Sign of Grass and Mustard

See light in the dust I want to leave some traces for those who are not seen. They are vendors making a living in the cracks of the city, takeaways walking through the wind and rain, old workers guarding empty factories, and unfamiliar faces clutching test sheets in the hospital corridor. They are the base of this era, the silent notes in the grand sound. I watched them for a long time - at the cracked hands counting the change, and at the rickety back of the man who disappeared from the station entrance carrying his luggage. In these lives, which are simply called "the bottom", I saw the most primitive tenacity of human beings: the power to still struggle to grow in barren soil, and the dignity that becomes a glimmer of light in a dark place. This book is a collection of all living beings that I bent over. It does not offer cheap sympathy or make condescending judgments. I just want to be a faithful recorder and give these voices that have been drowned by the tide of the times a chance to be heard. Their sadness and joy, compromise and perseverance constitute the truest texture of life. If these stories can make you stop for a moment and see and understand the blurry faces around you, then this little book has fulfilled its mission. There is also light in the dust. And true greatness is often hidden in these seemingly insignificant lives.