Father, There's Something I Want to Tell You

Prologue

If you lose a beloved family member, you will surely be devastated, and perhaps have regrets too. So live well, and do your best, even if it's only for the hopes your departed loved one had for you. Their hopes have become their final wish, and your efforts are the source of hope.

This book is told from my perspective, in the form of letters to my late father. Bit by bit, it depicts the development and changes over several decades in the southwestern ethnic-minority village where I live, as well as my own growth and transformation.

It begins with the development of rural roads. After describing how the roads changed, it moves on to the village elementary school, then to the changes in the villagers' homes. This section focuses on the young people who leave home to work across the country.

Amid all these new changes, what is especially precious is that the villagers have preserved many of their ethnic festivals and customs. This section tells of the village's festivals and foods: flower rice on the eighth day of the fourth month, hanging fragrant melons at the Ghost Festival in the middle of the seventh month, bullfights during the Spring Festival, and tossing rice cakes onto the beams at new-house celebrations...

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.