He is the last centimeter of sunshine in her life, and she is his only reason to be strong.
To Ji Yi, Ji Cheng Yang is a joy in her childhood, a cup of coffee in her youth, is that kite painted for her, is the unfinished movie “Journey to the West”, and even more so, is her longing and love in her otherwise monotone life.
She follows behind him, imitating his lifestyle and liking the things he likes.
For Ji Yi, her entire adolescence after meeting Ji Cheng Yang is writing just one name.
To Ji Cheng Yang, Ji Yi is a wisp of early morning sunshine, the warmest existence, is his biggest tie to his home country.
In order to pursue his dream, he left and hurt her. In the end, he came back to her side.
Reflecting back many years later, he did not think that the day he brought a little girl to her dance recital was the start of this lingering relationship.
[Ebook] [Audiobook] [Một Centimet Ánh Dương][Eng Translation – taken down by translator]
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I hope you guys enjoy this beautifully written piece as much as I have. The writing style seemed similar to the author's other novel "One Life, One Incarnation, Beautiful Bones". Though I have not read "Together Forever", the author seemed to mention a character from it a few times.
Similar to this author's other novels, the development was slow and steady -- but also charming, cute, and heartwarming! Some topics were serious (likely similar to "Together Forever"), but they made their relationship seem so real.
Other notes:
> The Audiobook is great! Recommend if you understand Mandarin :)
> Title of the book is literally translated as "One Centimeter of Sunshine" but I went by the name on the cover
> Their last names "Ji" are homonyms
thanks for posting this!!!
is this like a sequel or prequel to one life, one incarnation beautiful bones?
Nope, this is a standalone set in Beijing about a girl and her neighbor. They start out as friends and we get to see her childhood. The prequel to Beautiful Bones has same '一生一世' in its title. I haven't read those yet but would totally pick up a sequel with Zhou Sheng Chen's nephew if the author ever writes one!
I listened to the audiobook a few weeks ago and thought it was pretty good. Ji Yi's family situation makes the reader sympathize. But it's also what makes her so much more mature. I felt it was a good read (listen). There are some parallels to Together Forever...the years of separation, the main males being "heroes" and suffering health issues as a result, but luckily a bittersweet ending in both books :)
Thanks jollymerry for posting this. :)
This book is part of what MBFB calls her 至此 series, which includes Together Forever. While I haven't seen a formal description of the series, based on my personal observations, they are novels describing an ordinary person facing the hardships of life (e.g. sickness, life/death/separation, neglect... all sad things but things ordinary people encounter) as well as stories that highlight everyday unsung heroes (SARS doctor Gu Pingsheng in Together Forever and wartime correspondent Ji Chengyang in Healing Sunshine).
While there are some characteristic MBFB elements in the writing (e.g. attention to detail) which you see in Beautiful Bones, I find this story is more similar in writing style to Together Forever. In comparison to Beautiful Bones which for me was more about an atmosphere, a feeling that you got reading it, both Together Forever and Healing Sunshine's highlights to me were their wonderful characterization. The Healing Sunshine documents the growing up process of Ji Yi. We learn about her background, significant events in her life, friendships, heartbreaks, and the relationship that evolved between her and Ji Chengyang, how he came from being Little Uncle Ji to the person she admired and aspired to be like to the one man she would ever love.
The taboo nature of their relationship (he belonging to an elder generation as the uncle of her best friend) only plays a minor complication in the overall relationship. While Ji Yi's life is not all angst and tears, there really are not many happy moments or things in it either. Ji Chengyang, though, is the ray of sunshine that brightens and eventually dissipates the clouds of Ji Yi's life, bringing her not just the happiness and love she lacked in the first half of her life but purpose and confidence.
This was the only novel I have ever followed "live" as I waited eagerly for MBFB to release each instalment. I never do that normally because I cannot wait, but each update had me crying for more, and I jumped into the pit. However, this is the one novel where MBFB also stopped writing halfway through, then went back and edited and completely changed the plot line and flow in the second half of the book. This was also the book she was writing when the internet clean-up of 2014 occurred and many things (e.g. explicit intimate scenes, certain government deemed immoral acts, etc) became banned in writing. And somehow, I felt like the last bit of the novel was not as strong, emotionally, as the first. By strong, I don't mean angst-y or tear-jerking, but touching-to-the-core emotions, whether they be pleasant ones or not. Also, the ending seemed a little abrupt to me. Things resolved too quickly. I don't know if it was because I had been waiting for months for her to complete her revisions and was just getting pieces of the novel in little chunks. Now, I'm waiting to revisit this novel again when my copy of it arrives, and I will read it from cover to cover as well as the additional epilogue at the back. Perhaps I may have a different opinion regarding the last bit.
Aside:
@yy, the prequel to Beautiful Bones is called 突然想要地老天荒 (also known as 一生一世 before its name was changed when it went to the printing press) where a young Zhousheng Chen makes a few appearances. The sequel is 一生一世梵唱 but that one is unfinished, shutdown as a result of the internet clean-up last year.
@jollymerry: Who is Zhousheng Chen's nephew? Or are you referring to his cousin/brother Zhousheng Ren? (I love Xiao Ren.)
@Hoju: Thanks Hoju! Yea I thought he was his nephew due to age/his mom adopting Xiao Ren, but now that I think about it... his uncle's son = cousin, haha. I love him too!! MBFB should totally write him into a novel -- or just more novels like Really Really Miss You. I cant decide which one I'd like to see more.
Thanks hoju and jollymerry!
this story sounds a bit sad as they separated with a sad note but since he comes back and returns to her it is a happy ending :)
did he leave because of the generation gap?
@yy - spoiler but he left to follow his dreams of continuing as a wartime correspondent after 9-11 in NYC but was captured in Iraq (?) and held captive for a few years (~to being a POW). Hence the years of separation.
@hoju- thank you for all your comments and translation of Really Really Miss You and Beautiful Bones. Your translations got me hooked on MBFB books and I went scrounging for all the audiobooks of her stories. She's a great author and I really enjoy the different story lines she's been able to put out.
@jollymerry: MBFB's next novel, 黑白影画 may be an extension of her ideas in 梵唱, which was part of the 一生一世 series, so maybe Xiao Ren will make an appearance there. *fingers crossed*
@Bee88: Yay! MBFB is my favourite author, as you can probably tell, so I'm glad to hear when others like her writing, too. Have you stopped by Beautiful Bones' translation? (Please forgive me if you have and I didn't remember.) I'm always up for discussion and it's great to hear from those who have read/heard the novel in Chinese. :)
@hoju this is a total bringing coal on snowy day moment!! I read the name yesterday night on her weibo but couldnt access the comments to read about the novel because I had a problem with one of the registration steps. Does she usually release her novels online like Ding Mo does as she writes them?
Also... I keep up with your translations but havent commented bc prior to last week I couldnt figure out how to post on wordpress.... (yup, technologyfail...). But now I can! I only started reading her books after getting sucked into your Really Really Miss You translations. Around chapter 9 I fell in love with the music and 'had to' go spend the rest of the day finishing the book in Chinese