A truly great work of realism should not only depict how reality was or is, and how people are in such reality, but more importantly, it should also portray how humans should be within it. This is of great significance. For millenia, countless works of literature and art have been constantly telling humanity in their own ways: how should people be? I am merely repeating what our predecessors have collectively strived to accomplish.
—Liang Xiaosheng

The works are imbued with a profound concern for the destiny of a generation. The emotional power of the works is heavy but not unrestrained, pervasive but not wild. The attitude of facing life directly gives the works a grand character. Of course, the history of the educated - youth movement determines that such works cannot be written in a magnificent and splendid way. On the contrary, as the coda of that era and as the spiritual feedback of an important social phenomenon of that era — the "Go to the mountainous areas and the countryside" movement — gravity and sorrow are distinctly present.
——Zhang Zhizhong, Literary Critic

★ Mr. Liang Xiaosheng is a writer of immense significance in contemporary China. His representative work, A Lifelong Journey, was awarded the Mao Dun Literary Prize (one of China’s highest literary honors), and its television adaptation captivated the nation. An international version has also been streamed on platforms in North America and Southeast Asia. Snowbound City, a key part of his "Educated Youth Trilogy," has been reprinted multiple times. Recognized as a pioneering work in this literary genre, it is also included in the national authoritative list, "70 Outstanding Novels of New China’s 70 Years."

★ This book tells the story of a generation of Chinese youth—the "educated youth," approximately 17 million young people who moved from cities to rural areas during a special historical period—as they collectively return to the cities after years of rural life. It portrays their struggles and rebirth amid identity loss, economic hardship, and the collision of ideals with reality. The novel offers a profound depiction of the survival epic of ordinary people in a rapidly changing society. Its core themes—resilience in the face of historical tides, the relentless pursuit of dignity, and the courage to rebuild life from the ruins—resonate across borders with the perseverance depicted in The Grapes of Wrath or the spiritual strength conveyed in How the Steel Was Tempered. It is a monumental realist work capable of evoking deep empathy among global readers.

★ This book is not merely a novel but also a vivid social chronicle. It faithfully and delicately records the comprehensive upheaval and transformation of Chinese society in the late 1970s and early 1980s, from ideology to economics, from family ethics to personal values. When you feel lost under the weight of life, when you struggle to find your place in a turning era, or when personal efforts seem insignificant against overwhelming realities—this work will provide immense emotional solace and spiritual strength.

★ When you lose courage in life, read Snowbound City. Each person has their own fate, and each generation bears its own destiny. Yet we must not resign ourselves to fate because of it. To live is to carry on with the scars the world has given us.

★ English review sample available.

This is a representative work by author Liang Xiaosheng. Set in the late 1970s to early 1980s, the story takes place in Harbin, a frost-laden industrial city in northeastern China (fictionalized as City A in the book).

Hundreds of thousands of "educated youth" flood back to the cities they left years ago, returning from the vast countryside and remote borderlands. Yet the cities do not welcome them with open arms. They have lost their youth, missed out on education, and lack housing, jobs, and even a sense of belonging within their own families. Scattered from their former collective existence, they become突兀 yet lost individuals in the urban landscape.

The novel intertwines the destinies of several returning educated youth:

Xu Shufang, a gentle yet resilient woman, must face life’s harsh pressures alone after losing her beloved, guarding slivers of dignity and new possibilities for love in the cracks of adversity.

Liu Dawen, an honest and righteous young man, tries to confront injustice with his fists and loyalty but repeatedly falters in the violent clash between ideals and reality. His struggles and downfall are fraught with tragic force.

Yao Yuhui, born into a cadre family, could have led a smooth life. Yet, driven by a sense of morality and solidarity with her peers, she chooses to share the weight of the era with them, seeking human values that transcend class amidst confusion.

They queue in the freezing snow for temporary work, endure misunderstandings from family in cramped homes, and grapple with feelings of inferiority and helplessness in love and marriage. However, the greatness of Snowbound City lies not merely in its portrayal of suffering. With profound empathy, Liang Xiaoshen paints the astonishing vitality, mutual support, and undying hope for a better life that these ordinary characters muster in desperate circumstances. Their stories form a magnificent poem about "relearning how to live"—a spring that quietly stirs beneath the snow and ice, eventually breaking through the frozen ground.

