Middle Age

Name: Middle Age
ISBN: 9787508646718

Mu Ma / 贾樟柯 / Annie Baby / Ma Jiahui / 廖一梅CITIC Press2014

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Chapters: 13
Series: Sanqiandu Creative Series
ISBN: 9787508646718

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Summary

Middle Age is the second volume in the "Sanqiandu Series" custom book collection, following 2013's Busy Working, and was planned and chiefly written by veteran media professionals Mu Ma, Zhang Jie, and others. The book focuses on the life experiences and middle-age reflections of contemporary China's middle class. The authors conducted interviews and wrote in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and elsewhere, with subjects including bankers, real estate presidents, and designers, telling their winding yet representative life stories and thereby presenting middle age's many questions about career, family, intergenerational relations, and spiritual life. The book unfolds in four sections: "Looking Back," "Poetry," "Life," and "States of Mind." It includes narratives that trace growth and historical turning points, such as Family Chronicle and Stepping on Life's Nodes, as well as records of the daily lives and choices of accomplished professionals, such as Rowing on a Calm Lake and The Architecture of Three People. In the "States of Mind" section, Jia Zhangke, Ma Jiahui, Liao Yimei, and Annie Baobei discuss middle-age states of mind from personal experience and reflection, touching on the search for spiritual meaning after material abundance, the balance between family and career, and conflicts between generational values. The book continues a mixed form of interview, reportage, and personal essay, using specific people's stories to reflect changing times and offering reference and resonance to readers of different ages.

Editor's review

这本书难得的地方，是它没有把「中年」写成抽象的感慨，而是从具体的人写起。媒体人出身的作者们分别在北京、上海、香港、台湾等地采访，笔下有银行家、房地产总裁、设计师和普通创业者，有人赶上 90 年代改革浪潮一夜之间积累财富，也有人在事业稳住之后重新追问生活的意义。这些故事带着时代痕迹，读起来像一组关于中国当代中产的纪实切片。四辑的结构也编排得清楚：「回首」看个人怎样被时代推着走，「诗意」谈精神生活，「生活」落到家庭与事业的具体处境，「心绪」则交给贾樟柯、马家辉、廖一梅、安妮宝贝这几位读者熟悉的写作者，用散文式的笔调谈各自的成长与中年心境。几位作者文风各异，合在一起反而更有层次。不足也要说明：本书是 2014 年出版的定制丛书，所写的人物与场景带有那个时期的特点，今天读来更像一份时代样本，而不是当下生活的直接指南；部分篇章偏重个人讲述，分析深度有限。如果想从真实人物故事里看中年人的处境与选择，这本书仍值得一读。

Who it's for

A good fit for

正处于 35—50 岁，想从他人真实经历中理解中年处境的读者。
关注当代中国中产生活状态与时代变迁的纪实读者。
喜欢贾樟柯、马家辉、廖一梅、安妮宝贝文字，想读他们随笔的读者。
对企业经营者、媒体人、都市白领的个人故事感兴趣的读者。

Not a good fit for

希望读到系统心理学或社会学理论的读者。
偏好完整小说情节与强故事性的读者。
需要最新 2020 年代社会数据与案例的读者。

Reading tips

先读「心绪」一辑里熟悉的作家文章，建立对全书基调的感受，再回看前面的纪实篇章。
把每篇人物故事当作一个样本，留意时代节点与个人选择之间的关系，不必急于评价。
阅读时对照自己或身边人的经历做笔记，更容易读出共鸣。
合上书后可以接着读同系列前作《忙活》，两本对照看更完整。

About the publisher

CITIC Press China · Founded in 1988

Founded in 1988 and affiliated with China CITIC Group, CITIC Press focuses on business and economics, social sciences, literature and children's books, with common categories covering social sciences, finance, literature, Eastern philosophy and literary appreciation. Its library holds 91 titles, including Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens trilogy, Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Wu Xiaobo's Thirty Years of Strife: Chinese Enterprises 1978–2008, Nelly Sachs's The Weight of Butterflies: Selected Poems of Nelly Sachs, as well as New Interpretations of the Analects and Chiang Hsun's lectures on Dream of the Red Chamber. Its authors and translators include Lin Junhong, Ba Shusong, Chen Li and Chang Fen-ling. Overall, the press introduces influential works in finance and social sciences while balancing classic translation and local appreciation in literature and Eastern philosophy, combining academic depth with accessible reading.

