Stream and Mountain

Name: Stream and Mountain
ISBN: 9787550742956

武捷宇Shenzhen Publishing House · ChinaApr 2026

3.2

Word count: 120K words
Chapters: 10
ISBN: 9787550742956

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Summary

Xishan is a collection of novellas and short stories by Wu Jieyu, a young Shenzhen-based writer. It includes seven works: "Golden Arhat," "Gazing Across the River," "Solomon's Wedding Song," "Xishan," "The Moirai's Scissors," "Snail," and "Orange Vest." A qin player masks the pain of childhood behind an air of "gentlemanly" refinement; lovers face a harrowing choice between life and death; a father drowns inside a snail shell; a student, crushed by exam pressure, puts on an "orange vest." Against the backdrop of a new urban landscape forged by colliding cultures, these stories complete a locally grounded city narrative as seen by a member of the "Shenzhen second generation," attending to ordinary people's struggles and conditions of survival, probing the riddles of love and pain, and interpreting the subtle and hidden truths of human nature.

Editor's review

Xishan is a collection of novellas and short stories by Wu Jieyu, with seven works spanning a considerable range of subjects: a qin player uses "the gentleman" to disguise childhood pain, lovers face a difficult choice in the shadow of life and death, a father drowns inside a snail shell, a student is swept up by exam pressure and puts on an "orange vest." Together these stories form a literary portrait of the city as seen by a "second-generation Shenzhener." The author is in no hurry to supply answers, instead laying bare ordinary people's struggling postures and conditions of existence, leaving readers to probe the riddles of love and pain themselves. The narrative is set against a new urban landscape born of multicultural collision; the characters are often under some kind of pressure yet retain the dignity of struggle. The seven pieces are not uniform in style—some lean symbolic, others realistic—and suit readers willing to linger over the subtle recesses of human nature in short fiction. One might treat each piece as a separate room, entering one by one, then look back to assemble the author's overarching concern with the city and its people.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers interested in "second-generation Shenzhener" writing and literary portrayals of the city
Readers who enjoy novellas and short stories and are willing to ponder symbolism and the subtle recesses of human nature
Readers who empathize with ordinary people's struggling postures and conditions of existence
Readers who want to understand the creative landscape of Shenzhen's local young writers

Not a good fit for

Readers who only enjoy light, healing stories with clear plots
Readers who are uncomfortable with collections whose pieces vary widely in style and require the reader to assemble the themes
Readers expecting a single continuous long-form narrative or clear conclusions

Reading tips

Read through in table-of-contents order first, then revisit the one or two pieces that struck you most, noting how the title imagery echoes the characters' circumstances.
When reading pieces such as "The Snail" and "Orange Vest," pay attention to the function of symbolic objects in the story; don't rush to reduce them to a single theme.
After each piece, write one sentence noting "who is struggling and what they are struggling with," then look at the overall picture after all seven.
Read alongside other Shenzhen-set fiction to appreciate what is distinctive about the "second-generation Shenzhener" perspective.

About the publisher

Shenzhen Publishing House China · Founded in 1984

Shenzhen Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher whose list spans biography, essays and miscellaneous writings, social psychology, management, documentary literature and social sciences. In biography and documentary writing, it offers translations such as Simone de Beauvoir's "All Said and Done: Beauvoir's Autobiography" and "A Very Easy Death"; in literary essays it includes works by Feng Zikai and Liang Xiaosheng, such as "Years Flow By" and "Riding Out in Spring, Blossoms in Summer Nights." Books on social psychology and thought include Alan Watts's "The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are" and "Just Want to Be a Cat or Dog, Free from worldly sorrows." In economics and management there is Zheng Yongnian's "Industrial Policy Transformation: China and the World," and in writing methods, "The Rower: My Entertaining Notes on Creative Writing Training." The library currently holds 137 titles; public information is limited, and the above reflects its publishing directions solely on the basis of its catalog.

版权信息
金色罗汉
隔江相望
所罗门婚歌
溪山
摩伊赖的剪刀
螺
橙色背心
后记
附录关于亲属活体器官移植的医学伦理研究

FAQ

Which pieces are included in Xishan?

Seven novellas and short stories: "The Golden Arhat," "Gazing Across the River," "Solomon's Wedding Song," "Xishan," "The Moirai's Scissors," "The Snail," and "Orange Vest."

Is this book suitable for reading in one sitting?

Reading it in one sitting is not really recommended. The seven pieces differ in style and imagery, and leaving intervals between them allows you to appreciate the layers of the characters' struggles and makes it easier to look back and assemble the overall picture of "second-generation Shenzhener" urban writing.

Where does the "second-generation Shenzhener" perspective in the book show itself?

It shows in a new urban landscape born of multicultural collision: the author writes from a local youth perspective about ordinary people's conditions of existence and the subtle recesses of human nature, not relying on landmark-style urban narrative but entering urban experience through people's struggling postures.

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About the author

武捷宇 Author

Wu Jieyu is an author about whom limited public information is available; their nationality, dates of birth and death, educational background, and writing career are not specified in the existing materials. What can be confirmed is that two of their works are currently included in the book database, namely The Deer in the Banana Grove (Jiaolu) and Streams and Mountains (Xishan). Judging from the categories of these two works, Wu Jieyu's writing spans social fiction and miscellaneous prose, combining fictional narrative with essayistic writing and showing an approach that moves between novel writing and prose. The two titles serve as the main entry points for understanding the author's style and concerns: the former leans toward social fiction, while the latter is closer to miscellaneous prose, and together they form the currently traceable outline of the author's work. Because materials on the author's life and statements about writing are lacking, details of personal experience, the origins of the writing, and reactions to the works after publication are difficult to describe in detail; readers may instead turn to the two works themselves to appreciate the features of the author's narrative manner and choice of subject matter.