Northern Wheat

Northern Wheat takes the village of Guidai at the northern foot of the Qilian Mountains as its narrative starting point, focusing on nearly half a century of survival and struggle across three generations of the Wang family, and tracing the changes of the times from the 1980s to the present. From Wang Shuhai burning incense and swearing, “I will never betray the land or my conscience,” when farmland was contracted to households, to Wang Duoxi risking life and death as he heads to Xinjiang and digs for gold in Shuanglong Valley, and then to Wang Jinshan changing his fate through education, the novel places “land and wheat” at its heart. It offers a panoramic portrayal of the farmers at the foot of the Qilian Mountains and their philosophy of survival: “We depend on the weather, but we refuse to accept our fate.”

The novel delves into the culture of the Northwest: the mythical tale of the “seven carts of grass” from the Qilian Mountains; the farming wisdom of pairing fertile and barren plots when dividing the land; the folk funeral rites of “crossing bridges and paying respects at the altar”; the livelihoods of itinerant harvest workers; and the natural inclusion of Northern Wheat ballads and local dialect and slang. Together, these details bring the snow and wind of the Qilian Mountains, the weight of the loess, and the warmth of local customs vividly to life.

Amid the tides of change, the three generations of the Wang family uphold the regional virtues of “integrity, resilience, and loyalty,” while each responds to the changing times in their own way. Wang Shuhai safeguards the roots of the land, Wang Duoxi seeks balance between venturing out and returning home, and Wang Jinshan uses knowledge to break free from the constraints of the land. Together, they compose a rural epic rooted in the loess and reflecting the changes of an era.