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Strings of Life
The book is a collection of the novella Strings of Life and the prose essay In the Temple of Earth, both written by China's contemporary writer Shi Tiesheng. Strings of Life unveils the profound life philosophy and reveals the significance of human survival self-redemption out of plight and fulfilling process aiming at the pointless target. In the Temple of Earth is the writer's eulogy on the mother's love. With the temple of earth as a carrier, the essay expresses a desperate man's seeking of hope, and the remembrance of his mother.
本书收录当代作家史铁生的小说《命若琴弦》和散文《我与地坛》。《命若琴弦》是一篇包孕着深刻人生哲理的小说，揭示了人类生存的意义——处于困境自我救赎，目标虚设过程充盈。《我与地坛》是作家写的一篇围绕母爱的文章。地坛只是一个载体，而文章的本质却是一个绝望的人寻求希望的过程，以及对母亲的思念。
- GenresChinese LiteratureChina
272 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 30, 2026
Lovely and instructional, with a quiet lyricism.
November 5, 2025
(this is for the short story Strings of life, “the temple of earth and I” was a nice essay and I love this author more and more, but I wanted to find more fiction)
This was a nice little short story, an old man and a young man both blind, tell stories and play their banjos to earn their keep, the old man must play so passionately and intently that 1,000 strings are broken/played through, thus allowing him to go get his medicine to cure his blindness.
In the end, that prescription paper that described these conditions was really just a blank sheet.
This author in many works now has often questioned purpose of life, meaning, how to get value out of a life rife with suffering and pain. Why must we continue?
With Shi tiesheng this often comes up, the young man asking “why are we blind?” just to be told “because we are blind,” in another story the young man wondering why it was him that had to become paralyzed, just to realize it had to be, simple as that, “God said it must happen and it did,” in the temple of earth he questions this suffering but in a way it reminds me of (and I’ve already said this before about him) DAZAI! In Osamu Dazai’s fairy tail collection, the first story “the stolen wen” ends by stating none of our characters did anything wrong, yet bad things still happened to them, calling it a inextricable fact woven into our existence. Suffering is unavoidable, so he (at it seems to me) is trying not to question so much as to figure out what to do with it. Dwelling on why gets you nowhere, the old man questioned what the point was after finding a blank paper, sat for a few months forgetting the young man, any time the old man dwelt on his suffering it only increased more, the only way out was to keep moving, to continue focusing on his dream of a cure.
However he ends up, as he said earlier in the story, remembering the joy felt at playing the banjo and telling stories, as his master (essentially, I’m paraphrasing with most of this when I say “so and so says”) says, as long as there are taut strings to play, one can keep on going. Even a false hope for a future joy was enough for one to continue playing that banjo, telling stories for 50 years. And thus he continues the cycle, telling the young boy he must play 1200 strings, an extra 200 from his, and the story finishes by repeating where we began, the young man becoming old and leading a new young man on the same cycle as before.
There will be pain, suffering, confusion, but even an illusion like the old man’s of an eventual cure was enough to keep a person going for decades. “All the bustle…trekking…even the anxieties and frustration were in fact a joy!...don’t give in; play a few more years and you’ll open your eyes and see…”
I don’t have some cure to suffering but Shi tiesheng’s desire to continue living after immense tragedy in his own life is something to take along with you, have a hope, even if an illusion, embrace the anxieties and worry, the long journeys and beautiful days.
Two ideas I found interesting throughout the story as a fun little post script:
1: the statues of the dieties
These were dieties of some form of Taoist or Buddhist persuasion, although we aren’t fully sure, but what stuck out so much was the way in which they remain silent. When the young boy is sick, falls in love, when the old man is in pain and reminiscing, there’s mention of the dieites staying there, silent, observing. That idea seems to pervade in other works of his as well, in more positive and more negative lights, there is a supernatural force or being, but it remains silent, sometimes he is consoled in its silence, sometimes taking the silence for an answer to his own questions, and at others our pain and suffering, almost unbearably so, is dumped onto us with no way out, and through it all the dieties stayed silent.
2: the blind cycle
Another is that both men are blind, and the young generation becoming the old and leading a new blind generation at the end of the story shows a cycle I think to be a little representation of humanity. Like the young boy there is some desire to see, to not be hampered down by suffering or stuck in confusion, yet like we see with the old man, maybe there is no real cure for this suffering or confusion, this blindness, outside of an illusory hope for a future salvation.
