★No fairy tales of success — only the power of ordinary lives: A book for those who refuse to surrender to reality!
Liang Xiaosheng's gift to the weary and perplexed, offering readers strength to face life with clear-eyed determination.

★If "A Lifelong Journey" made you weep, "The Truth of Life" will bring you solace.
Where "A Lifelong Journey" reveals bitterness as life's recurring theme, this collection shows how living with clear vision can itself become happiness.

★Rejecting success fantasies to honor everyday resilience.
No one chooses mediocrity — but must success wear only one face? Liang's essays affirm every unsung hero of daily life. Being good, even if ordinary, makes you indispensable social energy.

This book is a collection of selected essays by Liang Xiaosheng, the winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize. It includes representative articles such as "The Meaning of Life", "An Analysis of the Contemporary Chinese Youth Strata", "What Is Beautiful Is Suitable", "Cunning Is a Risk" and so on. Through fable-like and story-driven descriptions, the essays vividly portray the complexities of human nature.

The commentary on current events is uniquely styled. The book is imbued with Liang Xiaosheng's care and expectations for the younger generation. He also has full understanding and trust in them, believing that even when they come to understand the truths behind life, they will still love life and embrace living.

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".

I. We Need Not Be So Weary
The Truth About Life / 002
The Meaning of Life / 014
The Status of Being Ordinary / 017
Analysis of Contemporary Chinese Youth / 025
On University Ideals / 036
On Loneliness / 040
Present Anxieties, Future Worries / 044
Experiencing "Disability" / 048
What Fits Is Beautiful / 052

II. Life Without Flowers Still Blooms
Memories of Old Friends / 058
Dragon! Dragon! Dragon! / 066
The Old Tea Farmer and His Daughter / 085
Son · Mother · Public Servant and Water / 094
The Gaunt Old Man / 098
The Bicycle Watchwoman / 113
Cunning as Risk / 119
The Silent Wall / 128
When Regretting Late Meetings / 136
A Village's Past and Present / 140

III. The Awaited Days Will Come
"The World Is Flat"—But Not Level / 154
The Measure of Civilization / 158
The Arc I Stand Upon / 162
Beauty Is Unassailable / 164
The Internet's "Literary" Web / 174
Culture Must Have Principles / 178
Respect Your Own Mind / 186
Frugal Living, Free Spirit / 190
Let Us Love and Hate Distinctly / 194
Writing for a Better Society / 199

