preface After finishing writing in Shanghai, I went to Beijing.That was July 2001.It took almost a year to finish writing.This is my fourth book. During this year, I was in Beijing.Summer in Beijing is hot and dry, with bright sunshine everywhere.Gradually got used to this northern city.Sometimes I think, maybe I will live here forever.Overall, I don't have any concept of home.Living away from my hometown and my parents for a long time, and living in a strange city, home to me is just a small rented apartment.There was a kitchen, a wooden desk to write on, a clean bed with white cotton sheets, a garden full of roses to walk in, a dog, and friends.That's all.

Most of the time, my life is just writing.Always lived in isolation.The same is true in Beijing. In March, I went to Vietnam.This journey has been prepared for a long time.When I set off, I took the flight to Guangxi with my big rucksack on my back, but my heart was very peaceful.Have a wish in your heart, and then do it.That's always been the way to like it. This is a country with magic.It's hot, it's green fields, deep blue sea, bustling streets, and women with bright eyes and tough smiles.Starting from Hanoi, along the coastline from north to south, until reaching Saigon.Then take a boat from Saigon to Cambodia.Fly back to Hong Kong from Cambodia.Hong Kong is the last stop of my journey.

I failed to transfer from Cambodia to Laos, Thailand, and Nepal.Because of heat and fatigue.But I know that if there is one more time, the route will spread farther and farther.Maybe go half a year or a year.During this trip, along the way, I was thinking about the new novel I was going to write, and thinking about some problems in my life.Vietnam gave me a deeper experience than any other city. I like Hanoi so much.There are also those quiet towns with lights twinkling in the night.In the small hotel on the top of the mountain, you can see the stars very close.Make people feel grateful. This book records some travel details.Photos taken by myself are used.Because of the bumpy journey, it was impossible to take pictures of many impressive scenes.But you can still use words and memories to make a record.In the photos left behind, the momentary touch was preserved.Naturally, the photos are rough and personal.I am not using a photographer's perspective to take these pictures.At that moment, I was just a passing woman.

Now it seems that it is a good thing to be able to leave a record during the journey.Photos, words, books, and feelings.These are the imprints of time that once existed.Our life is also a long road with no end in sight and no way back. Since childhood, I have been fantasizing about the journey to the distant place. This kind of pursuit has been very expensive for me.It has made my life steeped in loneliness because I am different from other people.This is also the loneliness of all those who have doubts about the truth of life and are unwilling to give in.Like fate.But I have always believed that in order to reach the other shore, one must first experience darkness and pain.Like a person's attitude towards life.It's not simply a matter of pessimism or optimism, decadence or positivity.It is a process.

My father's departure had a profound impact on me.I believe that this kind of nostalgia will not disappear with time, but will become a more extensive and silent desolation.It made me reflect on the issues of love and life and death.And the most important question is, how do you go on with those who love you, dead or alive.Smile and be warm.For a person like me who has always been close to death since I was a teenager, the things I have to bear are even more unfathomable. Fortunately I have been walking and writing.Always have courage.Just like my mother and grandma, the kind, motherly and strong women in these families.

So this is a book about travel, love and life and death.It is also a proposition that I have been exploring repeatedly in the four books.These propositions are never-ending. In my new novel, there should be an opportunity to explore it more deeply. Light is beautiful, and it is a pleasure to see the daylight.Let a man live many years, let him be happy for many years; yet think of the days of darkness, for they will be many, and all that is to come will be vanity. (Bible: Ecclesiastes) We never know how much time we have left.Life is just an illusion.you know. I am writing this book.It is to commemorate.Remember the long road we have traveled.The ultimate nothingness.

2002, July Beijing