Darling, this is another book which makes me cry every time i read it. i know you will not like it -- you dont like me crying.

but it is really a great piece of art and great real story.

I hope we can have 60 years love together like Yang and Qian, his husband.

12th Dec 2007 London

We Three tells Yang Jiang's family story. The book is written in a unique style. In the first two parts, the author describes an extremely long dream. The scene of final separation is depicted naturally here. However, the seemingly calm narration cannot hide the author?s immense inner pain. Life is just like a dream. That?s what Yang Jiang tells us after experiencing such a dramatic life. The book records their over 60 years? family life, which was, from time to time, struck by poverty, political oppression and even vilification from some green-eyed people.

For many readers, Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang are known as a couple that represents the great achievements of modern Chinese literature. Their daughter, Qian Yuan, was less well known. This book just provides an interesting look into their lives. It reveals many real and detailed aspects of their life.

According to He Yan, a reader of this book and also a senior of Shanghai International Studies University, what attracts her most as regards to this book is the quality of realism.

?The description is quite detailed and the story is vividly presented. I can imagine their simple but happy days when studying abroad and hardships they went through and I can almost feel their heartbreaking sorrow when they saw that they were being separated by death.?

According to Luo Ping, Professor of English Language and Literature Department at Shanghai International Studies University, the book is a fascinating look into Yang Jiang?s life. ?We not only enjoy her simple and plain narration, which, however, radiates strong emotions, but also appreciate her mode of thinking and attitudes towards life.?

Indeed, there is a gentle sadness throughout the book. Through Yang Jiang?s recall of the past 60 years? life of them three, we saw a picture of the whole family helping and comforting one another under any difficult circumstance.

Here, let's taste the dreamlike beginning of We Three again.

One night, I made a dream. I took a walk with Zhongshu. We chatted all way along, finally even at a loss where we?d been to. The sun was set. Dusk was gathering, stretching far into the distance. Suddenly, Zhongshu disappeared. I looked for him all around, but there was no trace of him. I shouted, nobody answered me. I was left in the desolate outskirts alone, without knowing where Zhongshu had gone. I cried out his name, his full name. The shout was swallowed by the wilderness, even no sound was echoed. The thorough silence added to the shades of night and also my loneliness. Looking forward, the darkness was getting thicker. A sandy soil road was under my feet with the accompany of woods and flowing water. I cannot tell how broad the stream was. Looking back, it seemed that there were many houses located there. However, no sign of light was seen, I guess, it must be far away?

P.S:

Yang Jiang (Chinese), born 1911 as Yang Jikang (???), is a Chinese playwright, author, and translator. She has written several successful comedies, and is the first person to produce a complete Chinese version of Don Quixote from the Spanish original.

Widow of the scholar-novelist Qian Zhongshu, she has written a memoir called We Three, recalling her husband and her daughter Qian Yuan (1937-1997), who died of cancer one year before her father's death. Another memoir penned by her is Six Records from the Cadre School, a lyrical and humorous record of the difficult times faced by Yang and her husband when they were sent to work on farms in the late 60s and early 70s during the Cultural Revolution.

Sharing her husband's sense of humor, Yang has also rendered the picaresque novels Lazarillo de Tormes and Alain-René Lesage's Gil Blas into Chinese.

Her sister Yang Bi (1922 - 1968) was also a noted translator, largely remembered today for her version of Thackeray's Vanity Fair.