他乡地图——四十个移民小故事

大妞

序

四十个故事，像四十枚路标，散落在一段移民的旅程里。

它们并不宏大，却贴近日常，贴近那些真实的人：街角的邻居、超市的店员、课堂里的孩子、办公室里沉默的同事……他们的身影，构成了《他乡地图》上的经纬。

这些篇章以小说的方式写就，却又带着纪实的底色。虚构让叙述自由，真实让文字沉稳。故事里有漂泊者的孤独，也有重新扎根的欣喜；有文化冲突的错愕，也有逐渐理解后的释然。它们既是作者眼中的“人物素描”，也是移民体验的某种群像。

把它们合订为书，不是为了给他乡的经历画上小结，而是为读者展开一幅地图：在这幅地图里，有外部世界的冷暖，也有内心深处的悄声对话。你或许能在某个角色身上，看见自己走过的身影；或许会在陌生的场景里，感到一丝意外的熟悉。

每一次迁徙，都是对“何处是家”的追问。四十个故事，不急于回答，而是用各自的方式标注了坐标：我们是谁？我们在他乡如何与世界、与自己相处？

愿这本《他乡地图》，成为你与这些故事人物的一次静静会面。愿文字带来的理解，能让心境多一分从容，多一分澄明。

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A Map of a Foreign Land

Forty stories, like forty signposts, scattered along the journey of immigration.

They are not grand, yet they touch the everyday; they draw close to the lives of real people: the neighbor around the corner, the clerk at the supermarket, the children in the classroom, the silent colleagues in the office… Their presence forms the latitude and longitude of A Map of a Foreign Land.

These chapters are written in the form of fiction, yet they carry the hue of reportage. Fiction grants the narrative freedom; reality lends the prose its steadiness. Within these stories are the loneliness of wanderers and the joy of taking root anew; the bewilderment of cultural clashes and the relief that comes with gradual understanding. They are, on one hand, “character sketches” through the author’s eyes, and on the other, a collective portrait of the immigrant experience.

Binding them together into a book is not meant to summarize life in a foreign land, but to unfold a map for the reader: a map that charts both the warmth and chill of the outside world, and the quiet dialogues deep within the heart. Perhaps you will recognize your own footsteps in one of the characters; perhaps a scene that seems foreign will feel unexpectedly familiar.

Every migration is a question: Where is home? These forty stories do not rush to answer, but each marks a coordinate in its own way: Who are we? How do we navigate the world—and ourselves—in a foreign land?

May this A Map of a Foreign Land become a quiet meeting between you and its characters. May the understanding the words bring allow your mind a little more ease, a little more clarity.