Section 1 Looking Back: Mu Ma, Family Chronicle
Section 1 Looking Back: Chen Xiaoshu, Stepping on Life's Nodes
Section 1 Looking Back: Mu Ma, The Good Life as I Understand It
Section 2 Poetry: Chen Xiaoshu, Why Should Stone Breathe
Section 2 Poetry: Wang Sijing, Three Cities
Section 2 Poetry: Mu Ma, Poetic Resistance
Section 3 Life: Yang Tianshuai, Rowing on a Calm Lake
Section 3 Life: Zhang Jie, The Architecture of Three People
Section 3 Life: Mu Ma, Open Your Heart and Walk Upright
Section 4 States of Mind: Jia Zhangke, Hong Kong, Just That Simple
Section 4 States of Mind: Ma Jiahui, The Source of Gentleness Is Compassion
Section 4 States of Mind: Liao Yimei, Living Clumsily Like Me
Section 4 States of Mind: Annie Baobei, The Structure of Life Cannot Be Guessed or Broken

FAQ

这本书是小说还是纪实？

是纪实文学作品，以访谈、人物故事和随笔为主，没有虚构情节。书中人物多为现实中从事金融、地产、设计等行业的受访者，也包括贾樟柯、马家辉等作者本人的自述。

《中年》属于哪个系列？

它属于中信出版社「三千渡创意丛书」（三千渡系列）定制丛书，是继 2013 年《忙活》之后的第二本。

没有读过《忙活》能直接读这本吗？

可以。两本书是同一系列的独立分册，主题相近但篇目各自成篇，直接从《中年》读起不影响理解。

这本书和当下流行的「中年危机」话题有什么关系？

本书出版于 2014 年，讨论的是那一时期中产群体在财富积累之后的精神追问、家庭与事业平衡等问题，可作为「中年危机」话题的时代样本，但并非当下最新讨论。

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About the author

贾樟柯 Author

Jia Zhangke is an author known for his work in filmmaking and his reflections on cinema, and his writing largely grows out of his own directorial practice. The three titles held here all belong to the "Jia Xiang" series of film notes: Jia Xiang I: Jia Zhangke's Film Notes 1996–2008, Jia Xiang II: Jia Zhangke's Film Notes 2008–2016, and the combined two-volume edition Jia Xiang: Jia Zhangke's Film Notes. Written as essays and jottings, these notes record his creative process, his observations on set, and his thinking about film as an art, combining the texture of documentary literature with a practitioner's first-hand perspective. Spanning the years from 1996 to 2016, they reflect a sustained concern with reality and individual experience. As public information is limited, biographical details are not elaborated here; the texts themselves show a plain, restrained style that values documentation and reflection, giving the books a certain influence among readers of film and documentary writing.

廖一梅 Author

Liao Yimei is a contemporary Chinese writer whose publicly available personal information is currently very limited: her year of birth, native place, and educational background are not clearly recorded. As far as this site's holdings show, only one work by her is included, the prose collection *Living Clumsily Like Me*. Judging from the title and its category, the book tends toward the essay form, writing about everyday life and personal feeling in a plain, self-reflective tone, with attention to the situation and inner fluctuations of ordinary people amid trivial realities. Writing of this kind does not rely on intricate plots but values careful observation and sincere expression, and is therefore likely to resonate with readers who have experienced similar everyday difficulties. Because verifiable material is insufficient, it is still difficult to make a more specific judgment about the full scope of her writing, her creative trajectory, or her literary influence; more works and information would be needed to present a more complete picture of this author.