Landbound (2022)
By Pengyuan Hu
Xian, the second daughter of the Cai family in Mao Tang, Yiyang, China, was born in 1968, the year of the monkey. What most Chinese consider the defining traits of those born in the monkey years are not lost on Xian — she is intelligent, savvy and very communicative. Her family keeps saying that Xian should’ve become a diplomat, as Chinese people frequently associate the talent for verbal expression with governmental official. However, instead of venturing into politics, Xian became a doctor in 1990s. After dropping out of school at the age of thirteen and toiling in a machine factory for ten years. Xian later turned to her father, who was already a doctor at that time, and told him she wanted to go back to school and become someone like him.
