Contemporary Life Portraits: A Young Writer's Autobiography

Author: Yan Qi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: This book is a collection of social documentaries, divided into four parts: "Prisoners of Love," "The Fallen and Those Who Refuse to Sink," "The Upstart," and "A Young Writer's Autobiography." It objectively and impartially reveals the living conditions, behaviors, and spiritual worlds of contemporary beings from multiple perspectives. Through it, readers can gain insights into the obscure corners of society and more vividly experience the transformation of human nature in the process of modern times.
The author, a journalist by profession, has worked for various news organizations in Beijing and is a senior editor and a member of the Chinese Writers' Association. To date, she has published over 30 works in various genres, including poetry, fiction, and documentary literature. Her reportage "The World of Hire and Carry" was published in October and was selected for the 1990-1991 National Excellent Reportage Annual and the New Era Literary Masterpieces Series·Reportage Volume. She has received 11 national and provincial literary awards. With a single book, Because I Love You, Yan Qi entered the contemporary poetry scene. By the late 20th century, she had consecutively released ten lyrical poetry collections, earning the admiration of hundreds of thousands of readers. Poetry critics were astonished, calling her poetry "a harmonious fusion of rationality and wise emotion" and praising it as "a remarkable achievement in China's new poetry." Yet, in the process, she paid the price of her entire youth. So, where does the poet's love lie? When does her heart return? What has she been doing lately? Is the poet still unreservedly revealing the hidden emotional worlds of ordinary people through her poetry? Is there still love? Is she still devoted to everything she cherishes?
This piece recreates Yan Qi's personal journey after she abandoned her career and resigned from her public service position. It records: due to dissatisfaction with her new environment, Yan Qi returned to her former role as a freelance writer in Beijing; the publication of her poetry collection Because I Love You brought her attention from readers and poetry critics; with the dedicated support of Yu Mou in a publishing house, she fell deeply in love; for writing an article exposing the current state of an individual entrepreneur, she nearly faced legal action; at a gathering, Yu Mou, envious of Yan Qi's closeness to an actress, had a falling out with her; in social interactions, she encountered debt-ridden entrepreneurs, sudden-rich turncoat figures, wandering literary scholars, book dealers in the underworld, and dancers in the red-light district, as well as various tragedies both inside and outside the walls of marriage. These experiences deepened Yan Qi's understanding of life and prompted her to explore the depths of human nature; Yan Qi gained fame and became one of Beijing's ten most renowned journalists; she edited the Black Horses of the Chinese Literary World Series and promoted emerging literary talents; during this time, she was captivated by a woman of true beauty and reconnected with her in Zhengzhou. Thus, the beauty of nature and the rivalries of the human world further intertwine to reveal Yan Qi's joys and sorrows and the ups and downs of her life.
Ten years of wandering, ten years of love's, here, you will see the truth of human nature without any concealment.