Sing to the sky

Author: Liu Hongqing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: To Sing to the Sky, as one of the Life in China Series published by Beijing Publishing Group, is a documentary work describing the stories of blind artists in the Taihang Mountains. The author, Liu Hongqing, has a blind mother and a blind younger brother. As if arranged by fate, Liu Hongqing is a messenger who conveys the voices of the dark world to our bright one. He tells us the previously unimaginable life stories, life philosophies, and artistic pursuits of the blind, enabling us to move beyond simple pity for them into profound empathy and understanding, even forcing us to reflect on our own existence and meaning. This is a special group. Though small in number, in the author's view, they hold infinite significance for the Taihang Mountains. Darkness has always surrounded them, yet they have painstakingly used their songs and melodies to illuminate every blade of grass and every tree in the Taihang. Helplessness and sorrow have always accompanied them, yet they have brought humor and light to village after village. In the Taihang Mountains, the blind artists have been constantly traveling. For centuries, this has become a tradition in their eyes—a long-standing, undeniable phenomenon in the folk culture of the Taihang, rich in cultural, humanistic, and sociological significance, deserving of more attention. As a cultural figure who has made his way in Beijing, Liu Hongqing feels a responsibility and obligation to describe them, as well as an emotional drive to immortalize these obscure blind artists. As he himself says, he is a historical salvager. Through his pen, the blind artists of the Taihang—those who have been active or are still active—will become known to people, becoming an integral part of the Taihang's history and never forgotten. A successful historical salvager has written a moving account of a group's life. In narrating the fate of the blind artists, the author has also woven his own life into the story. This is no wonder—despite the varied structures in the book, what readers feel most strongly is the stories of the blind artists and his own story. Undoubtedly, in such works, the significance of form becomes trivial. Historians often focus more on the ups and downs of major historical events or the intrigues of courts and cabinets. Popular films and novels, on the other hand, are fond of dramatizing or misrepresenting history, turning tragic figures and events into comedy and jokes. Against this backdrop, To Sing to the Sky stands out with its profound portrayal of an ordinary group of people, embodying the spirit literature or history should possess—this is where its power lies. One day, in some ravine of the Taihang Mountains, will someone read this book to the blind artists there? Will they weep, or remain silent? Or will they stand straight, atop the mountain, and sing out loud?