Read Xiao Hong's "The Legend of Hulan River"

The writer Xiao Hong was known from the nearly three-hour movie "The Golden Age", and therefore began to pay attention to his works. The first Xiao Hong's book I read was this "Biography of the Hulan River".

In this autobiographical novel, Xiao Hong describes the hustle and bustle, ignorance and cruelty of the countryside in northeastern China a hundred years ago. The records of folk customs in the book have not gone far in the north. It seems that after a hundred years of tossing, China's rural areas are not necessarily much better than the description in the book. Maybe they have just turned into another kind of ignorance and another kind of coldness.

Xiao Hong's description is very objective. In Xiao Hong's exile, he hid his infinite grief for his homeland between the lines. The book is not as dramatic as Yu Hua's "Alive", not so deep in grief and pain, but it is hard to hide its strength. People there live aimlessly, and living is the purpose of life. If you can't live, then die quietly. The hustle and bustle of everyday life is designed to suppress inner thoughts. Be a person without thinking, numbly integrate into the hustle and bustle of meaningless life. Accept the cruelty of life and be ruthless to others and yourself in order to survive. But it happens that some people can't accept this mediocre numbness, and can't accept this unchangeable life status quo. So in the middle of the night, when I heard the dance of the god of the gods, I couldn't sleep when it echoed in the silent countryside. For those who have been calm and hid their dreams, they have accepted this helpless reality, but when the fireworks are over, the river lights are exhausted, and only the deep and dark night is left, it is difficult to hide the sadness and sorrow in their hearts. emptiness.

But so what? After a while, the moon rose, and the pale moonlight illuminated the reality again.