Walking slowly on the highway

Author: Ding Yangming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-10-01
Features: Ding Yangming's novel language possesses strong visual and emotional impact. The talent that he exudes, the perceptive insights, and the soaring imagination often give us a sense of being startled and deeply moved. The tension contained in Ding Yangming's calm and quiet prose is enough to leave one breathless. He has already maturely acquired a keen artistic sense, a rich and profound personal imaginative space, and philosophical reflections on the essence of humanity. This is both admirable and awe-inspiring.
On the thematic level, the collection Walking Slowly on the Expressway is mainly composed of two types of stories: one category reflects the living and spiritual states of today's youth, such as "Walking Slowly on the Expressway," "Another Person Dies," "Dad Is Opposite Me," and "Night Cat." The other category fully showcases the author's imagination, featuring fantastical and magical elements, such as "Journey to the Green Forest," "Zali and His Father," "Dragon Pattern," and "Human Wolf." Although these two categories of stories differ in style, their depth and subtlety in perceiving, imagining, and expressing the world are the same. His critique of reality and human nature may be exaggerated and somewhat naive, but the depth of his reflections and the intensity of his analysis are truly remarkable.
Honestly, when I first read Ding Yangming's novels, I felt an icy chill that went to the core of my being. I developed a profound fear of his words. I couldn't imagine a high school student speaking to the world in such a way, with such language. This cannot be explained by ideas, generational gaps, lifestyles, or anything else. I feel that writers like Ding Yangming are "mature" and almost entirely transparent. They are truly a generation without cultural burdens, moral burdens, or intellectual burdens. They live their "daydreams" so freely and relaxedly. They don't need to rebel or prove anything—they only need to remain true to their inner selves and their imagination. Compared to writers like Chen Ran and Han Dong, they are the ones who are truly liberated, the ones who are truly "free and unrestrained."
Perhaps for this reason, Ding Yangming once said in his creative reflections: "Imagination and writing are a source of joy for me, a joy for the soul. They transport me to another world I have created. I especially love daydreaming to seek this joy, to find another world in my imagination."
"I want to be a good writer, so the novels I write are only responsible to my own soul—whether they bring me relief or not."
If such words were spoken by their predecessors, they would undoubtedly sound contrived or boastful. But when spoken by this generation, they seem perfectly natural, as if they flow effortlessly.