Rivers and Lakes

Author: Chi Li
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-09-01
Features: The rainy season has arrived. This year's plum rain has been relentless. As I read this novel day and night, the heavy rain persistently beats against my windowsill. This sound is perfect—it's the ideal environment for reading such a novel. The rain muffles the city's noise, transporting me back fifty years. Walking from that past to today, the ups and downs of history's storm leave me chilled. I feel like a cicada that has just shed its shell in the summer morning—pale, weak, and powerless, trying to comprehend its aging, profound, and vigorous past. My emotions are too complex to express, and I've often been brought to tears. I am grateful to this novel for giving me this life experience. It tells the story of a few past young people as they age. For those who come after, it serves as a mirror. I would like to modestly evaluate this novel—its characters are written so vividly! I can't say much more in praise of it, because my name is on this book. Even the praise of "so vivid" doesn't belong to me. This novel was mainly written by my husband. It's clear at a glance—it's the work of a man's hand, grand, powerful, composed, and dignified. I don't possess these qualities. This novel is a perfect example of "husband and wife singing in harmony." Over the years, I have accompanied my husband on several trips to the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, met many people associated with it, read numerous books about the Yangtze, and learned many stories about figures related to water management. Indeed, the destinies of so many people and that of the Yangtze River itself have filled us with deep emotions. Driven by these emotions, I have long wanted to write something. My husband and I have chatted about this theme countless times. Yet to this day, I still feel I cannot handle this subject. The times are too vast, the Yangtze is too vast, and life is too vast. All I can do is fully support my husband's writing—from detailed discussions about the novel to co-editing and polishing, to cooking timely meals for him. Perhaps because I have done well, my husband has recognized this as a collaborative work between us. At home, my husband and I often jokingly call each other "teachers." In truth, he is indeed my cultural teacher. He reads more books than me, started writing novels earlier, and won awards earlier. Ever since we got married, he hasn't written much. Maybe he didn't want to compete with women.