Reading - Liang Xia

Liang Xia writes about everyday life in a gentle and simple way. In Learning to Walk, a child's first steps become a metaphor for how a mother and daughter care for each other as they grow older. In A Figure Receding, Yet Drawing Near, the daughter's receding figure first suggests separation and worry, but takes on a new meaning when she comes up behind her mother and wraps a scarf around her neck. Both works show how the roles of caring and being cared for can change.

Food also takes on deeper meanings in her writing. In The Scent of Tea, tea brings out family stories and hardships she had never heard about before. In The Sweetness That Returns, a century egg becomes a metaphor for love and life's bitter and sweet moments. In Autumn's Reminders, the sweet potatoes her grandfather grew remind her of his love, shown through actions rather than words.

Liang Xia's writing is gentle, but there is a quiet strength in her, too. She stopped writing for years to care for her family, but never gave up her dream. When I spoke with her, I found her just as gentle and strong as her writing suggests—warm, sincere, and deeply devoted to writing. As she says, “Writing does not make me a living; it keeps my heart alive.”

Translating Liang Xia's writing means keeping its simplicity and warmth. The challenge is to let the small details and the feelings behind them speak for themselves.