Literary Master, 1978: Starting Out with Two Childhood Sweethearts

In 1978, the countryside in southwest China was still organized around the collective economy. Everyone worked together to earn work points, but even a strong laborer earned only a few mao after a full day’s work. People lived in earthen houses and thatched huts, ate sweet potato porridge and pickled vegetables, wore homespun clothes, and used corn leaves to wipe themselves after going to the bathroom. Having transmigrated there, Sun Qingyuan had no choice but to take up writing in the face of endless years of hardship. From then on, this barren land was fortunate enough to witness the birth of a literary giant. Many years later, standing on the award stage in Stockholm, Sun Qingyuan recalled the night he began to write. Su Qingqing was frying corn cakes for him in the kitchen, their aroma drifting into his nose. Lin Xixue turned up the kerosene lamp, its light spilling over the manuscript like falling snow.