Study abroad, leave love behind

Author: Lu Yajuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: After failing the college entrance exam, Mary had no choice but to follow her family's arrangement to study in the Netherlands. Wu Wei went a year earlier than Mary. After repeated struggles, when he finally won Mary's love, Mary had just lost her father. The life of a student abroad can't be explained in a few words. Even when they returned to China for vacation, they couldn't share their experiences with people back home. Even if Wu Wei's father fell from power and went to prison, even if Wu Wei sank into despair, even if Mary remained steadfast in her love, and even if this steadfastness was always mocked by the realities of the foreign world—this is, of course, not just a story about the two of them, but also about Xiao P, Old Mai, Jennifer, Xiao Wei, and others. They were young, but life demanded they be realistic, to the point where they spoke with a hint of weariness: "Study abroad, leave love behind." Lu Yajuan brings fresh longing to our reading, her delicate words always tinged with pure pain. The sensitivity of youth makes one easily lose and gain, perhaps it is this entanglement of gain and loss that makes her words seep out like ripples on smooth youthful skin, trembling and refracting: sometimes forced by reality to the point of being deeply hurt, yet at other times retaining the flexibility of youth.