Ten years of light

Author: Zhang Sheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: This novel records the youth years of a generation from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, with campus life as its core, showcasing the souls of people amidst profound social transformations. The story primarily revolves around the loves and friendships of characters like Gao Qian, Zhang Sheng, Tao Ye, and Fang Mei, meticulously depicting the impact of the commodity economy's tide on people's hearts. Due to its powerful reflection on the real lives of intellectuals, its fluent and era-appropriate writing, and its youthful atmosphere, the novel resonates strongly among its peers. I appreciate the scholarly aura in Zhang Sheng's novels, a quality rarely seen in his Chinese predecessors. I always believe that scholarly refinement is part of tradition.
— Ye Zhaoyan
The author's observation of contemporary life is both alluring and perilous. Perhaps writers born in the 1960s have no choice but to seek their masterpiece in this. Zhang Sheng's Ten Years of Lanterns is a commendable attempt. Set against the backdrop of China's social transformation from the 1980s to the present, the novel portrays the loves, lives, and endless explorations, inquiries, and reflections of several young men and women as they navigate life and fate through love. It evokes deep emotion.
— Zong Renfa
Zhang Sheng is often referred to as an intellectual by his friends, and he seems to have no objection to this label. As suggested by the title of one of his novels, This is Also an Intellectual, the word "also" carries a sharp satire and a touch of cynical resignation. Yet, this satire and resignation precisely indicate that intellectuals hold a positive value center in Zhang Sheng's works.
— Li Jingze
This is a song of a generation's youth. The novel carries the unique melancholic sentiment of the 1980s and the special sense of confusion that emerged after the 1990s, reminding me once again of those unforgettable youth years spent with friends, as well as the scars, dreams, pure friendships, and loves they brought me.
— Li Feng
Like the moving song "Yesterday Once More" by Karen Carpenter quoted in the book, what moved me as I read this novel was not only the ephemeral love and the past that fades like smoke, but also its lively language, intricate plot, and the enchanting melody that permeates the work, much like the song itself.
— Tan Yingzhou
Ten Years of Lanterns, Ten Years of Love. In an era where genuine emotions seem distant, this work brings us profound reflection and endless reverie. Priceless. Unforgettable upon closing the cover.
— Li E
I will live in this world with a sense of unease, because I can never truly grasp anything, struggling in ambiguity every day. I weep for the past and hesitate about the future, for I cannot find a path back to it, nor a way forward. I can only stay in the present. I can only drift in the void like a ghost. No choice. Set against the backdrop of the transformation around the late 1990s, the novel describes the different choices and resulting fates of several young people who have graduated from university and face the rapidly changing social reality. In just a dozen years, former classmates and close friends either study abroad and achieve success or end up on the streets begging for a living. There are also celebrities who rise to fame overnight, tycoons who suddenly become wealthy, and countless ordinary people—each unforgettable. The novel follows the emotional entanglements of these vividly portrayed individuals, tracing the impact, erosion, and transformation on their inner psychology and spirit over these years. At the same time, it fully showcases their confusion and hesitation, contradictions and pursuits, as well as their insights into life, existence, and especially love. It allows you to listen once again to a song of youth belonging to a new generation, filled with melancholy and reflection.