I Don't

Da Bing (Yan Bing)Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House · ChinaMar 2025

3.0

Word count: 153K words
Chapters: 11

Summary

Goodwill dispels hostility; goodwill earns kinship; goodwill helps the dying pass on; goodwill brings the lost back to shore.

Goodwill helps people capture and build a distinctive kind of happiness.

"I Won't" is a kind of good-natured candor, a good-natured willingness to let things be, and a good-natured self-examination.

Every story in this book could be called "I Won't":

A bookstore owner who for ten years without fail has held fast in Tibet, doing his bit for Tibetan children's basic education; a wild northeastern drifter, part rogue and part free spirit, who gave away his fortune to aid disaster victims and took his seriously ill mother traveling around the world; a taciturn, tongue-tied wandering singer who never leaves his terminally ill girlfriend; a veteran who keeps faith with comrades who fell thirty-one years ago, refuses to live on in disgrace, and risks life and death for the safety of an ancient town... Every living being in this book is saying to fate: I won't!

Fighting desperately, giving everything, refusing to accept one's fate—my fate is mine, not heaven's.

Unwilling, unwilling to take it, unafraid, unrestrained, undivided, unflagging, unyielding, unbreakable in order to build, neither servile nor overbearing...

Because they won't, they are different.

Even extraordinary.

The people in "I Won't" truly exist in this world, and their stories are their real lives. They learn candor amid impermanence, and through that candor endure misfortune—and so the stories become moving: ordinary people unseal the divine within. Yet every moving story of the present has happened before. The stories under Da Bing's pen may be the very past in your heart, and the people in them may be you.

So perhaps this book is for you a lonely journey of finding yourself, and also a wondrous process of discovering your own kind:

May you and I always face this world with goodwill, and even face ourselves with goodwill.

Editor's review

"I Won't" unfolds around two key words, "goodwill" and "refusing to accept one's fate." Every story in the book could be called "I Won't": a bookstore owner who for ten years without fail has held fast in Tibet, doing his bit for Tibetan children's basic education; a wild northeastern drifter who gave away his fortune to aid disaster victims and took his seriously ill mother traveling around the world; a wandering singer who never leaves his terminally ill girlfriend; a veteran who keeps faith with comrades who fell thirty-one years ago and risks life and death for the safety of an ancient town. With postures of unwillingness, refusal, fearlessness, unrestraint, and unyielding resolve, they face impermanence and endure misfortune through candor—and that is what makes the stories moving. What the author wants to say is that goodwill dispels hostility, earns kinship, and helps people build a distinctive kind of happiness; and "I Won't" is at once candor, a willingness to let things be, and self-examination. This book suits those who have suffered setbacks in life and need a bit of fighting spirit; it offers no chicken-soup consolation but lays out the choices a group of ordinary people make in hardship, letting readers compare for themselves: facing fate, are you willing to say "I Won't" too? Read slowly, and don't rush to judge the characters—first see why they chose as they did.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers in a low point in life who need a bit of fighting spirit
Readers who like true-life stories and care about goodwill and fate
Readers of Da Bing's works who want to continue the biographical-style reading experience
Young people willing to seek themselves and their own kind in stories and engage in self-reflection

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting rigorous argumentation or sociological research methods
Readers who dislike high emotional intensity and a rugged, jianghu-style narrative
Those who want only light entertainment and prefer not to touch themes of life, death, and hardship

Reading tips

After each story, pause and think about how you would choose in the same situation.
Make a list of the "I Won't"s the characters say to fate, and compare them with your own bottom line.
When you feel low, pick one piece to read—no need to read too much; one story at a time is enough.
After reading, write three sentences: the person who moved you most, the choice you disagree with most, and one "I Won't" of your own.

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.

版权信息
弟弟
你好小蓝
老兵不死
成都姑娘
我的东北兄弟
丫头子
小慈悲
一封信
北方的北方有北极光
《我不》义训

FAQ

What exactly does the title "I Won't" mean?

According to the material, "I Won't" is a kind of good-natured candor, a good-natured willingness to let things be, and a good-natured self-examination. The characters say "I Won't" to fate with postures of unwillingness, refusal, fearlessness, unrestraint, and unyielding resolve—fighting desperately and refusing to accept their fate. It is both a refusal and a way of facing the world and themselves.

Are the stories in the book fictional or real?

The material states that the people in the book truly exist in this world, and their stories are their real lives. The author writes about these living beings learning candor amid impermanence and enduring misfortune through that candor; the stories are therefore moving, but they are not fictional novels.

Is this book consistent in style with the author's other works?

From the material, this book continues Da Bing's path of writing about real people and using stories to convey goodwill and attitudes toward fate; every story in the book could be called "I Won't." If you like his previous biographical-style narration, this one focuses more tightly on the themes of "refusing to accept one's fate" and "goodwill."

What frame of mind should one prepare for reading this book?

The book touches on heavy subjects such as holding fast in Tibet, a seriously ill mother, a terminally ill girlfriend, and fallen comrades, and its emotional intensity is high. It is best read with a mindset of not rushing to judge and first understanding the characters' situations, treating it as a journey of finding yourself and discovering your own kind rather than as light reading.

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About the author

Da Bing (Yan Bing) Author · Chinese · 1980

Da Bing, whose real name is Yan Bing, was born on October 23, 1980, in Laiyang, Shandong. He graduated from Shandong University of Arts and is a Chinese writer, folk singer, oil painter, and former host on Shandong TV. He published "They Are the Happiest" in 2013 and later released the "Little Blue Book" series, including "Be Good, Pat Pat Head," "Amitabha Mmm Da," "Okay, Fine," "I Don't," and "Take Care." Seven of his works are included in the library, among them "Child," "You're Bad," "Ah 2.0," and several boxed sets. His writing consists mainly of essays and short stories drawn from travel experiences and the lives of ordinary people, with a plain, sincere style and a folk-song-like lyrical quality. His works are often classified as social fiction and prose miscellany, and have attracted readers for their closeness to daily life and readability. He has repeatedly appeared on Chinese writers' rankings and received an annual bestselling author award, giving him some influence in popular literary reading.