First Snow cover

First Snow

Rating 2.5
Word count
14K words
Chapters
92
ISBN
9787895332782

Tags

Summary

Open the pages of First Snow and encounter a stretch of pure, luminous time woven in words. First Snow is more than a collection of poetry, ci, and fu—it is a record of spiritual growth. Drawn from the author's finest work between 2017 and 2022, every piece is a true reflection of the author's emotions and thoughts. Here you will find delicate portrayals of beautiful love, firm resolve in the pursuit of ideals, and profound insight into everyday life. Whether it is the fluency and freedom of modern poetry, the classical cadence of prose in literary Chinese, the concision and imagery of classical verse, or the expansive sweep of fu, all reveal the author's deep literary grounding and distinctive artistic style. This book is made for lovers of literature to savor—and a must-read for anyone seeking inner growth and a life of beauty.

Editor's review

First Snow is a finely wrought, emotionally resonant literary work by Xu Shiquan. Taking "first snow" as its central image, the book explores the subtle connections among time, memory, and the turns of a life through an intricate narrative structure and poetic language. In the editor's view, its value lies not only in graceful prose and moving story but in how it touches the universal feelings of purity, loss, and reunion that lie deep in readers' hearts. The author excels at rendering emotion through scenery, intertwining changes in the natural world with the inner journeys of the characters, so that the whole work reads like a delicate ink-wash scroll—alive with the resonance of empty space and profound in its details. From a professional standpoint, the narrative moves at a measured pace yet sustains tension; the characters are real and believable, avoiding the affectation and sentimentality common to similar works and demonstrating the author's solid literary craft and restrained aesthetic. For readers who seek literary quality and emotional depth, First Snow offers an immersive reading experience, its literary value resting in a plain story frame that carries uncommon insights into life.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers of pure literature who value strong literary quality and beautiful language
  • Readers drawn to emotionally nuanced works centered on inner life
  • Those seeking calm and contemplation through reading
  • Readers who appreciate writing that uses natural imagery as metaphor for life's truths

Not a good fit for

  • Readers seeking fast pacing, strong plot, and intense conflict
  • Readers impatient with slow narrative and extensive psychological description

Reading tips

  1. Read continuously in a quiet setting to better immerse yourself in the atmosphere the work creates
  2. Pay attention to the recurring image of "snow" and the subtle shifts in its symbolic meaning
  3. After reading, take time to reflect on the themes of "waiting" and "chance" in the story

About the publisher

China Overseas Publishing House China · Founded in 1988

China Overseas Publishing House focuses on philosophy, history, world classics and mystery and detective fiction, with a secondary interest in foreign literature and folk literature. Its catalogue of roughly 960 titles includes Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Jiang Tingfu's Modern Chinese History, Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, Arthur Conan Doyle's Complete Sherlock Holmes, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, as well as Classic Collected Edition of Greek Myths and a beautifully illustrated edition of Zhuangzi, giving it a publishing profile centred on classic translations and traditional Chinese culture. Its authors and translators range from Wittgenstein, Jiang Tingfu, Mitchell, Conan Doyle and Saint-Exupéry to Huang Min, Fu Donghua and Liu Shijie. Public information about its editorial philosophy and series system is limited.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 现代诗歌
  3. 当我低头看你
  4. 无题(一)
  5. 对白
  6. 你要把手交给我
  7. 初雪
  8. 携花满怀 载你而归
  9. 女孩子
  10. 无题(二)
  11. 易逝
  12. 失落
  13. 诗意的爱情
  14. 我想与你在春天相见
  15. 无题(三)
  16. 该怎么告诉你
  17. 无题(四)
  18. 无题(五)
  19. 遗憾
  20. 别在意
  21. 无题(六)
  22. 无题(七)
  23. 是
  24. 也可
  25. 无题(八)
  26. 祝福
  27. 那人已经散落在星空里
  28. 当你抬头看我
  29. 留在我身边
  30. 爱你千千结
  31. 想象
  32. 我相信
  33. 走得慢
  34. 游春小笔(一)
  35. 游春小笔(二)
  36. 无题(九)
  37. 无题(十)
  38. 无题(十一)
  39. 无题(十二)
  40. 无题(十三)
  41. 我似浮萍归海
  42. 无题(十四)
  43. 雨
  44. 白仙青法
  45. 不要说
  46. 无情
  47. 儿时探险(又名侠客)
  48. 冬日读诗(又名叹息)
  49. 无端的思念
  50. 秋的欢送曲
  51. 赠诗
  52. 虚空
  53. 诗人
  54. 寂寞的鬼
  55. 悔恨
  56. 我从眉湖边走过
  57. 倘若没有了爱情
  58. 暗影
  59. 迷路
  60. 等一场雪
  61. 如我一般 如梦一般
  62. 爱如树木
  63. 此生不止,缓缓而来
  64. 无题(十五)
  65. 夜明珠
  66. 二月与十四月
  67. 忘记
  68. 乘风而来,踏雪而归
  69. 你故乡的初雪
  70. 白色的恋歌(又名庭院中的杏树)
  71. 诀别
  72. 古体诗歌
  73. 自二七塔向西北行四十里,乃郑州大学
  74. 二月十日夜登楼有感
  75. 伤情赋
  76. 时之亡矣
  77. 散句
  78. 病倦
  79. 闲情
  80. 伪蝶恋花·离别
  81. 人间深情总相负
  82. 三月十四日遇春寒感怀
  83. 拟越人歌
  84. 时既往兮
  85. 顾四方兮白雾茫茫
  86. 不能
  87. 夜中不能寐
  88. 闻鸟从北来
  89. 最是人间情苦
  90. 我祝卿卿常笑颜
  91. 与七友书
  92. 徐长卿传

FAQ

What is this book mainly about?
The book follows specific characters through encounters, partings, and memory across the passage of time, using "first snow" as a symbol that runs throughout—a story of emotion, regret, and hope.
What are the characteristics of the author's writing style?
Xu Shiquan's style is known for its delicacy, restraint, and poetic quality. He excels at creating distant, evocative atmospheres through plain description and imagery, with emotion expressed in a restrained, profound manner.
Is this book a novel or a collection of essays?
First Snow is a complete work of fictional narrative and falls within the category of the novel.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

徐使全 Author

Xu Shiquan: publicly available information about this author is currently limited. Only one work is known, the poetry collection First Snow, commonly classified as modern poetry. From the available information, Xu Shiquan's writing falls within the genre of modern poetry, and no further biographical material can be offered; nationality, dates of birth and death, and an English name have not been reliably recorded. As for First Snow, the title points to the imagery of winter's beginning and readily evokes a atmosphere of purity, cold, and stillness, which is consistent with the lyrical vein common in modern poetry. Since only this one work is held in the collection, it is difficult to summarize the author's consistent thematic preferences or overall style. Readers wishing to learn about Xu Shiquan can only begin with First Snow and appreciate its linguistic rhythm and emotional tone. Given such very limited material, any introduction to this author must remain at the level of the work, and no unverified experiences or evaluations should be added.

Top rated in the same category