Reborn in 1980: My Hunting Days in the Greater Khingan Range

Li Hongjun is reborn on the eve of the day he gets into gambling debt. In the dark, he polishes his ancestral double-barreled hunting rifle, then takes his old dog, Daqing, into the mountains and brings back his first roe deer, quietly paying off his old debts. From then on, he heads into the mountains before dawn every day. Relying on his sharp shooting and hunting experience, he hunts wild boar, traps rabbits, and digs up wild ginseng, trading his catch for grain and cloth coupons to gradually improve his family’s life. His mother sews thick-soled cloth shoes, his father secretly saves half a bottle of sorghum liquor to reward his son, and his little sister always carries pine nuts roasted by her big brother in her pocket. Daqing goes from being a lone dog to leading a “dog pack.” The four hunting dogs each take on a role: cornering prey, tracking scents, and keeping watch. They become a familiar sight around the village. Vivid scenes of lighting fires with birch bark, stewing pickled cabbage with blood sausage, and a pack of dogs chasing foxes through the snow bring the village to life. Conflict never goes beyond the villagers’ envy and gossip, which Li Hongjun smooths over with a steaming pot of pork feast. As the seasons turn, the gifts of the mountains and the laughter of family weave a warm portrait of a Northeast China mountain village in the 1980s.