BY IZUMI OKUHARA

“The Postman in the Mountain” is a short novel consisting of 50 pages. Readers can recognize the bond between parents and children which, often at best, tends to be strained. The hero's sentiment and the magnificent scenery around him have been expressed clearly with short scenes containing conversation, expression, and movement of body. This is a Chinese short story written by Peng Jianming, who received many prizes from his long and short novels and essays.

The remote mountainous lands in the Koran province of China form the backdrop of this story, and the hero is the old postman who lives there. This is a story from about the early 1980's. The hero delivered letters by walking for several days just as it always was for generations before machines were developed. We can feel the difficulty of delivering mail in an age when vehicles were not common in China. There is a tendency for Japanese to not write letters due to the development of E-mail, and so on. The story reminds us of the difficulty of delivering mail and the warmth of letters.

While his age isn't given in this story, he continues to climb the mountain, cross the river, and walk a treacherous path and his physical strength begins to decline. Therefore, he brought his son on his last day of work to succeed him. The father did not deliver merely letters with his dog at his side for many years, but he also shared the feelings of writers and receivers. The father's heart was filled with both pleasure and anxiety because his son succeeded him to the job. On the other hand, he still believed that he had the power to deliver the mail. At that time he wasn't satisfied to transfer the work to his son. The father tried to teach him because he felt a responsibility to teach everything about the job. His son worked smoothly, contrary to his father's worries. He feels that his son is reticence and does not think about anything. However, the son worried about his father very much. When his father could not cross the river because of his bad leg, he carried his father on his back. At that time the father realized he couldn't carry on any longer. They gradually understood each other's emotions through this journey. When the son was young, he saw his mother struggle with many troubles. Then the son avoided the father because sometimes he didn't come back home. The son could understand his father's feelings by experiencing this work.

The readers can feel the importance of the bond between parents and children. In modern Japan, it is said that there is little conversation between parents and children, and that the family tends to have loose connections. It is difficult to strengthen the bond. This story gives us chance to think about the family. This story was made into a movie and shot on location in China. Japanese parents and children should enjoy watching this movie together. It will help to narrow the gap between parents and children. Perhaps watching this movie and reading this book will help people to rethink the meanly of the family.