Essays ⁽³⁴⁹⁾

When I was in my early twenties, I once did, for a time, a new kind of international trade—unlike traditional international traders, we found customers through the Internet. At that time I greatly admired a Chinese-American entrepreneur named Tony Hsieh; he founded zappos.com, an online…

I had long heard of the great fame of Shi Tiesheng's "I and the Temple of Earth (Wo yu Ditan)," but I had never read it. Recently, while buying books for my child, I bought his essay collection *I and the Temple of Earth*. I…

What makes a good article? This is a question on which different people have different views. The renowned Chinese scholar and translator Zi Zhongyun once put forward a view: she holds that "making the profound accessible" (shen ru qian chu) is the highest and hardest…

Why weep over a part of life? Do you not see that all of life brings tears? — The philosopher Seneca The title of this article borrows from the Chinese translation of a book by Alain de Botton, translated by Zi Zhongyun; the Chinese title…

I once hoped very much that my son would study medicine with me, but his heart was not in it. He was willing to follow me in studying medicine to build up his health, yet his true ideal was to spend his whole life studying…

A patient recently came to consult me; her name was the same as a former long-term patient of mine. Because of her, I suddenly realized that, shaken by this year's pandemic, I had not been in touch with my old patient for eight or nine…

Today the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day fall together, a joyous occasion; I wish all readers a happy holiday. From the outbreak of the pandemic until today, we can finally breathe easy and celebrate properly. Thinking back to the national panic at Spring Festival, it…

My son has chosen mathematics and physics as his life's work, rather than medicine as his mother and I had hoped. At first I felt quite regretful, but thinking of my own life, which I have always lived according to my own interests, I felt…

A few days ago, my child delayed his homework to play games, and I criticized him a few words. That night, my son steeled himself and deleted every game and entertainment app from his computer and phone. I did not learn about this until the…

Drinking by night at Dongpo, I wake, then drink again; / Returning home, it seems already past the third watch. / The boy-servant snores like thunder; / I knock, knock, but no one answers. / Leaning on my staff, I listen to the river's voice.