Lao Wu
by Xie Gang
About This Novel
A contemporary Chinese novel. This book tells the ups and downs of the life of an ordinary person named Wu Xiude (Lao Wu) as the times change. The fifth child from Guangyuan, Sichuan, was admitted to the Chinese Department of a key university in Northeast China. He met 11 good buddies with different personalities in the same dormitory and gained sweet campus love. But fate played a huge joke on him, making his life destined to be different from ordinary people. The language of the work is smooth and vivid, and it skillfully incorporates the bold and lively Northeastern dialect into modern Chinese, which is both solemn and humorous. It is also interspersed with literary allusions, poems, etc., Which not only fits the identity of the characters and the setting of the story, but also shows the author's solid literary foundation.
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Official(10)Scraped 2d ago
Reconciling with fate through the resilience of life--Comments on "Lao Wu"
The novel is based on telling the fate of the protagonist Lao Wu, Su Yu, Zheng Yuanyuan and other characters. The gentle tone hides thoughts on life. The "Lao Wu" in the title of the book is naturally the protagonist of the novel. Lao Wu's real name is Wu Xiude. He is called "Lao Wu" because he ranks fifth in the dormitory. Although Lao Wu was tall and tall, he was quite talented, diligent and motivated, and never slacked off in his studies. With his dedication to taking notes in class every day, he unexpectedly surpassed the "Princess" Su Yu, who was the best read and most knowledgeable in the department, in the exam at the end of the school year. Su Yu felt that it was a great shame and humiliation to fall in front of someone she had never looked down upon. She declared a challenge to Lao Wu, and it was bound to be a showdown in the next semester. So she repeatedly provoked and ridiculed Lao Wu in class, but Lao Wu backed down step by step. In the eyes of Su Yu, who was full of romantic fantasy, this was exactly the embodiment of Lao Wu's generosity. The subsequent development of the story is similar to the modern transformation of the ancient "talented scholar and beautiful woman" model, that is, a secret love will last a lifetime, and the couple will be separated after a beating. During a group event as an extra for a movie, the princess was almost burned by the fire. Lao Wu rushed to put out the fire regardless of his own safety. It was this heroic feat of saving the beauty that ignited the spark of love between the two and brought them together. Due to the disparity in their family backgrounds, this love affair was not surprisingly met with strong opposition from the princess's parents. The princess's mother even came directly to the dormitory to find Lao Wu and asked him to sever ties with her daughter. She also slapped him in public, declaring the end of the love in the name of the parents. When Lao Wu had not yet recovered from the setbacks of love, the balance of fate added new suffering chips to him: the teacher who had been supporting him fell ill. In order to raise money, he sold blood and took exams for others, but was punished by the school. Later, Lao Wu worked as a temporary worker in a bathing city and was framed for extortion by a fake policeman. He went to work in Shenzhen without even receiving a diploma. Unexpectedly, he encountered a scammer again and was imprisoned in a shelter. The heavy shackles of fate roared in, trapping Lao Wu in it, and he could only survive. Desperate, Lao Wu came to a seaside town in eastern Hebei and prepared to end his life, but accidentally saved Zheng Yuanyuan, a girl who was also about to jump into the sea. In order to help Zheng Yuanyuan get out of trouble, Lao Wu faked a marriage with her, and he also had a new household registration status to live on. Later, Lao Wu went fishing, opened a bicycle rental shop, wrote novels, and ran a training school. His life was getting better step by step. However, fate always likes to play tricks on Lao Wu. The school he devoted half his life to was actually a trap designed by others. Lao Wu was imprisoned for his innocence. After he was released from prison, he was framed for revenge and got into a car accident. Although he saved his life, it was difficult to stand up again. The mysterious and changing fate is an eternal theme in literary creation. Unlike Western literature, which focuses on showing the thrilling struggle of human nature in the face of suffering and fate, Chinese literature mostly features characters who restrain themselves and submit to cruel fate. Lao Wu wanted to commit suicide several times after being teased by fate many times; Su Yu gave up his romantic dream of literature and wandered to a foreign land; Zheng Yuanyuan was abandoned when she was pregnant before marriage, but was still entangled with her ex due to the pressure of life, all of which highlighted the loss and exile of oneself under the ups and downs of fate. The novel shows the author's deep understanding of real life and truly and vividly reveals the struggle of ordinary people in the face of fate. However, it breaks away from the stereotype of tragedy and adopts a peaceful narrative attitude to present the process of reconciliation between man and fate. Many years later, at the class reunion, Lao Wu and his former classmates, mentors, and lovers gathered together and expressed their determination to stand up tenaciously and follow everyone's footsteps to start again. Lao Wu, who had been dealing with fate for half his life, finally achieved spiritual salvation.
Cried for a long time. Ordinary happiness~
Arranging seats according to age is actually quite scientific and generally cannot be messed up. The eldest sister, the second sister, the eldest brother and the second brother in the family will not wait for the third child to be born and say ridiculous things like you step aside and I am the boss.
Arranging seats according to age is actually quite scientific and generally cannot be messed up. The eldest sister, the second sister, the eldest brother and the second brother in the family will not wait for the third child to be born and say ridiculous things like you step aside and I am the boss.
Men in the South are generally not very tall, slim and comely, but Lao Wu is a different kind. Not only did he grow to nearly 1.9 Meters tall, he was also very muscular, fat and strong.
