Essays ⁽³⁴⁹⁾

Two weeks of holiday, and I have been busy throughout. The first ten days were spent at the driving school practicing for my license, and these past few days have been taken up by moving house; I have not had this many chores in nearly…

Since I moved to my current home in 2009, I have not moved house for sixteen years. At the end of this year I need to move once—an enormous project for our family; just eleven bookcases of books are a headache to move. Shortly after…

They say that once people reach a certain age, they take an interest in opera, genealogy, and hometown culture; in the second half of life we cannot help wondering where we came from. I think I have reached just such a turning point. Two or…

Last night at home I slept the soundliest sleep I have had in over a hundred days. My wife felt the same; since I left home to study out of town, her sleep quality has declined markedly. She often wakes in the middle of the…

Today, our exam week for this semester finally came to an end. After sitting the last professional exam this morning, I shouldered my bag and took the high-speed rail back to Beijing. Ahead lies a winter break of fifty days. I ate lunch at home,…

From today until 10 a.m. on January 11, I will be in full exam-preparation mode. From the 4th through the 11th, seven straight days, I have an exam almost every day, running right through 10 a.m. on January 11. I hope readers will kindly leave…

Today is New Year's Day, 2026. As one of the masses, I am no exception: every New Year's Day I write a special article to chat with my readers. Although, after this New Year's holiday, I will immediately enter a tense exam week with ten…

Just before New Year's Day, I had some personal business and asked for leave a day and a half early to come home. After handling my affairs, I organized at home all the courses I have taken this semester, with efficiency far exceeding what I…

The brain can hardly form a firm memory of something it does not understand, and at the same time it can hardly form a thorough understanding of something it knows nothing about. Learning is therefore a gradual process; in the early stage of acquiring new…

At six in the morning, the campus is almost empty. Walking through the small woods, beneath the dim streetlamps, everything is extraordinarily quiet. In the teaching building all the classroom lights are off; only the corridor lights remain on. I love moments like this: after…