I’m a college student now, and June 4th falls during the summer vacation. It feels like just another day because I’ll continue to do what I planned this summer; it’s also more than just another day because what I planned to do was set off by June 4th.
I’m currently studying English literature at school, a decision heavily influenced by the publication of my memoir, Inconvenient Memories, in 2019. Previously, I primarily wrote in Chinese, and my memoir was initially written in that language as well. Due to difficulties with publication, I laboured to translate it into English. The taste of freedom inspired me to pursue a daring idea: to become a dedicated English writer rather than a one-off author with only a single book to their name. This led me back to college to study English literature at the undergraduate level. Every school day, I find myself wandering through the literary gallery consisting of Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Chang-Rae Lee, and more, conscious or unconscious of the force that propelled me towards this path.
I’ve been pursuing my studies for three years now, and I’ll be entering my senior year in the Autumn. This summer, I’m preparing my application for MFA programmes, with the plan of writing the beginning of my proposed novel as the writing sample. The novel will revolve around an American missionary in China during the early 20th century. However, I find myself equally concerned about my ability to craft compelling prose and my lack of historical knowledge. As a result, I’m torn between reading more history books and more literature. The first book I read this summer was The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci. The second is a novel, All the Light We Cannot See. The third one is China in Convulsion by Arthur Henderson Smith. Today, I’ll resume reading from where I left off on June 1st, in the middle of Chapter 11, titled “Gathering of the Storm”.
I skipped reading on June 2nd and June 3rd for personal reasons. On June 2nd, I attended my son’s high school graduation, and on June 3rd, the funeral of a dear friend who, like me, was a Chinese immigrant living in the US.
Having missed two days of study, I couldn’t wait to dive into today’s reading.
June 4th is both significant and ordinary. It is just another day in the grand scheme of things, but it is more than just another day because it germinates goals and ambitions. It will forever be remembered as an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, or an asteroid hitting Earth. Yet, at the same time, it will be lived as any other day as we continue to breathe the air and embrace life’s ordinary moments.
How to cite: Wang, Anna. “Just Another Day: Anna Wang.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 4 Jun. 2023, chajournal.blog/2023/06/04/anna-another-day.
Anna Wang, born and raised in Beijing, China, is a bilingual writer. She has published ten books in Chinese and one book in English. Her memoir, Inconvenient Memories, won an Independent Press Award in 2020. Her articles have appeared in Newsweek, Vancouver Sun, LA Review of Books, China Channel, and more. Anna’s personal essay “The Hutongs” is part of the “Tiananmen Thirty Years On” issue (June/July 2019) of Cha.
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