Very touching and a great article!
A very good work, I can re-read it twice
I don't know how to evaluate Lao Wu! But it seems like this happens in real life too!
Things are unpredictable. This ending is expected but still a bit disappointing.
When arranging seats, Lao Wu did not participate in the lively discussion. At that time, he was still a very shy person despite his strong back. The contrast is cute.
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Community(0)
Official(10)Scraped 2d ago
Reconciling with fate through the resilience of life--Comments on "Lao Wu"
The novel is based on telling the fate of the protagonist Lao Wu, Su Yu, Zheng Yuanyuan and other characters. The gentle tone hides thoughts on life. The "Lao Wu" in the title of the book is naturally the protagonist of the novel. Lao Wu's real name is Wu Xiude. He is called "Lao Wu" because he ranks fifth in the dormitory. Although Lao Wu was tall and tall, he was quite talented, diligent and motivated, and never slacked off in his studies. With his dedication to taking notes in class every day, he unexpectedly surpassed the "Princess" Su Yu, who was the best read and most knowledgeable in the department, in the exam at the end of the school year. Su Yu felt that it was a great shame and humiliation to fall in front of someone she had never looked down upon. She declared a challenge to Lao Wu, and it was bound to be a showdown in the next semester. So she repeatedly provoked and ridiculed Lao Wu in class, but Lao Wu backed down step by step. In the eyes of Su Yu, who was full of romantic fantasy, this was exactly the embodiment of Lao Wu's generosity. The subsequent development of the story is similar to the modern transformation of the ancient "talented scholar and beautiful woman" model, that is, a secret love will last a lifetime, and the couple will be separated after a beating. During a group event as an extra for a movie, the princess was almost burned by the fire. Lao Wu rushed to put out the fire regardless of his own safety. It was this heroic feat of saving the beauty that ignited the spark of love between the two and brought them together. Due to the disparity in their family backgrounds, this love affair was not surprisingly met with strong opposition from the princess's parents. The princess's mother even came directly to the dormitory to find Lao Wu and asked him to sever ties with her daughter. She also slapped him in public, declaring the end of the love in the name of the parents. When Lao Wu had not yet recovered from the setbacks of love, the balance of fate added new suffering chips to him: the teacher who had been supporting him fell ill. In order to raise money, he sold blood and took exams for others, but was punished by the school. Later, Lao Wu worked as a temporary worker in a bathing city and was framed for extortion by a fake policeman. He went to work in Shenzhen without even receiving a diploma. Unexpectedly, he encountered a scammer again and was imprisoned in a shelter. The heavy shackles of fate roared in, trapping Lao Wu in it, and he could only survive. Desperate, Lao Wu came to a seaside town in eastern Hebei and prepared to end his life, but accidentally saved Zheng Yuanyuan, a girl who was also about to jump into the sea. In order to help Zheng Yuanyuan get out of trouble, Lao Wu faked a marriage with her, and he also had a new household registration status to live on. Later, Lao Wu went fishing, opened a bicycle rental shop, wrote novels, and ran a training school. His life was getting better step by step. However, fate always likes to play tricks on Lao Wu. The school he devoted half his life to was actually a trap designed by others. Lao Wu was imprisoned for his innocence. After he was released from prison, he was framed for revenge and got into a car accident. Although he saved his life, it was difficult to stand up again. The mysterious and changing fate is an eternal theme in literary creation. Unlike Western literature, which focuses on showing the thrilling struggle of human nature in the face of suffering and fate, Chinese literature mostly features characters who restrain themselves and submit to cruel fate. Lao Wu wanted to commit suicide several times after being teased by fate many times; Su Yu gave up his romantic dream of literature and wandered to a foreign land; Zheng Yuanyuan was abandoned when she was pregnant before marriage, but was still entangled with her ex due to the pressure of life, all of which highlighted the loss and exile of oneself under the ups and downs of fate. The novel shows the author's deep understanding of real life and truly and vividly reveals the struggle of ordinary people in the face of fate. However, it breaks away from the stereotype of tragedy and adopts a peaceful narrative attitude to present the process of reconciliation between man and fate. Many years later, at the class reunion, Lao Wu and his former classmates, mentors, and lovers gathered together and expressed their determination to stand up tenaciously and follow everyone's footsteps to start again. Lao Wu, who had been dealing with fate for half his life, finally achieved spiritual salvation.
Cried for a long time. Ordinary happiness~
Arranging seats according to age is actually quite scientific and generally cannot be messed up. The eldest sister, the second sister, the eldest brother and the second brother in the family will not wait for the third child to be born and say ridiculous things like you step aside and I am the boss.
Arranging seats according to age is actually quite scientific and generally cannot be messed up. The eldest sister, the second sister, the eldest brother and the second brother in the family will not wait for the third child to be born and say ridiculous things like you step aside and I am the boss.
Men in the South are generally not very tall, slim and comely, but Lao Wu is a different kind. Not only did he grow to nearly 1.9 Meters tall, he was also very muscular, fat and strong.
Very touching and a great article!
A very good work, I can re-read it twice
I don't know how to evaluate Lao Wu! But it seems like this happens in real life too!
Things are unpredictable. This ending is expected but still a bit disappointing.
When arranging seats, Lao Wu did not participate in the lively discussion. At that time, he was still a very shy person despite his strong back. The contrast is cute.
