Your and my country disappeared

He said that because magical realism is so popular recently, he wanted to write a novel that would be half documentary and half fiction. He wanted to write about the school he loved so much and the Chinese education that he cares about so much.

He attended elementary school in Taiwan and used his summer vacations back in Malaysia to learn new Malay words. He then gave a speech in Malay to his Taiwanese classmates. Unsurprisingly, even the teacher was confused and had to explain himself in Chinese before he received thunderous applause.

He felt that he was different from the children around him since he was a child. As a child living and studying in Taiwan, he particularly liked to show off his differences, especially his "Malaysian nationality" and "Malaysian content". He even used Guang Hua Daily for newspaper clippings, and his choice of words tried to involve Malaysia or his hometown Penang.

After graduating from elementary school, I returned to Malaysia to attend secondary school, but the journey was somewhat turbulent. I thought I'd attend an independent Chinese school entirely using Chinese as the medium of instruction, but it turned out to be no different from a national school, with the same government exams and a bunch of Malay that I couldn't understand. This was a real struggle for a new transfer student from Taiwan. Later, I transferred to Ngee Sin Independent High School, where classes were taught in Chinese. This marked a new beginning for me, where I met teachers and mentors who would later inspire me, as well as senior students, and entered a new stage in my life.

This book contains many of his views and criticisms on education, which are mixed with real and imaginary elements, making readers feel like they are reading both prose and novels.

After graduation, he went to Manchester, England, to study medicine. He also discussed his repeated failures in casinos. "Do you know why I always lost when playing poker with my senior? It's because I was always so optimistic, thinking I'd get the cards I wanted, that I'd recklessly bet everything I had. So please don't blame me for wandering around feeling melancholic after I lost everything in love."

The text also contains many expressions of the author's embrace of fairness and justice, and criticism of those who profit under the banner of Chinese education, just like a passionate young man.

This book is also written for all those who care about Chinese education.

Lin Weidi

A Malaysian Chinese, he was born in Penang and graduated from Taipei Municipal Ren'ai Primary School, Bukit Mertajam Ngee Sin Independent High School, Malaysia, International Medical University of Malaysia, and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Manchester, UK.

He has won the Malaysia Huazong Literary Award for Essays and New Poetry, and the Malaysia Chinese Blog Festival Best Arts Blog Award.

He has written collections of essays including "Before the First Book," "Arrogant" (published by You Ren Publishing in Malaysia), "So" (published by Xiu Wei Publishing in Taiwan), and "Between Two Doctors" (co-authored with his mother Wu Meiyun, published by Dajiang Publishing in Malaysia).

He currently works at Raffles Hospital in Singapore and is also a director of Grassroots Book Studio Singapore.

The column "Real Doctor, Fake Hipster" is published every Wednesday in Malaysia's China Press.