About the story
In their homes and businesses lining the alleys of a present-day Beijing hutong, most people live with the implanted tree-like organism twined around their bones without issue, 没问题。Xiao Li has abided by the tree’s rules, limiting his words and actions to avoid the tree’s punishments. But when Xiao Li’s father begins to, twig by twig, remove the tree from within his own body, and Xiao Li meets a woman at work whose entire tree has been removed, he faces a life-changing dilemma. Shall he live as he always has, following the tree’s dictates? And what about his young son, Xiaoxiao Li?
枝丫 is a work of fiction set in a contemporary, alternate universe in an unnamed Běijīng 胡同 hútòng. (Modern hútòngs are communities of residences and businesses lining alleys formed by 四合院 sìhéyuàn, courtyard residences.)
小李, his wife, and co-worker 刘依诺 Liú Yīnuò (Liú, surname, 依 yī to depend on; 诺 nuò promise) all work at 安全新能源公司 Ānquán Xīn Néngyuán Gōngsī Safe New Energy Company, located in a high-rise building near the hutong. In the company’s name, 新能源车 xīn néngyuán chē, means “new energy vehicle” and usually refers to electric cars. For more electric vehicle-related vocabulary, see Andrew Methven’s In the Driver's Seat: China's EV brands overtake international competitors.
Table of contents includes links to chapters, audio recordings, and PPT slides.
Just text is for people who want to read the whole story in Simplified Chinese characters - no English, no pinyin, no word lists, just text. The Just text page also includes all current updates to the content.
Just audio, no text.
A Google Translate English version of the first few chapters is here.
微故事 Wēi Gùshì Little Stories is a series of occasional vignettes, written in Simplified Chinese characters for intermediate level readers, featuring objects in the 胡同 and in the lives of 枝丫’s denizens. For learners, each post includes an image of the object, an illuminated sentence, an audio of the sentence pronounced sequentially for listen-and-repeat practice, and a 句子拼图 jùzi pīntú sentence jigsaw puzzle.
Note: If you would like to read the content in your native language, you can copy and paste the content from the Just text page or other posts or pages into Google Translate or into the translating software of your choice. Using Google Translate, paste the text into the left-hand text box. Google Translate usually detects the language accurately. If it doesn’t, you can select “Chinese (Simplified” from the dropdown menu at the top of the left-hand text box. Translated text will appear in the right-hand text box. To view the story in the language of your choice, choose your preferred language from the dropdown menu at the top of the right-hand text box.
An imagined Wikipedia entry about the story might look something like this:
Twig (Chinese: 枝丫; pinyin: zhīyā) is a fantasy novel written in Simplified Chinese characters for intermediate level readers by American writer Anne Giles, edited by Chinese instructor and translator Hou Huiying (Chinese: 侯慧颖; pinyin: Hóu Huìyǐng).
枝丫 explores the universal human experience of ambivalence regarding the costs and benefits of being both an individual and a member of society.
The story is set in an unnamed Beijing hutong (Chinese: 胡同; pinyin: hútòng, alleys formed by lines of courtyard residences Chinese: 四合院; pinyin: sìhéyuàn) in a fictional present. Beginning in a forgotten past, a tree-like organism of unknown origin began to be implanted in all human infants. To maintain order in human affairs, the tree directs words and actions and creates an inner sense of distress when disobeyed, but does not affect awareness or consciousness.
The main character, Xiao Li (Chinese: 小李; pinyin: Xiǎo Lǐ) becomes reluctantly aware of his growing ambivalence about the presence of the tree, and about the costs of both living with it and attempting to be free of of it, including for both himself and his small son Xiaoxiao Li (Chinese: 小小李; pinyin: Xiǎoxiǎo Lǐ). Xiao Li tells his son, Xiaoxiao Li, about the history of the tree in Chapter 32.
A primary theme of 枝丫 is disambiguating one's individual human values and priorities from those taught by family, community, and culture. The 树 can be seen as symbolizing psychological and cultural beliefs that restrict individual freedom in favor of creating and maintaining social order. The 树 might symbolize convention, custom, tradition, and legacy beliefs, particularly practices and ideas passed on as fact that are unsupported by logic or science and, perhaps, do harm.
In the fantasy world of 枝丫, the 树 is implanted at birth, before an individual has conscious choice. Most denizens of the world of 枝丫 live with the implanted trees. One character in 枝丫，刘依诺，has the tree forcibly removed from her body by her stepfather. Other characters choose to keep the tree, remove parts of the tree, or remove most of the tree. The forced and chosen removal of the tree represents the painful, psychological ambivalence that can result from various levels of individual decision with regard to limiting or embracing societal and cultural beliefs.
The story line has a single element of fantasy in a human world and would probably be considered in the subgenre of "light fantasy."
About the writing
The idea for the novel originated from the author's knowledge of Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT). Using CPT, counselors help clients discover unrealistic, unhelpful beliefs - termed cognitive distortions - held about a traumatic experience. Cognitive distortions can result from personal interpretation or familial or cultural teachings. Held very deeply, these beliefs can be imagined as branched throughout the body's full length, as if a tree were growing within. Beliefs without basis in fact or logic can result in self-blame, guilt, shame, and suffering. Finding, challenging, and removing these cognitive distortions is akin to pulling out lengths of the tree's branches, twig by twig. Hence the title, 枝丫. The 树 symbolizes the broader, universal cognitive distortions that can shape human life.
Drafts of the first three chapters of 枝丫 were written in mid-August, 2022. The story was left to simmer in November, 2022, and restarted in early March, 2024.
枝丫 began publication as a podcast on April 25, 2024, and as a serialized novel on April 26, 2024. 枝丫 is the first installment in a planned series that follows the stories of other characters introduced in the first novel.
All views are my own. All errors are mine. Although many people help me, I am responsible for the content of the final draft.
This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental
.Illustration by Derek Zheng for Chapter 8.