Summer Pasture in the Front Mountains

Name: Summer Pasture in the Front Mountains
ISBN: 9787508673592

Li JuanCITIC Press2017

4.5

Word count: 221K words
Chapters: 1
Series: 《Summer Pasture in the Front Mountains》is the second volume of Li Juan's "Sheep Trail" trilogy and the thickest installment in this series of long-form nonfiction essays. The book chronicles the days the author spent following the Kazakh family of Mother Zakerbay at the Dongkuer summer pasture in the Altai Mountains of Xinjiang. In late spring, the family drives their livestock to Dongkuer, a summer pasture nestled against the forest, where the yurt is pitched on a spot backed by birch woods, with tender grass, rich milk, and ample water. The lambs fatten quickly, milk production surges, and long naps, visits to neighbors, late-night dances, horse races on the grassland, and lavish, lively grassland weddings follow one after another. In a calm, unhurried style, Li Juan writes of the petty labors of baking naan, herding cattle, milking cows, and making yogurt, as well as the comings and goings of neighbors, friendships among the girls, and the illnesses and worries within the herding households. The flock spreads across an entire hillside, advancing in orderly fashion along hundreds of arcs—that is the "sheep trail." The author is both an observing recorder and gradually a member of the family. She does not play up exotic customs but emphasizes the joys, anxieties, and hopes the herders share with everyone else, while also capturing both the serene and the harsh sides of nature. The book closes with the departure from Dongkuer and the move to Wusai, setting the stage for the third volume, Summer Pasture in the Deep Mountains.
ISBN: 9787508673592

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Summary

Before the Mountain: Summer Pasture is the second volume of Li Juan's Sheep Trail trilogy and the thickest installment in this long-form work of nonfiction. The book chronicles the days the author spends with the family of Zakbay, a Kazakh matriarch, at the Dongkur summer pasture in the Altai Mountains of Xinjiang. In late spring, the family drives its livestock to Dongkur, a summer pasture tucked against the forest, where the yurt is pitched on a spot backed by birch woods, with tender, juicy grass and abundant water. Lambs fatten quickly, milk yields surge, and long catch-up sleeps, visits to neighbors, late-night dances, horse races on the grassland, and lavish, lively grassland weddings follow one after another. In a calm, unhurried style, Li Juan writes of such mundane chores as baking naan, herding cattle, milking, and making yogurt, as well as of the comings and goings of neighbors, friendships among the girls, and the illnesses and worries within herding households. The flock spreads across an entire hillside, advancing in order along hundreds of curving lines—these are the "sheep trails." The author is both an observing recorder and gradually a member of the family. She does not play up exotic customs but emphasizes the joys, anxieties, and hopes that herders share with people everywhere, while also capturing nature's twin faces of serenity and harshness. The book closes with the departure from Dongkur and the move to Wusai, setting the stage for the third volume, Deep in the Mountains: Summer Pasture.

Editor's review

若想用一个词概括李娟的文字，大概是「干净」：不夸张，不用力，却能把一个正在远离我们的世界写得毫发毕现。这部《前山夏牧场》是「羊道」三部曲中最厚、最热闹的一卷，夏牧场的冬库尔是草原上一年里最喜悦的时节，奶子丰盈，羊羔撒欢，婚礼、舞会、赛马接连不断。李娟没有把牧民生活写成田园牧歌，她照实写下劳作的疲累、疾病的无力、贫困的窘迫，也照实写下尊严与乐趣。所谓「羊道」，既是羊群踩出的弧线，也是一种世代相传、正在被现代生活吞没的秩序。书中那些看似琐碎的篇目，比如馕的事、茶的事、泡泡糖事件，恰恰是理解另一种生活的入口。适合在睡前读一篇，读完会觉得日子可以过得更慢一些。

Who it's for

A good fit for

喜欢《我的阿勒泰》《冬牧场》等李娟作品的读者
对非虚构写作、散文语言有偏好的文学爱好者
想了解哈萨克游牧生活与转场传统的读者
都市生活疲惫、想读一点安静自然文字的读者
高中以上、有一定阅读耐心的学生读者

Not a good fit for

期待强情节、快节奏小说或悬疑故事的读者
只想看阿勒泰旅游攻略与景点介绍的人
偏爱宏观历史论述而非日常细节的读者

Reading tips

先读《羊道·春牧场》，再读本册，最后接《深山夏牧场》，转场时序会更清楚。
不必一次读完，每天读一两篇短章，让冬库尔的日常慢慢沉淀。
阅读时留意「转场」与「羊道」这两个词，它们贯穿三部曲始终。
若能配合地图了解阿勒泰山区的地理位置，对牧场之间的迁徙路线会更有画面感。

About the publisher

CITIC Press China · Founded in 1988

Founded in 1988 and affiliated with China CITIC Group, CITIC Press focuses on business and economics, social sciences, literature and children's books, with common categories covering social sciences, finance, literature, Eastern philosophy and literary appreciation. Its library holds 91 titles, including Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens trilogy, Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Wu Xiaobo's Thirty Years of Strife: Chinese Enterprises 1978–2008, Nelly Sachs's The Weight of Butterflies: Selected Poems of Nelly Sachs, as well as New Interpretations of the Analects and Chiang Hsun's lectures on Dream of the Red Chamber. Its authors and translators include Lin Junhong, Ba Shusong, Chen Li and Chang Fen-ling. Overall, the press introduces influential works in finance and social sciences while balancing classic translation and local appreciation in literature and Eastern philosophy, combining academic depth with accessible reading.

Sheep Trail Trilogy

FAQ

这本书是「羊道」系列的第几部？

《前山夏牧场》是「羊道」三部曲的第二部，前有《春牧场》，后有《深山夏牧场》。本册主要写作者随扎克拜妈妈一家在冬库尔夏牧场的生活。

没读过《春牧场》能直接读这本吗？

可以。每一册都能独立成篇，但按三部曲顺序读更连贯，也更能体会转场的时间节奏和人物的前后变化。

中信版与花城版有什么区别？

中信出版社2017年精装版是流传较广的版本，ISBN为9787508673592；花城出版社2022年另有新版，ISBN为9787536097087，文字内容基本相同，装帧与定价不同。

书里「冬库尔」是什么地方？

冬库尔是扎克拜妈妈一家夏季驻扎的牧场，属前山夏牧场范围，紧傍森林，背靠白桦林，草嫩水足，是三部曲中转场链条上的重要一站。

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About the author

Li Juan Author · Chinese · 1979

Li Juan, born in 1979 in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and with her ancestral home in Lezhi, Sichuan, is a contemporary Chinese woman writer. She began writing in 1999, and her works are mainly prose, though they also touch on subjects such as world history. Her representative works include My Altay, Winter Pasture, the three-volume Goat Trail trilogy (Spring Pasture, Front Mountain Summer Pasture, and Deep Mountain Summer Pasture), and Distant Sunflower Fields; 47 of her works are held in this collection. Her prose is mostly drawn from everyday life in the pastoral and farming areas of northern Xinjiang. Her plain style and careful observation reveal the texture and warmth of life in the borderlands through ordinary people and natural scenes. Her writing has had a broad influence on contemporary Chinese prose, and she received the Prose and Essay Award at the 7th Lu Xun Literary Prize. Public information about her education and specific personal experiences is limited; the above introduction is based mainly on her works and known literary achievements.