Over the past few days, I came across the news that Zhang Xuefeng passed away due to sudden cardiac death, and it truly made my heart drop. It wasn’t because I usually pay much attention to him, but rather, when something like this happens to someone who looks so vigorous—who is still running and working—people naturally project it onto themselves. Recently, I sometimes experience chest tightness myself. After scrolling through too many such updates, a thought popped into my head that was incredibly foolish yet profoundly real: Could next be me?

To be honest, I am increasingly feeling that this chest tightness isn’t necessarily purely a heart problem. Of course, you have to take your body seriously—especially with recurring chest discomfort that worsens after activity but slightly eases after rest. These signals cannot be ignored; public health campaigns have already warned quite clearly about this. But the other half is probably because people have been suspended in life’s limbo for too long. Long-distance couples, jobs that are stagnant, savings built up without knowing what purpose they serve. Even when taking occasional leave and not working, you don’t feel relaxed; you just feel emptier. Any news of sudden death, when you are in this state, turns into a persistent question: What exactly are you striving for

• Recently, the popular “Da Bing” (Big Ice) on Douyin (TikTok) has been frequently seen with short video accounts extracted from her live streams. A listener who joined a live call asked: “Da Bing, I want to sell my house in Xi’an and return home to settle down.” Da Bing responded: “At your age, you’re in your early thirties; you can’t settle down. Your parents are on the path of aging, your children haven’t started a family or established themselves, and if you return home, you’ll still need to deal with the poren.” Let’s set aside whether the viewpoint is right or wrong, what does the term “poren” mean?

Township Brahmins: The “Big Shots” of Small Places

In many small county towns, people often talk about so-called “township brahmins”—the existence of these individuals seems to be a symbol of local society. They are not necessarily genuine religious figures and do not possess “high-level” titles; rather, they are seemingly ordinary but nonetheless influential people. They represent “power, status, and influence” within that county town, symbolizing a particular class or stratum in that area.