Dwelling Toward the Soil

《Dwelling Toward the Soil》 is a realist rural novella by Langzi Wenqing. The story spans from 1973 to 2025 and takes place in Langshan village in southeastern Hubei, centering on the life of the protagonist Deng Mochen. Deng Mochen grew up in the countryside from childhood, raised among the old house, the fields, and his relatives, and from an early age absorbed a native-soil worldview rooted in the land. With the rise of the migrant labor wave, the youth leaves his hometown for the city to make a living, drifting from place to place over many years, working in factories and moving repeatedly, long wandering in the city and experiencing the rootlessness of life in a foreign land. In middle age, Deng Mochen witnesses the hollowing out of the countryside, the decline of the old house, and the aging of his relatives. He begins to look back toward his native soil, using writing to preserve rural memory and to ponder, between city and countryside, where an individual life ultimately belongs. The novel proposes that dwelling toward the soil is not a retreat into pastoral life; even if the body wanders afar, the spirit can still take root in the original hometown, recording the inner journey of a generation leaving and returning amid the changes of the times. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: Dwelling Toward the Soil — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