Border Town - World Literary Masterpieces (Introduction by Renowned Scholars)

Author: Shen Congwen
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-05-01
Features: The Border Town is a representative work of Shen Congwen's novels and an outstanding Chinese novella in the history of Chinese literature that expresses a deep affection for the countryside. Set in the small town of Teadong at the border of Sichuan and Hunan in the 1930s, it depicts the unique customs and traditions of the Xiangxi borderland with the lyrical beauty of poetry and the elegance of prose. Through the love tragedy of the boat girl Cuicui, it highlights the goodness of human nature and the purity of the soul. With its unique artistic charm and vivid rural scenery, it has attracted numerous readers both in China and abroad, and has established a special position in the history of modern Chinese literature. This book is part of the "World Classics" series, edited by the renowned writer Liu Xintu. It is designed to complement Chinese language teaching by analyzing the ideological content and artistic features of The Border Town, along with introductions by experts and reflections, helping to improve students' Chinese language performance.
Status and Influence
Shen Congwen wrote many novels and prose collections throughout his life, but among his numerous works, The Border Town holds the most important position. It can be said without exaggeration that The Border Town laid the foundation for Shen Congwen's historical status in literary history. In June 1999, Asia Weekly released the "Top 100 Chinese Novels of the 20th Century" list, ranking the top 100 works of Chinese novels written in the 20th century. The vote was cast by famous scholars and writers from both China and abroad, such as Yu Qiuwei, Wang Meng, and Wang Xiaoming. On this list, Lu Xun's Najia ranked , while Shen Congwen's The Border Town ranked second. However, if counted as individual novels, The Border Town ranked . The Border Town has been translated and published in more than 40 countries, including Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the former Soviet Union, and has been selected as a textbook in more than 10 countries and regions, such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
Summary of the Content
Near the small town of Teadong at the border of Sichuan and Hunan, by the white pagoda beside the stream, there lived a family. In their isolated house, there were only two people: the grandfather, the old boatman, and his granddaughter, Cuicui, along with a yellow dog that was quite human-like. The old and the young spent their days leisurely on the ferry boat. In Teadong, there was a boat owner named Shunshun, a generous and sociable man who liked to make friends and help others. He had two sons. The eldest, Tianbao, was as bold and open-minded as his father, unbound by petty conventions. The younger brother, Nuosong, had a temperament somewhat like his mother—quiet and outstanding—known for his eloquence and grace. The people of the small town would always praise the three of them when they mentioned their names. During the Dragon Boat Festival, Cuicui went to watch the dragon boat races and accidentally met the handsome young boatman Nuosong, who left a deep impression on her heart. Coincidentally, Nuosong's older brother, Tianbao, also fell in love with Cuicui and, before Nuosong, asked a matchmaker to propose marriage. Both brothers decided to make their feelings clear, so the older brother confided in his younger brother, saying that his love for Cuicui had taken root two years ago. The younger brother listened with a smile and told his older brother that his love for Cuicui had also begun two years ago, which surprised the older brother greatly. However, at this time, the local headman wanted to marry his daughter to Nuosong, offering the new grinding mill as a betrothal gift. But Nuosong preferred to inherit a broken boat to marry Cuicui. The grandfather naturally knew his granddaughter's feelings but wanted her to make her own choice. The brothers did not settle the matter according to local customs through a duel but agreed to express their feelings through a fair and romantic singing of folk songs, allowing Cuicui to choose. Nuosong was a skilled singer, and Tianbao, knowing he could not sing as well as his younger brother, gave up and set sail far away for business. Only one night of Nuosong's singing was heard by Cuicui at Bixi, and later, the songs stopped completely. The old boatman couldn't help but ask, but when he reached the town, people told him that the older brother had drowned while sailing downstream. The boat owner Shunshun, remembering his son's death, became cold to the old boatman. The old boatman, concerned about his granddaughter's feelings, finally couldn't resist asking, but Nuosong, blaming the old boatman for Tianbao's death, went to Taoyuan. The boat owner Shunshun also did not want Cuicui to marry Nuosong again, as Tianbao had died because of her. The old boatman returned home in frustration, but Cuicui asked him nothing. That night, a heavy rain came down, accompanied by thunder. The grandfather said, "Cuicui, don't be afraid," and Cuicui replied, "I'm not afraid." They lay silently in bed, listening to the sound of the rain and thunder. The next day, Cuicui woke up to find that the boat had been swept away and the white pagoda behind the house had collapsed. Terrified, she went to find her grandfather but discovered that the old man had already died when the thunder subsided. The veteran Yang Mabing kindly came to accompany Cuicui, also earning a living by ferrying people, waiting for Nuosong's return. Nuosong might never come back, or he might return tomorrow.
Ideological Content
The Border Town embodies Shen Congwen's aesthetic ideals of "beauty" and "love" and is his work that best expresses the beauty of human nature. Through the love tragedy of Cuicui and her lover Nuosong in the Xiangxi region, the novel reflects the painful reality that the people of Xiangxi could not control their own fate in the face of "nature" and "human affairs." Cuicui and her mother are like this—they repeat a life of sorrow and hardship generation after generation but cannot find a way to escape such a fate. Through the love tragedy of The Border Town, Shen Congwen reveals the mystery of fate and praises the pure hearts of the border people. Regarding the theme of The Border Town, Shen Congwen himself said, "What I want to express is a certain 'form of life,' a 'beautiful, healthy, and natural' life that does not contradict human nature." The Border Town follows the love story between Cuicui, the granddaughter of the ferryman, and the two sons of the boat owner—Tianbao and Nuosong—expressing a yearning for and pursuit of a pastoral life. This tranquil life, compared to the turbulent society of the time, was like a "paradise" separate from the hustle and bustle of the world. The people living in this paradise were filled with primitive, intrinsic, and essential "love." It was precisely this "love" that made the simpletons in the small town of Xiangxi, at the border of Sichuan and Hunan, and along the Xisui River in Teadong, when tied together by ordinary events, each experience their own joys and sorrows, providing a perfect explanation for the word "love" in human life. The Border Town expresses the beauty of human nature through the pure love between young men and women, the sincere affection between grandparents and grandchildren, and the kind mutual love between neighbors. Shen Congwen wanted to alleviate the darkness and suffering of reality through the love tragedy of Cuicui and Nuosong, praising a simple and archaic way of life that symbolizes "love" and "beauty." The young lovers Cuicui and Nuosong, who deeply loved each other, had no grand vows or scandalous behavior, nor did they engage in transactions filled with the stench of money and power. They only had the natural love nurtured by the rural countryside, like flowers in the sunlight—fresh and healthy. Shen Congwen not only warmly praises the way the two young people treated "love" but also enthusiastically celebrates the high standards of behavior and the beauty of their souls as embodied by the people of Xiangxi.