Let There Be Light

Let There Be Light is a work of nonfiction by the writer Liang Hong, following her "Liangzhuang Trilogy." This time, she turns her subject from the countryside and migrant workers to a group of "trapped" adolescents: children who have dropped out of school or are staying at home because of emotional problems, and children on the edge of dropping out and depression. Over three years, she visited megacities, medium-sized cities, county towns, and rural villages, entering homes, schools, social education institutions, and psychiatric facilities, conducting immersive interviews with children, parents, teachers, doctors, and psychological counselors, recording their authentic voices, and attempting to present a psychological portrait of contemporary Chinese adolescents. The book unfolds along the threads of Binhai City, the Capital, and Dan County, drawing on interviews, diaries, letters, and medical records to show the concrete shapes that school refusal, depression, bipolar disorder, alexithymia, and gaming addiction take in children's lives. The stories of Minmin, Yaya, Wu Yong, and other adolescents let readers see how trauma is quietly produced by everyday speech and cultural inertia, and also how understanding and attention can become a glimmer of light illuminating the abyss. The book repeatedly asks: Are the words, expressions, and educational methods we take for granted creating invisible trauma in the name of love? Deep in culture and belief, how much inertia runs counter to our love for children? This is a book of documentary writing for children, for parents, and for every ordinary person, calling on people to stoop and listen, and to protect those adolescents who are struggling to emerge from hardship and longing for spring.