Han Shao Gong's Self-Selected Collection

Author: Han Shao Gong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Preface by Han Shao Gong: In this selected collection, both the novels and essays are signed "Han Shao Gong," but a significant portion of them feel quite unfamiliar to me. The past seems hazy, and I struggle to recall how these works came to be written. Their flaws and merits are both strangely familiar yet astonishingly new. Where do they stem from—what life experiences, what intellectual inspirations? Why did certain sentences turn out this way, driven by either foolishness or cleverness? I find myself somewhat lost in the mystery. One question arises: If these works are indeed by "Han Shao Gong," then I am someone else now. If I now insist on clinging to my name, then they should have no connection to it—purely the voice of another person. Out of curiosity, I wish to learn more about this namesake, to know how he embarked on life's journey from the station, how he fell ill in a rainy night, how he hurried through the streets or sat motionless, how he once squandered his days without a second thought, until one day he stared at the reflection of his adult, weathered self in the mirror with shock. I feel an inexplicable sense of sorrow and regret toward him. With my current experiences, I am certain I could point out many of his immaturity, recklessness, superficiality, and blindness. On many issues, I might even engage in fierce debates and arguments with him. The Romanian writer E.M. Cioran, no doubt, wrote this line before his old works: "After certain experiences, we should change our names, since we ourselves are no longer the same" (After certain experiences, we should change names, since we ourselves are no longer the same). Unfortunately, it is difficult to change our names, just as it is hard to erase the birthmarks bestowed by our parents. Thus, we share the same name yet differ in substance—no longer truly one person, but rather two, three, or four individuals who merely happen to share the same name. Our cells are constantly renewing at a microscopic, physiological level, where time stretches endlessly. Within us flows a multitude of selves, each occupying its own niche in different life situations and cultural lineages. Yet once time passes, they are forgotten, reduced to a single entity, frozen in this very body. That is all. The irreversibility of time prevents us from returning to the past, from once again becoming that somewhat unfamiliar namesake. Similarly, the irreversibility of time prevents us from anchoring in the present, for at some future moment, we will again become a somewhat unfamiliar namesake, gazing back at our past with bewildered eyes. In this process, "this me" is not "me," and "that other" is not "other." Deaths without funerals frequently occur, and births accompanied by cries are constantly taking place. In our hasty, busy lives, we repeatedly split or reincarnate spiritually, habitually claiming the past—claiming those namesakes—as we do with many others, who we instinctively keep at a distance or even reject, believing them to have no connection to us.
As evidence of time, writing records all of this, bringing together the many selves within a single person, allowing members of this "same-name club" to observe and examine each other closely: Who are they? Why are they like this? This does not mean we are free from responsibility toward one another. What matters is that we may gain an additional layer of detached clarity—both now and in the future.
This collection, enthusiastically published by Hainan Publishing House, has given me the chance to rediscover my lost past, as if picking up scattered shadows and arranging them in a mirror to form almost someone else's likeness. Writing is a strange mirror like this. I have no choice but to accept the urgency, vastness, solemnity, and helplessness of every life reflected within it.
This book primarily collects the author's novels, essays, speeches, and dialogues. It includes works such as "Westward Gaze at the," "Blue Cover," and "Prophecy at the North Gate."