One leaf heralds autumn: Works of the Winners of the First International Bing Xin Literary Award

By LE SHAN

A leaf knows the fall of autumn, the meaning is in the micro. The fall of each leaf is a homecoming and reincarnation of life, carrying the deep love of the years and the hope for the future. Naming my new literary album "One leaf heralds autumn" is not only a tribute to the wisdom of nature, but also a contemplation of life and literature. Literature for me is an exploration through time and space, a link that intertwines personal experience with social reality. I believe that words are a warm bridge that can reach the deepest hidden corners of the reader's heart and bring a touch of light to the world. The album opens with one of my most cherished essays, "Strong and Beautiful Mother". It was about an ordinary but great mother, whose resilience and beauty were like a ray of sunlight in the mountains in the early morning, warm but not dazzling, yet capable of lighting up the darkest valleys. This work won me the first International Bingxin Literary Award in Tokyo in the summer of 2024, and was widely circulated on the Internet, winning high praise from readers. I don't see it as a personal honor for me, but rather as a celebration of a mother's love that resonates with the softest yet strongest force in human nature. After I won the award in Japan, I took part in the picking activities of the organizing committee of the International Bingxin Literary Award, and my days in Japan were filled with the glory of civilization and order as far as my eyes could see. Therefore, I put these feelings into a series of essays called "Japanese Random Notes". In these essays, I trace the pulse of contemporary society and meditate on the continuity and renewal of an ancient culture. Returning from Tokyo, I wrote a long character essay "Wu Qing's feelings" with a reverent heart. In the fall of 2023, I roamed Europe and wrote ten travel essays. From London to the Iberian Peninsula to Rome, I combined these places of interest with their deep historical backgrounds, with a view to arousing the reader's respect and reflection on human civilization. The splendor and heaviness of history, like a mirror, illuminates our outlook on the future. And the prose poem "Cherry Blossom Viewing" is my tribute to time and life. The story of Jiuzhaigou is another footnote in my life. In the documentary literature "For a Heaven on Earth", I revisited those years more than thirty years ago. At the end of the album, I wrote "Return to the light", a record of the twisted fate of ten out-of-print color photographs of Princess Diana. "One leaf heralds autumn" is my answer to the years. In this book, there are feelings about life, observations about society, inquiries about history, and hopes for the future. I hope that these words will be like a falling leaf in autumn, not disturbing, but entering the heart; not flaunting, but making people remember the direction of the wind. I would like to dedicate this book to readers who love literature and life.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F6368Y4N
• ISBN13: 9798280925793
• Release Date: April 2025
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 376 Pages
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.1" x 6.0"