We Three

Name: We Three
ISBN: 9787108042453

Yang JiangSDX Joint Publishing Company · ChinaJun 2025

4.4

Word count: 72K words
Chapters: 7
ISBN: 9787108042453

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Summary

A memoir of family life by Yang Jiang, recalling in simple yet weighty language the happy and hard days, the love and pain, of a family of three: her daughter Qian Yuan and her husband Qian Zhongshu. A simple, warm scholarly family, staying together and helping one another, meeting and parting! We Three is divided into two parts. In the first, Yang Jiang, with her customary wisdom and distinctive style, uses the form of dreams to tell of the emotional experience of the family of three depending on one another in their final years. The second part, in plain and moving prose, records the little-known, arduous course of this family over sixty-three years, from the couple's departure to study in England in 1935 and the joyful birth of their daughter at Oxford to Mr. Qian's death in 1998. Their footsteps cross half the globe and traverse half a century of changing fortunes: war, illness, political storms, partings in life and death... Through every storm they supported each other, and their beautiful home became the safest refuge of their lives. Heaven and earth, yin and yang, cannot sever deep affection. Alone with a lone lamp, Yang Jiang pours out her heart in silence to her loved ones on the other shore.

Editor's review

We Three is a collection of essays written by Yang Jiang at the age of 92, recording in plain, restrained prose the more than sixty years of trials shared by her, her husband Qian Zhongshu and their daughter Qian Yuan. The book has three parts: the dream-metaphor openings "We Two Grow Old" and "We Three Are Separated," and the main section "I Alone Remember We Three." Yang Jiang places the joys and sorrows of her family against a broad historical backdrop—from years of war to turbulent times, and on to the grief of her loved ones' successive departures. She does not dramatize suffering; instead, through the small details of daily life—reading, working, walking, joking—she builds a warm and resilient portrait of an intellectual family. This writing, in which "the past is not like smoke," transcends private memory to become a precious slice of the spiritual history and family ethics of a generation of Chinese intellectuals. Her prose is polished to the utmost, showing deep feeling within simplicity and strength within calm; reading it is not only learning one family's story but grasping how to preserve the dignity of love and intellect amid changing times.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the family and spiritual history of twentieth-century Chinese intellectuals
Literature lovers who appreciate a subtle, meaningful, plain and profound essay style
Readers hoping to draw warmth and resilience from a family-life narrative
Readers curious about Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang's lives and their scholarly family atmosphere

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking strong plot and fast-paced narrative
Readers hoping for systematic historical analysis or academic research

Reading tips

Read the whole book once first, then savor repeatedly the metaphors and symbols in the second part, "We Three Are Separated," to appreciate its artistry.
Read alongside Yang Jiang's other works, such as Six Chapters from My Life "Downunder," and Qian Zhongshu's writings for a fuller grasp of the family and its era.
Read immersed in a quiet setting and note the seemingly ordinary details of daily life; they often carry the deepest emotion and wisdom.

About the publisher

SDX Joint Publishing Company China · Founded in 1932

SDX Joint Publishing Company is a publisher known for its humanities and social science titles, covering classics, culture, history, social fiction and politics. Its catalogue of 826 books includes Chinese and foreign literary classics such as The Scholars, Camel Xiangzi and Selected Short Stories of Chekhov, scholarly works such as Studies of Chinese Cave Temples, A Study of the Tuoba History (Revised Edition) and The Nine-Rank System: A Prehistory of the Imperial Examination, and translations such as Red Star Over China and Notes from the House of the Dead. Its authors include renowned Chinese and foreign writers such as Wu Jingzi, Lao She, Su Bai and Chekhov, as well as scholars and translators such as Chen Xiaoming, Wang Benhua, Guo Changbao and Zhu Xiansheng. Its publishing character lies in balancing the popularisation of classics with academic depth, with attention to textual quality and the transmission of knowledge.

版权信息
第一部我们俩老了
第二部我们仨失散了
第三部我一个人思念我们仨
附录一
附录二
附录三

FAQ

What is We Three mainly about?

The book is Yang Jiang's memoir of the family formed with her husband Qian Zhongshu and daughter Qian Yuan. Combining dream metaphor and realistic narration, it recalls how the three stayed together and helped one another, weathered the storms of the times, and finally departed one after another; its core themes are remembrance and the enduring meaning of home.

What are the characteristics of the book's writing style?

The style is extremely plain, subtle and restrained. Yang Jiang records daily life with plain description, her emotion deep and contained, her language clean and polished, lodging immense grief and profound love within calm narration—an aesthetic of grief without wounding, resentment without anger.

Why is We Three said to have meaning beyond one family?

Because Yang Jiang's family were typical representatives of modern China's senior intellectuals, their fate closely interwoven with the course of twentieth-century Chinese history. The book's accounts of scholarly pursuit, family ethics and philosophy of life reflect how a generation upheld their inner world and the dignity of life amid turbulent times, giving it general value for cultural and spiritual history.

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About the author

Yang Jiang Author · Chinese · 1911–2016

Yang Jiang, whose original name was Yang Jikang, was a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu, and was born in Beijing in 1911. A renowned Chinese writer, playwright and translator, she knew English, French and Spanish, and translated works such as Don Quixote and Gil Blas, her translations being noted for their faithfulness and fluency. Her own writings include the novel Baptism, the essay collections Six Chapters from My Life "Downunder", We Three, Drinking Tea and Walking to the Edge of Life, as well as the two-volume Miscellaneous Memories and Writings and the reading essays A "Self-Effacing" Visit. Drawing on personal experience and reading, these works are written in a restrained, unhurried style that reveals a close observation of life and human nature. She was a research fellow at the Institute of Foreign Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and died in Beijing on 25 May 2016 at the age of 105.