Liu Dongyan

In the hushed stillness, I sit alone amidst the silent night. Shadows of life appear unbidden, and tears well up in my eyes. To take up a pen only intensifies the flow, an affliction for which there seems no remedy. For within the simplest of words, often lie countless shivers from cold nights past. I believe, to feel sorrow is a privilege in its own right.

--Zhang Yihe. The Past is Not Mere Smoke