Hao Quotes

“So, in the narrow room with no light, she draws a sun and a moon on her daughter's back. She draws a lake of clear water and a heart. And then, she draws a kneeling person with breasts.
"Why is she kneeling? "Ming asks.
"Why do you think?"
"Because she is tired?"
"Yes, she is tired," Qingxin says, "but not too tired to hold her child." She draws a child by the woman.
"That's us: you holding me."
"Yes, that's us."And she lets her hand rest in her daughter's soft, unscarred back.”
― Ye Chun, Hao: Stories

“But she thinks of the word itself. It comes from a kneeling person with breasts, a woman, holding a child. It suits her, doesn't it? At night she holds her daughter in her arms, and in the daytime, as she is made to kneel in front of others, she is still holding her even though no one sees it.”
― Ye Chun, Hao: Stories

“And then, with a little finger, she starts to draw in Qingxin's skin, just below her collarbone, her own name, a sun and a moon. With each stroke, each touch, Qingxin feels a trickle of coolness, an easing, flowing. Her pain begins to loosen its fists and knots. Her body feels lighter, as if light is receiving her, and she and her daughter are not here in the windowless storeroom, but outside, on a green meadow where moonlight hums.”
― Ye Chun, Hao: Stories

“Qingxin's own name is even more impossible. clear-water heart, or heart like clear water. "When our heart is quiet and clear," her mother, who practiced Chan, told her "we don't feel pain. We want no more, no less, just this moment as we breathe.”
― Ye Chun, Hao: Stories

“What is a window a house for?" she asked.
"A window is a house for outside," Xinxin said.
"Wow, that's beautiful... What is outside a house for?"
"Outside is a house for the future."
"Hmm, I like it. And future?"
"Future is a house for everyone."
"That's really nice. What about everyone?"
"Everyone is a house for bones."
Luyao felt her bones rattle kike those skeletons hung in people's yards on Halloween. But her daughter's face was tranquil.”
― Ye Chun, Hao: Stories