That is all I just thought those two thoughts were interesting
I love this author the Mr. Shi Tiesheng and I hope to read more
This was a nice little short story, an old man and a young man both blind, tell stories and play their banjos to earn their keep, the old man must play so passionately and intently that 1,000 strings are broken/played through, thus allowing him to go get his medicine to cure his blindness.
In the end, that prescription paper that described these conditions was really just a blank sheet.
This author in many works now has often questioned purpose of life, meaning, how to get value out of a life rife with suffering and pain. Why must we continue?
With Shi tiesheng this often comes up, the young man asking “why are we blind?” just to be told “because we are blind,” in another story the young man wondering why it was him that had to become paralyzed, just to realize it had to be, simple as that, “God said it must happen and it did,” in the temple of earth he questions this suffering but in a way it reminds me of (and I’ve already said this before about him) DAZAI! In Osamu Dazai’s fairy tail collection, the first story “the stolen wen” ends by stating none of our characters did anything wrong, yet bad things still happened to them, calling it a inextricable fact woven into our existence. Suffering is unavoidable, so he (at it seems to me) is trying not to question so much as to figure out what to do with it. Dwelling on why gets you nowhere, the old man questioned what the point was after finding a blank paper, sat for a few months forgetting the young man, any time the old man dwelt on his suffering it only increased more, the only way out was to keep moving, to continue focusing on his dream of a cure.
However he ends up, as he said earlier in the story, remembering the joy felt at playing the banjo and telling stories, as his master (essentially, I’m paraphrasing with most of this when I say “so and so says”) says, as long as there are taut strings to play, one can keep on going. Even a false hope for a future joy was enough for one to continue playing that banjo, telling stories for 50 years. And thus he continues the cycle, telling the young boy he must play 1200 strings, an extra 200 from his, and the story finishes by repeating where we began, the young man becoming old and leading a new young man on the same cycle as before.
There will be pain, suffering, confusion, but even an illusion like the old man’s of an eventual cure was enough to keep a person going for decades. “All the bustle…trekking…even the anxieties and frustration were in fact a joy!...don’t give in; play a few more years and you’ll open your eyes and see…”
I don’t have some cure to suffering but Shi tiesheng’s desire to continue living after immense tragedy in his own life is something to take along with you, have a hope, even if an illusion, embrace the anxieties and worry, the long journeys and beautiful days.
Two ideas I found interesting throughout the story as a fun little post script:
1: the statues of the dieties
These were dieties of some form of Taoist or Buddhist persuasion, although we aren’t fully sure, but what stuck out so much was the way in which they remain silent. When the young boy is sick, falls in love, when the old man is in pain and reminiscing, there’s mention of the dieites staying there, silent, observing. That idea seems to pervade in other works of his as well, in more positive and more negative lights, there is a supernatural force or being, but it remains silent, sometimes he is consoled in its silence, sometimes taking the silence for an answer to his own questions, and at others our pain and suffering, almost unbearably so, is dumped onto us with no way out, and through it all the dieties stayed silent.
2: the blind cycle
Another is that both men are blind, and the young generation becoming the old and leading a new blind generation at the end of the story shows a cycle I think to be a little representation of humanity. Like the young boy there is some desire to see, to not be hampered down by suffering or stuck in confusion, yet like we see with the old man, maybe there is no real cure for this suffering or confusion, this blindness, outside of an illusory hope for a future salvation.
That is all I just thought those two thoughts were interesting
I love this author the Mr. Shi Tiesheng and I hope to read more
October 29, 2021
This short story is set in a rural part of China in the 1950s, 1960s, or 1970s (I’m guessing it is no later because there is no mention of roads, cars, or any technology more advanced than a radio). It’s about a pair of blind story tellers who spend the warmer months of the year traveling from village to village and providing evening entertainment.
The story touches upon the big question of why to stay alive. Readers might appreciate the story even more when they find out that the author was disabled (he couldn’t walk after about the age of twenty) and had seriously questioned the purpose of his suffering before finding writing. I was struck by how capable the blind story tellers were - they cooked for themselves, they identified all manner of animal by sound, they navigated mountain paths without a guide, and washed themselves without assistance - and I wonder if this was a reflection of the author having learned to live with his own disability.
In my version of the book (thank you Contra Costa library!) the Life of Strings story was followed by a second piece called The Temple of the Earth and Me. It’s the author’s reflection on all of the time he spent in Beijing’s Temple of the Earth. It’s moving and worth reading.
