“Walking on the Dark Side of the Stars” — this book title itself is a line of poetry.
— Luo Yuming, Professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Fudan University

When I read this book, I can strongly sense Jiang Erman’s freedom, joy, and ease.
Jiang Erman writes from close to everyday life; the lives of her generation, as captured in her writing, are like what one sees through a bird’s eye.
— Zhou Sese, contemporary poet and novelist

I have read and own all of Jiang Erman’s books published in China. Her expression is direct, fervent, and deeply spiritual—a voice straight from the heart of a child. All I can do is marvel at her work and feel joy whenever I read it.
— Reader Mi

What this book leaves me with is a sense of childlike innocence and boundless imagination.
— Reader Sisi Forty

In her poems, the most ordinary aspects of daily life are imbued with a magical quality: a stone or a gust of wind can become a source of poetic inspiration.
— Reader You Ranyedu

★ Ranked 207th on Dangdang’s Bestselling Literature List! Dangdang has collected nearly 3,000 reviews for this book, with a perfect five-star rating!
★ A brand-new collection of prose by Jiang Erman, the “post-2005” prodigy poet! She began writing poetry at the age of 2 and, at 7, penned the line “The lamp / burns a hole in the night,” which went viral across the internet. At 13, she published her first personal poetry collection.
★ While everyone looks up at the stars, she wants to take a walk on the far side of the stars.
★ Prefaced and recommended by Professor Luo Yuming of Fudan University and poet Zhou Sese, who praise her writing, saying, “Her pen is like a bird’s eye”.
★ All illustrations on the cover and throughout the book were drawn by the author herself.

This book is divided into eight sections and contains more than 60 prose pieces by Jiang Erman. All the illustrations on the cover and throughout the text were drawn by Jiang Erman herself. In these prose works, Jiang Erman writes about her personal life experiences and travel encounters, capturing her reflections, thoughts, and insights about the world.

She writes as follows:
There are only two kinds of things in this world: some are fun, and others are not.

The Earth floats in the universe; it has no up or down, no front or back to begin with.

The Earth is like a centipede, and we are all its legs. It cannot control each of its legs, so it keeps moving about erratically every day.

...

Jiang Erman

At the age of 7, she wrote the line “The lamp has burned a hole in the night,” which caused a sensation. Her works have been published in journals and magazines including Poetry Monthly, Star, Youth Digest, China Youth Digest, Poetry Tide, Poetry Monthly, and Children’s Literature. Her poems have been included in anthologies such as The Chinese Poetry Chart, The Annual Anthology of Chinese Avant-Garde Poetry, The New Century Poetry Dictionary, An Anthology of Vanguard Poetry by Chinese Women Poets, Chinese Poetry Geography: A Selection of Poems by Nine Post-00s Poets, A Selection of Modern Chinese Poetry, Poems by Children, Poems Written by Children, Poems Written by Children Themselves, and Children Choose Children’s Poems. She has published several poetry collections, including Sheep on the Snow, The Lamp Has Burned a Hole in the Night (co-authored with her sister Jiang Xinghe), The Poems of Jiang Erman, and Between the Bright White Stars (the first two co-authored with her sister).

She has received numerous awards, including the Mo Tie Reading Poetry Club’s 2018 Top Ten Chinese Poets, the 25th National Lu Li Poetry Award, the 11th Shenzhen Youth Literature Award, the Grand Prize of the Dongshan Island International Children’s Poetry Beach Project, and the inaugural Yingming Literary Award and the inaugural Guangdong Province Literary Star Award. She has been invited to appear on variety shows such as CCTV’s “The Reader” and Hunan TV’s “Every Day Up,” as well as at the “Spring of Poets” poetry festival in France.

Volume 1: By the River with Cherry Blossoms—A Record of Qingdao
By the River with Cherry Blossoms 002
Streets of Qingdao 006
Awkwardness 010
Volume 2: The Sea at Yangmeikeng—A Record of Shenzhen
At the Guesthouse 012
The Sea at Yangmeikeng 014
Dapeng Ancient City 020
Halloween 022
Playing with Fish 024
Panda Eyes 028
The Harvest Moth 031
Nails 033
Volume 3: In the Moonlight—A Record of Yan Village
Morning in Yan Village 036
Counting the Stars 055
The Puppy Has Arrived 058
The Taste of the Sky 060
Yan Village, Another Morning 066
Dream: Just Wait 070
In the Moonlight 079
Wandering Thoughts 083
Back to Donghai Island 088
A Little Water Buffalo 094
Barbecue Night 097
Fireworks 110
New Year’s Eve on the First Day of the Lunar New Year 114
A Trip to Lianjiang 115
A Walk 120
Can’t Think of a Title Anymore 128
Volume 4: What Is a Poet Really Like?—A Record of Beijing
Sister Tingting 132
Fat Brother 135
Sister the Dance King 140
Tuanjie Lake 142
The Auntie Who Sells Corn 146
Birthday on Stage 148
The Cold and Dryness of Beijing 152
The Hacker 153
Xixi 155
Haimi 157
The Mysterious “Einstein” 163
The Basketball Guy 165
The Top Student from Hengshui High School 168
Bright Moon 170
The Topic of Food 172
Taotao 174
The Director Sisters Together 176
Sister Jiajia 179
What Is a Poet Really Like? 180
Volume 5: At the Lu Xun Memorial Hall—A Record of Shanghai
Flying to Shanghai 187
Qinghai Restaurant and Nanjing Road 190
Real or Fake 192
At the Lu Xun Memorial Hall 194
Volume 6: Dad Always Has Many Reasons to Read—A Family Record
Dad Always Has Many Reasons to Read 198
My Dad 200
Grandmother 209
Aunt 211
Slopes All Over the World
—Riding from Guangzhou to Dongguan on the First Day of the Lunar New Year 215
Volume 7: In the Rain—8 Short Essays from Age 4
Hide-and-Seek 222
Skating 223
At Home 224
In the Rain 225
Green Lantern 226
SpongeBob SquarePants 228
The Underwater World 229
Picking Strawberries 230
Volume 8: Reading·Thinking·Writing
Destroying a Poet—A Speech in Beijing 232
Reading Notes—“Harry Potter” 237
My Writing—Answers to Journalists’ Questions 243
Appendix (Postscript)
Erman Speaks—Dad’s Notebook 249