[Beijing Love Story] Not Shen Bing

In Beijing Love Story, Shen Bing is gentle, gracious, and considerate. Chen Sicheng described her as "a breath of cool air in a hot, turbulent world," an image of the perfect woman in the eyes of Chinese men over the past five thousand years: classical and unpretentious.

But to me, Shen Bing's character was never fully developed. Her personality comes from a family steeped in legend, an idealized family that puts love above all else. She grew up in a classical, unpretentious old town, cut off from the outside world and living in comfort.

I think Shi Xiaomeng must have been just as simple and gentle as Shen Bing when he was young. But Shi Xiaomeng is a man, and Shi Xiaomeng came to Beijing. So he was bound to face greater temptations, seven long years of them, and he could only rely on himself, because he was a man.

Shen Bing was different. She had only just arrived, and before she had time to understand the city, love had already blinded her, wearing her down until she was exhausted. By the time she finally had the chance to see the world, she had already been taken into another man's protective circle.

If Shen Bing and Shi Xiaomeng had switched places, would she have become another Yang Zixi? I have always believed that even someone as worldly as Yang Zixi must once have had a simple, idealistic period in her life. It's just that reality is all too real.

Women don't love Shen Bing because she is too much of a fantasy. It's not that women don't want to be Shen Bing, but that they don't have Shi Xiaomeng or Cheng Feng by their side. Becoming Shen Bing on your own is too hard.

So if Shen Bing were no longer that Shen Bing, no longer a goddess women long to become but have to give up on, would the story's ending be any different?

Lin Xia's love leaves everyone sighing in regret, but is there really such a thing as love that can endure forever without ever being returned? Lin Xia is a good girl. She shouldn't spend all her youth and passion on someone she can never have.

If I had to sum up the central idea of this story in one sentence, it would be: a different Shen Bing, and a little happiness for Lin Xia.

I write to share joy with readers who appreciate my work, not to discuss writing techniques and methods with the general readership. If that's not what you're looking for, don't come in. No harsh criticism, please~

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