The South Knows My Heart: 1979 to 2023

South Wind Knows My Heart, 1979–2023, will be more than a novel. It will be a digital museum of memories for an entire generation of Chinese people. With the deepest yet most restrained prose, it tells readers that the times are a train rushing past, and each of us is a passenger aboard it. The scenery outside the window changes from desolation to prosperity, but inside the carriage, stories of love, responsibility, dreams, and returning home never change.

In 1979, they each set out on their own: the eldest brother clutched his wrench beside an old machine tool, the second sister’s smuggled electronic watches sold out on the black market, and the youngest brother’s college entrance exam prep books yellowed beneath a kerosene lamp.

In 1988, they went their separate ways: the Hainan gold rush left the second sister penniless, state-owned enterprise reforms forced the eldest brother to make a choice, and at a literary salon in Beijing, the youngest brother passionately debated his ideals.

In 1998, they rose and fell amid the tide of change: the wave of layoffs swept through the old industrial district, and the eldest brother opened his repair shop through wind and rain; the second sister made a comeback in Shenzhen; the youngest brother’s report made the front page, telling the stories of countless ordinary people.

In 2008, they reunited beneath the Olympic fireworks. Each carried their own scars and triumphs, only to discover that no matter how far they traveled, a thread always pulled them back to where they began.

In 2023, as the shadow of the pandemic lifted, they finally understood: throughout forty-four years of journeying with their country, the south wind that blew across our lives remembered every choice, every act of perseverance, and every farewell.

This is an epic of ordinary people spanning four decades of reform and opening up, about holding on and leaving, ideals and disappointments, and the home rooted deep in our blood.