A person's village

Author: Liu Liangcheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Liu Liangcheng is a true writer, a true farmer, and a true farmer-writer. As a farmer, writing is truly his leisure activity; yet as a writer, he is always creating, even when he is wandering the fields with a hoe. In his writings, Liu Liangcheng is a farmer, but as a farmer, is he aware that he is also a writer? Or, deep down in his heart, does he consider himself a writer? I don’t know. I speculate that in his village, in the eyes of the villagers who, like him, rise with the sun and rest with the setting sun, this person who often carries a hoe without purpose, digs aimlessly, and tends to wander off the beaten path into uncharted grasslands must appear enigmatic and somewhat eccentric. To them, this indescribable person who always feels a bit different—does he seem mysterious? Of course, they might not know that this person, in addition to working like them, also secretly observes the villagers, as well as the donkeys, rabbits, birds, ants, mosquitoes, the wild grass and fallen leaves in the wind, and even the sunlight at the east end and the west end of the village. Before you is Liu Liangcheng’s prose collection—A Village of One. A key feature that distinguishes Liu Liangcheng from other writers who depict rural life is that he doesn’t write from the perspective of an “experiencing-life” author standing on the sidelines. Instead, he writes about his own village, the land he was born on, raised in, and which will ultimately bury him. This is perhaps the essence and purpose behind the title and theme of A Village of One.