The Back of the Rainforest

Hai Fan's first novel. Recommended by Lin Kang and Wei Yueping with special prefaces.

The novel is set on the eve of the signing of the peace agreement in 1989, after the disbandment of the army, and the choices made by the Malayan Communist Party members, as well as memories of the past - anti-counterrevolutionary campaigns, clashes with Thai soldiers, two and three generations of revolutionary families, and even the issue of the affiliation of the Malayan Communist Party comrades in Singapore.

Youth and passion, ideals and persistence, dedication and sacrifice, turmoil, hunger, death, injury, and even loyalty and injustice, light and darkness, nobility and meanness, all happened here.

There are so many things in the rainforest that we cannot, do not want to, are unwilling to, are reluctant to give up, and should not be let go of lightly.

“In our eyes, the towering green mountains surrounding the village have become the backdrop of the rainforest, shrouded in a pale blue mist, green and moist.

Those big trees, the dwarf greens, the wild fruits, the edible young leaves and seeds; those medicinal and nourishing herbs; those wild animals, both named and unnamed; the various daily, tedious and specific tasks: sentry duty, hauling food, clearing mines, installing mines, planting, helping in the kitchen, peeling rattan, weaving bamboo baskets, patrolling and hoisting wild boars...

All the mountains' severity and generosity, their brutality and tenderness... have all faded from our lives one by one. Those spiderweb-like jungle paths we once hurriedly trod on will eventually be hidden by the falling leaves.

But we will never forget that on the other side of the mountains, there are traces of our sweat and footprints, as well as our eternal homesickness."

Hai Fan

Born in Singapore, he is a writer and publisher of Shuimu Workshop.

He participated in the guerrilla war led by the Malayan Communist Party for 13 years. He was able to return to society after the Malayan Communist Party signed the Hat Yai Peace Accord with the Thai and Malaysian governments in 1989.

He is the author of the essay collection "The Rainforest Tells You," the novel collections "Delicious Hunger" and "Wild Path," and the essay collection "Roaring Forest." "Delicious Hunger" was selected as one of the top ten Chinese novels of 2017 by Hong Kong's Asia Weekly.

He also writes about the city life of the island nation under the pen name Xin Yu. He has written the essay collections "Listening. Looking Back" and "Moment. Profile" and the novel collection "Fragrant Forest Remaining Charm".

He has won the Golden Pen Award, the second, third and fourth Fang Xiu Literature Awards, and the World Chinese Micro-Fiction Biennial Award.

Demanding Fairness from the Mortal World: Preface to "The Back of the Rainforest" Preface 1/Lin Kang 6
Delayed and Trapped Time Series II / Wei Yueping 21

Chapter 1.1 "Guerrilla" 28
2. Hailing 38
3. An 47
4. Song Jun 56
5. Lingzhi and Xiaojian 64

Chapter 2.1 Going to the South 74
2. Dahe 81
3. Fried Fish 87
4. East-West Avenue 93
5. Malay Kampung 100

Chapter 3.1. Taida Hotel 112
2. Second cousin 127
3. Xia Xi 133

Chapter 4.1 Visitation 142
2. Cheng Poem 146
3. Liang Qing 156
4. Qiuyan 165

Chapter 5.1 He An 172
II. Report 177
Chapter 6.1 Diary 1: 2 entries, 200 words
II. Destruction of weapons 205
3. Gunshots 211
IV. Attack on 219
5. Diary 2: 3 entries 231

Chapter 7.1 In Indonesia 242
2. Letter 262

Chapter 8.1 Bookmark 272
2. Diary 3: 4 entries 285
3. Dawn 296

Grateful for what life has given me. Postscript: Hai Fan 305