chen Zhongshi