The story touches upon the big question of why to stay alive. Readers might appreciate the story even more when they find out that the author was disabled (he couldn’t walk after about the age of twenty) and had seriously questioned the purpose of his suffering before finding writing. I was struck by how capable the blind story tellers were - they cooked for themselves, they identified all manner of animal by sound, they navigated mountain paths without a guide, and washed themselves without assistance - and I wonder if this was a reflection of the author having learned to live with his own disability.
In my version of the book (thank you Contra Costa library!) the Life of Strings story was followed by a second piece called The Temple of the Earth and Me. It’s the author’s reflection on all of the time he spent in Beijing’s Temple of the Earth. It’s moving and worth reading.
August 15, 2023
This book was not just Strings of Life but many other short pieces. Some are fictional short stories while others are short non-fiction. I have a lot of respect for Shi Tiesheng, the circumstances around his disability, and how he is one of China's greatest writers.
I give 4 out of 5 stars due to formatting errors alongside typos. The stories were not translated by one person, but several different people = lack of consistency (i.e.: sometimes a translator left Chinese terms in italics).
But that didn't take away from these stories, which explore physical and mental disabilities. The namesake was good but many others just as excellent, albeit I found the last story rather depressing (involving a dog...). It was humbling to read these in the context of historical Chinese events. What moved me was how the settings were not only cities, but villages also! If you're Chinese, you should know the experience of villages vs. cities is huge, especially in history. My family's background is all from the village. I loved seeing terms like kang included when talking about a bed that's typically found in Northern Chinese villages. The creativity and authenticity is excellent.
The way Shi Tiesheng writes is simple and straightforward, but with focus on the human experience. I can't comment on his prose because they were translations. What I read, however, tells me about his strengths as a storywriter. Very moving stories.
He is one of my favorite authors.
I can't find the version of the book I read. Not the same as the other reviewer. It's from 1991, first edition, Panda Books (Chinese Literature Press). ISBN 0-8351-2092-9 and 7-5071-0083-9/I.77 (and 10-E-2659P 00895). Blue cover illustrating Strings of Life. Probably out of print and rare.
I give 4 out of 5 stars due to formatting errors alongside typos. The stories were not translated by one person, but several different people = lack of consistency (i.e.: sometimes a translator left Chinese terms in italics).
But that didn't take away from these stories, which explore physical and mental disabilities. The namesake was good but many others just as excellent, albeit I found the last story rather depressing (involving a dog...). It was humbling to read these in the context of historical Chinese events. What moved me was how the settings were not only cities, but villages also! If you're Chinese, you should know the experience of villages vs. cities is huge, especially in history. My family's background is all from the village. I loved seeing terms like kang included when talking about a bed that's typically found in Northern Chinese villages. The creativity and authenticity is excellent.
The way Shi Tiesheng writes is simple and straightforward, but with focus on the human experience. I can't comment on his prose because they were translations. What I read, however, tells me about his strengths as a storywriter. Very moving stories.
He is one of my favorite authors.
I can't find the version of the book I read. Not the same as the other reviewer. It's from 1991, first edition, Panda Books (Chinese Literature Press). ISBN 0-8351-2092-9 and 7-5071-0083-9/I.77 (and 10-E-2659P 00895). Blue cover illustrating Strings of Life. Probably out of print and rare.
May 6, 2024
Read this book at the young age of 10, when I was at my most distraught and bored years. Mother gave this book as a present to me (a young practitioner of Guzheng), and thought it would do me good. I read it without thinking much of it, renditioning the book as yet another one of those deep philosophical fictions that try to convey the 'true meaning of life'. It was not until I grew older, and experienced more of the ups and downs of life that I realized how true, how deeply touching this book is. Shi Tiesheng's work, miraculously, always consists of mesmerizing settings and beautiful narratives that draw the reader in and change them forever. His lines touch you and stay with you long after the book is exhausted, ensuring that you will be returning soon, longing for more.
October 25, 2025
史铁生不仅向我们展示了人人都会陷入的生死困局，并提供了一种较为可行的答案，更重要的是，他同时向我们展示了一种人人都会掉落的思考陷阱，就是比想得太少多了一点，但又比想得足够少了很多。
December 24, 2022
قرأت الكتاب المترجم من النسخة الإنجليزية إلى اللغة العربية
قصتان من الصين. أعجبتني القصة الثانية "في معبد الأرض" وسأحاول في يوم ما قراءة النص الصيني بعد أن تتحسن لغتي
قصتان من الصين. أعجبتني القصة الثانية "في معبد الأرض" وسأحاول في يوم ما قراءة النص الصيني بعد أن تتحسن لغتي
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews