Spring Blessings, Summer Peace

杜梨Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House · ChinaApr 2026

Rating 4.0
Word count
138K words
Chapters
15
ISBN
9787572611315

Tags

Essays and Miscellany Slow ReadingDaily ReflectionsHeartwarming NarrativeLife EssaysFemale Perspective

Summary

This is a collection of contemporary novella-length essays, bringing together nine pieces the author wrote in recent years. All are drawn from real life and fall into four thematic strands: workplace observations, family history, bonds with animals, and reflections on life past and present. The essay "The Summer Palace" records the author's firsthand experiences working there and drew a sympathetic response from Ye Guangqin. "Hello, I Am a Third-Generation Nuclear Worker" takes family history as its starting point to reflect the development of the nation's industry, a vivid and compelling study in miniature. "No One Can Understand a Beijing Swift" recounts the author's many experiences in animal rescue. The author brings a distinctive perspective to life and human experience, with a singular eye for detail and interpretation, conveyed to readers in a literary mode. Several pieces have been previously published to critical acclaim. This is a fine collection of contemporary essays—delicate and moving, witty and charming, and highly readable.

Editor's review

Spring Blessings, Summer Peace is the first collection of healing essays by the young writer Du Li. Rated 8.4 on Douban, it gathers her observations and reflections from her time as a historic-building administrator at the Summer Palace. Arranged by the turning of the seasons, the book is divided into four sections—"In the Palace," "At Home," "Tenderness," and "Impermanence." The prose is calm and delicate, offering both plain descriptions of traditional architecture and daily work and warm retrospectives on family memory and personal growth. With an eye for the "nearby," the author transforms seemingly repetitive, marginal "gardensitting" work into a singular meditation on history, human ties, and the passage of time. There are no grand narratives here, yet in gazing at each brick and tile, each plant and tree, she builds a steady, self-sufficient inner world. Its value lies in offering a model of "rooting downward" to anxious, unmoored urban minds—finding inner order and peace in concrete, small-scale labor and observation. This is not a book that provides answers but a mirror reflecting how to live peacefully with life—suited to readers seeking inner steadiness in a fragmented age.

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Reading tips

  1. Read slowly in the book's seasonal order to feel time flow naturally through the prose
  2. Pair it with the author's Summer Palace photos shared on social media for a richer reading experience
  3. Dip in on a quiet afternoon or before bed as an immersive mental stroll

About the publisher

Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1985

Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House is a publisher known for its literary titles, with a catalogue spanning foreign literature, world classics, classical Chinese literature, essays and miscellaneous writings, and mystery and detective fiction. Judging from the more than 1,100 books in the database, the press publishes foreign classics such as Crime and Punishment, Snow Country, The Complete Sherlock Holmes and Letter from an Unknown Woman, as well as Chinese classical and modern literary works including Lu Xun's Wandering and A Madman's Diary and Wu Jingzi's The Scholars. In terms of translators and authors, translations by Cao Guowei and Tan Jinghua appear in its foreign literature titles, and the authors involved include Dostoevsky, Kawabata Yasunari, Conan Doyle and Zweig. Its publishing character lies in introducing Chinese and foreign literary classics side by side, balancing popular and serious works and attending to both readability and literary value. Public information is limited; the above is a brief overview based solely on the books in the database.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. PART 1 宫里
  3. 颐和园
  4. 故国逢春一寂寥
  5. 香看两不厌
  6. 长号与冰轮
  7. PART 2 家里
  8. 你好，我是核三代
  9. 一枚刀口入燕郊
  10. PART 3 柔软
  11. 没有人能懂一只北京雨燕
  12. 可我无能为力
  13. PART 4 无常
  14. 2020，时疫之冬
  15. 一些零碎的后记

FAQ

What is this book mainly about? It mainly collects essays from the author's time as a heritage protection worker at the Summer Palace, recording the daily maintenance of historic buildings, the people she met, family memories, and personal reflections on life. At its core is the discovery of quiet and poetry in ordinary daily life.
What is the author's writing style like? Du Li's style is fresh and plain, delicate and calm, with a light touch of humor and warmth. She excels at weaving concrete work scenes together with deep reflections on life, and her prose is vivid and full of everyday atmosphere.
What does the title "Spring Blessings, Summer Peace" mean? The title comes from a traditional letter-closing blessing meaning "may your spring be auspicious and your summer peaceful." It echoes the book's seasonal structure and conveys the author's simple wish for a steady, smooth ordinary life, setting the warm, healing tone of the whole book.

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About the author

杜梨 Author

Du Li is a Chinese author known for her prose and miscellaneous writings. The library currently holds two of her works: Spring Blessings for Summer Peace and Gatherings Are the Fireworks of Life, Spread Out They Are the Human World (9 volumes in total). Public information about her nationality, dates of birth and death, education, and personal experience is limited, and no verifiable details can be added at present. Judging from the existing works, her writing tends to focus on the small details of everyday life, and the titles themselves suggest a closeness to and observation of ordinary human existence: one draws on seasonal greetings, while the other sketches worldly life through meetings and partings. Her prose tends to capture emotion and warmth in ordinary scenes, recording fragments of life in a relaxed essayistic style that is plain yet lyrical. For readers who enjoy life essays and tender narratives, Du Li's works offer a quiet entry point for observing the everyday, while her creative profile awaits further material and works to be fully presented.