Liang Xiaosheng is the pioneer of educated youth literature and also one of the core writers of contemporary Chinese literature.
——Meng Fanhua, Literary Critic

Despite vast changes since the 1990s, Liang Xiaosheng's impassioned voice remains uniquely powerful — his works continue to offer readers genuine intellectual fulfillment.
—Zhang Yiwu, Literary Critic

Liang traverses disparate eras as history's witness, kindness's advocate, justice's champion, and life's chronicler. His writing forges an indomitable force that transforms literature's union with truth, goodness, and beauty from ideal into reality.
—Chen Xiaoming, Peking University Professor

★After experiencing the warmth and coldness of "A Lifelong Journey", now savor the ups and downs of "Devotion". Different facets of life, yet the same joys and sorrows of parting and reunion.
★The life-struggle history of a worker's family. Mutual support and assistance, family harmony leads to prosperity.
★Witness the turning points in the children's destinies, the entanglements of love, career growth, and record the details of urban modernization construction, the great changes from shantytowns to high-rise buildings.

[By opening this book, you will gain:]
★A mid-length novel masterpiece by Mao Dun Literature Prize winner Liang Xiaosheng: The details of the changing times, the people at the bottom of society, the bittersweet pursuit and struggle for life.
★How to be parents, how to be children: A family in which the members don't seek great wealth and honor, but share the burdens with each other.
★A record of urban construction in the 1980s: Father-and-son construction teams reform the old system and build a new home.
★The path of self-rescue for unemployed youth: How the three children of the Ge family grow in thought and plan their careers in the face of unemployment crisis.

"Devotion" takes the career, love, and life trajectories of construction worker Ge Quande and his children as the main clue. The pursuit of the "Four Modernizations" goals by Ge Quande and the selfless dedication of a generation of cadres to the country serve as the key turning points. With profound writing, it restores the real scene of urban construction and the employment problems of returning-city youth in the mid-20th century. Through the perspectives and layered descriptions of many characters, it depicts the great changes in social development, the selflessness and loyalty of the older generation to the collective and national interests. The grand scenes reflect a strong sense of the times.

Liang Xiaosheng

He was born in 1949 in Harbin with ancestral roots in Rongcheng, Shandong. He is a renowned contemporary Chinese writer and scholar. Currently, he serves as a senior professor at the School of Humanities of Beijing Language and Culture University, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and a researcher at the Central Research Institute of Culture and History. To date, he has authored over ten million words of literary works, including essays, novels, commentaries, and documentary literature. His representative works include "Tonight There’s a Snowstorm", "The Rings of Time", and "Educated Youth". In 2019, he won the 10th Mao Dun Literature Prize for his novel "A Lifelong Journey".

Devotion
Deafness
The Singing Girl

The chimney of the Ge family finally began to emit smoke. Among the nine households in the courtyard, it was always the last to do so every morning. This was the case all year round, 365 days a year.
This so-called "large" courtyard was not large at all. in fact, it could hardly be considered a courtyard in the true sense of the word. The term "large" could only be understood in the context of the inverse relationship between the small area of land and the high number of residents. Originally, there had been a shared courtyard. Since it was shared, it was naturally used jointly by the residents. One family would build a coal shed in the courtyard, another would extend a small room, and gradually, the courtyard ceased to exist.
The courtyard had been "transformed" into a maze by the nine families. The passageways, barely wide enough for one person, twisted and turned, connecting the doors of each household. Visitors to the courtyard, after using the restroom, would often mistakenly enter the wrong house on their way back to their host's home. Strictly speaking, there were no longer just nine households in this "courtyard", but thirteen. Four of the families had sons who had married and were living in "small rooms" converted from coal sheds or newly built extensions. In these cramped quarters, the four women, once daughters but now wives, "sat the month" and gave birth to four "next generations". These four children grew up lively and energetic. They loved the "courtyard" dearly; where else could they find a better place to play "hide and seek"?
After the father and two elder brothers went to work, Xiujuan began to tidy up the house.
"Mom, from now on, you don't have to do any housework. I'll take care of it all!" She pressed her mother to sit on the edge of the kang (a traditional Chinese brick bed) and wouldn't let her move an inch.
"Big talk. You'll start working in a few days. Housework will still have to be done by this old woman!" The mother watched her daughter wash dishes, wipe the table, dust, and sweep the floor with great agility and felt a surge of joy. Her daughter, who had received news of her job assignment the day before, seemed to have transformed overnight, becoming considerate and capable of managing the household. In her mother's eyes, she had suddenly become an adult.
After tidying up the house, Xiujuan finally washed her face and combed her hair.
Her mother remained seated on the edge of the kang, watching her daughter's reflection as she stood in front of the mirror combing her hair. She felt a deep sense of pride and happiness that she had given birth to such a beautiful daughter. How slender her daughter's figure was! How soft and raven-black her hair was!
As Xiujuan combed her hair, she also examined herself in the mirror. Her reflection revealed an elegant face, on which youth had written the word "charming". Her eyebrows were fine and long, but not overly curved. They extended willfully into her temples, while the arches of her brows were always slightly furrowed, as if a wisp of sorrow lingered in her heart. Yet her beautiful eyes seemed to always convey joy, adding an extra charm to her elegant face. This face was both enchanting and dignified, and that sense of dignity was strong enough to repel any frivolous glance from a man. Since entering middle school, she had become aware of her beauty through the attentiveness of her male classmates and the jealousy of her female classmates. It was then that she learned to cherish her beauty.
Her hand, which had been combing her hair, came to a stop. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and once again thoughtfully: I am the daughter of a common family, a girl with no particular talent. Fate has given me nothing to compare with others except for my beautiful face. I will not trade what I have for what I do not have, and I will not allow myself or anyone else to profane it. I will keep it as a gift for love, if I ever fall in love with someone worthy of my affection. I will tell him, "Here, take it! My heart, and my pure and clean beauty!..."