Liang Xiaosheng

Liang Xiaosheng (original name ​​Liang Shaosheng​​) is one of the representative symbols of contemporary Chinese culture and one of the representative contemporary Chinese literary figures. He is also one of the important contemporary Chinese realist writers. He is known as the “writer of the common people” because he is good at focusing on the ups and downs of ordinary people's lives in great times. His works are characterized by a strong sense of reality and a commoner's sentiment. Together with Wang Meng, Lu Yao, Mo Yan, Yu Hua, Tie Ning and others, he has become an important window for observing contemporary Chinese society and cultural trends.

Some readers consider Liang Xiaosheng as the “Chinese Balzac,” because he is committed to writing a “social encyclopedia” and portraying the destinies of people from all walks of life. His works are often used as important texts for studying and understanding Chinese social and cultural developments between the 1980s and 2020s. His work Chinese Peach and Plum is included in the collections of many overseas libraries. His work Father is selected as a textbook for advanced Chinese courses published by the University of Washington Press in the United States.

He has so far created more than ten million words of works, including essays, novels, miscellaneous discussions, and documentary literature. His representative work, The Story of "A Lifelong Journey​", won the 10th Mao Dun Literature Prize. This novel has a cumulative circulation of more than 2 million copies and are called the “fifty-year history of Chinese people's lives”. The TV drama adapted from it caused a nationwide viewing craze as soon as it was broadcast and set a new record for the prime-time viewership of CCTV (with a total audience scale of 371 million people). Disney purchased the overseas distribution rights of the drama in the first month of its production. His another long novel Snowbound City is selected into the “70 Classic Chinese Novels of New China's 70 Years”.

His works have been translated into English, French, Russian, Japanese, and Italian. The author was awarded as one of the “Top Ten Writers of the 2024 Hall of Fame Annual Humanities List”. In 2023, he was named as the “Cultural Figure of the Year” among the “2022 Annual Influential People” by China Newsweek. Since 1984, his name has been listed in the "World Who's Who" in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

1
Endurance.
Thousands waiting at the station endured the bone-piercing cold and the fury born of near-hopeless anticipation.
The train station endured the furious crowd.
An undercurrent of unease flowed stealthily through the stillness over the station square...
The Soviet Red Army Martyrs' Monument gazed down calmly at the seething mass of humanity...
"Director, shall we turn on the searchlights?"
"Not yet..."
"Should we deploy the public security officers?"
The Station Derector pondered briefly before replying with forced composure, "That's unnecessary..." Then added, "But have them inside the station mobilize..."
He set down the receiver, slowly sank into his chair, opened the duty logbook, and hastily wrote, "December 26, 1979..." He wanted to add more but struggled to find the precise words.
The announcement began:
"All platform staff attention, all platform staff attention, Train 113 is approaching, please prepare for passenger reception, please prepare for passenger reception..."
The Station Director immediately put down his pen, stood up, and strode to the window, staring at the square.
His heart swelled with gratitude toward the announcer.
In every train station across every nation worldwide, announcers' voices forever maintain that professional, measured, soothing cadence. While national emblems and flags differ, all station announcers might as well be the same venerable woman — one fluent in every tongue.
Bless those maternal, infinitely caring voices!
That no train station on Earth employs male announcers proves how profoundly human psychology requires such gentle, loving feminine tones for solace in these spaces.
Train stations are magnetic fields of human nature.
The female announcer's voice at City A's station was elegant and composed. Yet upon hearing it, all platform staff still tensed, rushing from various posts to form a solemn "skirmish line" behind the safety markers.
Following the Station Director's order, exit gates remained sealed against all greeters. Beyond the blue-uniformed cordon, the platform lay deserted — a scene resembling martial law preparedness.
Train 113 carried neither military significance nor central government dignitaries, nor any visiting foreign leader's private coach. It carried also no deadly plague vectors threatening the city.
It was the locomotive of history's debt.