Image: Love Makes Life Shine



    In the rural society of the 1960s, the birth of a boy was eagerly anticipated by every family, whether it was to carry on the family line or to provide extra hands during the busy farming season. The arrival of a girl, however, did not bring much joy to the family, especially for me, who already had two older sisters. This inevitably disappointed my parents, who had been hoping for a son.
 
　　Fortunately, my loving grandmother did not hold strong gender biases, so as the youngest daughter, I remained the family’s cherished little treasure.
 
    Childhood memories of outdoor theater performances
 
　　During my childhood, our family was poor and couldn't afford a television. However, outdoor theater performances were still very popular at the time. During temple festivals, people would hire outdoor theater troupes to perform, bringing a few days of lively atmosphere to the usually quiet village.
 
　　My grandmother loved watching opera, and my father preferred puppet shows. Whenever a performance was about to begin, they would bring a small stool and find a good spot under the stage. As their little sidekick, I would watch any performance, whether it was opera or puppet shows. As long as I could see the elaborate costumes on stage and hear the loud, chaotic drum music, I felt a sense of joy and celebration.
 
　　As a child watching the plays, I listened to the adults recount the plotlines of the traditional dramas such as “Xue Ding Shan and Fan Li Hua,” “Wang Mang's Rebellion,” and “Meng Lijun.” Though these stories were already familiar to me, I never grew tired of watching or hearing them, because I could always add my own imagination to the scenes, making the stories even more vivid and touching.
 
　　Sometimes, I became so engrossed in the play that I wished I could become a character in it. Upon returning home, I would drape a bedsheet over myself and sob as I portrayed Meng Jiangnu, not only crying down the Great Wall but also altering the script to insist that Wan Qiliang be revived through her tears.
 
 
Image: Love Makes Life Shine—Song Fangqi Obsessed with the Virtual World



    When real life is so simple and plain, one longs for a romantic and extraordinary life in the virtual world.
 
    During adolescence, I was fascinated by Qiong Yao's romance novels. Strict parental discipline prevented us from freely discussing love, so we enjoyed love through reading. Gradually, I grew tired of that kind of reading and began to explore Hermann Hesse's works, such as “The Song of Life” and “Siddhartha.”
 
    In Western short stories, I discovered an interest in literary creation and began to try writing about my own naive thoughts on paper. I remember writing a 15,000-word short story titled “The Return Journey” and submitting it to the China Times Literary Supplement for the China Times Literary Award. Looking back now at the awkward prose, the lackluster content, and the disjointed plot, I can't help but blush at the thought of having dared to enter it for the award. Yet I admire the courage of my 14-year-old self, who was “fearless like a newborn calf.”
 
    Entering the world of literature
 
　　With a love for reading and writing, my choice of major in college was clear: Chinese literature.
 
　　I remember filling out the application form with only nineteen choices, all for Chinese literature departments at various universities. I was admitted to the night division of the Chinese literature department at National Cheng Kung University, where I began to explore the vast ocean of literature.
 
　　It is said that many renowned writers with significant literary achievements laid the foundation for their writing through systematic reading, cultivating a rich literary foundation. However, my personality has always been carefree and unrestrained, and I approach everything haphazardly, including reading. I pick up books at random, reading one here and one there, with no systematic approach. Therefore, I have never achieved great success.
 
　　Choosing the Chinese Language Department naturally gave me a special affection for classical Chinese literature, so I joined the classical poetry society of the Chinese Language Department, learning to compose poetry and couplets like the ancients, pretending to be cultured. At the time, the poetry society was guided by Professor Wu Rongfu, who is currently a faculty member at National Cheng Kung University's Chinese Department. Under Professor Wu's dedicated and patient instruction, I consecutively won the Phoenix Tree Literary Award for classical poetry and lyrics, including the First Prize, Second Prize, and Merit Award, as well as the Second Prize for modern poetry.
 
　　In addition to poetry and prose creation, writing novels has always been my passion. I participated in the third Fo Guang Literary Award and won second place in the novel category.
 
 
Image: Love Makes Life Shine—Song Fangqi Writes About Real Life



    After graduating, I started working at a newspaper company, where I got to interview all kinds of people and learn about their lives.
 
    In the past, when I wrote novels, I would rack my brain to come up with characters and storylines. But during my interviews, I often felt like the people I was talking to were just like characters in a novel. Their life stories were filled with dramatic twists and turns, often more compelling than a TV drama.
 
　　I believe every writer has their own focus and sense of mission in their work. For me, I am often moved to tears by the extraordinary life journeys of ordinary people. If such a true-life story can inspire people toward truth, goodness, and beauty, isn’t such writing work meaningful?
 
    Why abandon reality and indulge in the virtual?
 
    Having reflected deeply on the direction of my writing, I began to pursue the path of writing biographical works.
 
    Perhaps such interviews require traveling across the country, enduring the hardships of travel; perhaps such writing will take away time from my “pure literary” creation. However, every time I complete such a character interview, my heart feels particularly fulfilled and grounded, as if I have lit a lamp for this world—though faint, their lives truly shine.
 
    This world has too many flaws and imperfections and too much strife and dishonesty. If we could cultivate a more “gentle and kind” attitude toward life and set a more “forgiving and inclusive” example to balance the passionate and sensational emotions of this society, I believe our lives would be more peaceful, harmonious, and beautiful.
 
    If I can, I would like to contribute more in this regard through my writing.
 

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