From Roots to Branches
Xinyi Ding
Postgraduate Diploma 2024/25
| History has never been merely the triumphant songs of heroes; it is also woven from the daily lives of ordinary people – their untold stories, their memories hidden in the crevices of time. This book originates from interviews with my grandfather and my grandmother’s memoirs, painting a vivid picture of life in their era through their perspectives. Their lives are, in fact, a reflection of countless hard-working Chinese people. It was a time of transformation and challenges, an era that emerged from the soil. For them, the land was everything – it carried both their dreams and hardships, granting them strength and hope. From the countryside, my grandparents witnessed China’s journey from a land-bound society to modernization. They saw towering skyscrapers rise and experienced their own transition from rural life to the city. As ordinary individuals, their stories hold no grand legends, yet they are deeply imprinted with the marks of their era. Like us, they have lived through a time of rapid change, yet their understanding of this transformation may run even deeper than ours. |