"If I can't extricate myself from mediocrity before the age of thirty, or at the latest by thirty-five, then I will commit suicide."
"But what constitutes being extraordinary?"
"For instance, all those successful people."
"Be more specific."
"It means, at the very least, having one's own house and car, right? It means, at the very least, achieving a certain social status, doesn't it? And it means, at the very least, having a substantial amount of savings, doesn't it?"
"What kind of house? What kind of car? And in your view, how much savings would be considered substantial?"
"Well, I haven't really thought that through seriously..."
The above is a conversation I had with a freshman male student at a relatively prestigious university where I was invited to give a lecture. The dialogue was conducted publicly among five to six hundred people. I felt that his words represented the life aspirations of many students. I've forgotten how I responded at the time, but it's true that since then, I've often pondered the question of a person's mediocrity or extraordinariness. According to the "Xinhua Dictionary", mediocrity means ordinary, and a mediocre person is a commoner. The "Xinhua Dictionary" specifically adds in parentheses — referring generally to those who are not part of the nobility or privileged classes. Is being a mediocre person really that depressing? If one is destined to be mediocre for life, should one really consider suicide before the age of thirty-five? I understand that the freshman's words merely signify a desire to "aim high". Although he spoke solemnly, listeners need not take it too seriously.
Since I have reflected on this, I have become aware of the drawbacks of the various cultural tendencies that our society and our era have been presenting over the past decade. That is to say — given that China is still only a developing country at the current stage and that the average Chinese person has not yet truly achieved a moderately prosperous life, contemporary Chinese culture has perhaps been overly "enthusiastic" in promoting the so-called "extraordinary" life, with such propaganda and advertising almost everywhere. Ultimately, the quality of life of so-called extraordinary people is almost always reduced to the following points in such a culture — what kind of house one lives in, what kind of car one drives, how much assets one has, and thus what kind of respect and status society bestows; and thus, if one is a man, what kind of woman one marries...
In the 1920s and 1930s in China, a similar cultural tendency was also very popular, manifested in men as the "Five Sons Bring Honor" concept, namely, house, car, position, money, and wife. A man who pursued all of these seemed to have escaped mediocrity. The Western culture of the same period also exhibited a similar cultural tendency. The difference is that in their culture, it was a fringe element, a by-product of the culture. But here, in the present day, seventy-eight years later, it has gradually become the mainstream of culture. The repeated promotion of this cultural concept reflects an intriguing logic — whoever finally escapes mediocrity is naturally a contemporary hero; whoever remains mediocre or is destined to be mediocre for life is a loser. Moreover, there are always cultural figures who seem to represent the culture and intellectuals whose thinking is particularly "in step with the times", who subtly and overtly help create momentum, implying an even more hurtful logic to ordinary people — that is, an era where the times make heroes has arrived, what a great era! Haven't many people already rushed to become extraordinary? If you are still mediocre, what are you if not a loser?
It is not an exaggeration to say that this kind of cultural tendency is a reactionary cultural trend. Like Nietzsche's so-called "superman philosophy", it is a cultural tendency that disregards, even despises and insults the social status and significance of ordinary people's lives. It is anti-the-masses. It is contrary to the basic social function of culture. It is destructive to the humanistic composition structure of society and the times.
Growing up under such a cultural background, it is not surprising if the next generation of Chinese people generally believe that if they can't escape mediocrity by the age of thirty-five, they might as well die.
One truth of human society is, and will inevitably always be — that the social status of the average, ordinary people is firmly established in a position, allowing no form of consciousness to shake its position, let alone overturn it. This is the unchanging stance of culture throughout history and across the world. The position of the social status of the average, ordinary people is as sacred as that. Of course, what is referred to here is the kind of culture that is extremely clear-headed, calm, objective, pragmatic, and able to "lock in" the truth of human society in any era; not the kind of culture that drifts with the current, loves the rich and despises the poor, and is often dizzy and confused by the influence of money. That kind of culture is merely the foam of culture, like the syrup foam that rises in the syrup pool of a sugar factory. Fakers often collect it and pour it into molds, thus "producing" counterfeit "honeycombs" that can pass for real.
Cultural "honeycombs" are more harmful to people than the "honeycombs" sold on street stalls. The latter merely causes diarrhea, while the former disrupts the nerves of society.
Ordinary people, that is, common people, are the plebeians in the social hierarchy of ancient Rome. Below the plebeians, there were only slaves. Above the social status of the plebeians were the clergy, knights, and nobility.
However, even in ancient Rome, the brain of that powerful feudal empire, never dared to disregard the plebeians whose social status was only slightly higher than that of slaves. As the disseminators of its elite cultural ideas, such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, although they unanimously and disdainfully regarded slaves as "tools that can speak", they did not dare to frivolously utter any words that would question the social status of the plebeians. On the contrary, there was a consistent common point in their thoughts regarding the plebeians — the plebeians are the main body of the city-state, and the plebeians are the main body of the nation. Without the role of the plebeians, there would be no premise for Rome to become a powerful empire.
Caesar was murdered, and Brutus had to go to the forum to explain to the plebeians his involvement in the act — "I loved Caesar, but I loved Rome more".
Why? Because if the act could not be understood by the plebeians, it could not be considered a just act. Antony smoothly succeeded Caesar because he took advantage of the plebeians' discontent, thinking it was his opportunity. Octavian recruited soldiers and seized the regency from Antony because he had investigated and understood that the plebeians would support him.
The Roman Empire once dominated the world, relying on the great power of change hidden among the plebeians. Its decline first occurred because the plebeians abandoned it. The clergy, knights, and nobility do not make up the Roman Empire, because their total number is only a tiny fraction of that of the plebeians.
In ancient China, ordinary people were referred to as "yuan yuan (commoners)"; in Buddhism, they are described as "the masses"; among literati, they are called "the common people"; in unofficial histories, they are known as "the populace"; and in official histories, they are termed "commoners". In contrast to the constitution, they are called "citizens". Without the recognition of ordinary people, any constitution of any country has no meaning. The term "citizen" would become a ridiculous word if it lost its plebeian component.
There are countless records in ancient Chinese culture and among ancient Chinese thinkers of their attention to and compassion for "commoners".