Tiptoe

Irreconcilable Days and the Fate of Memories

Without Siu Lok Yan's novels, those loves destined to remain unattainable or irreconcilable would likely be buried and forgotten by the collapse of the greater era. These stories occasionally mention that "stinking river" – the Lam Tsuen River that flows through the heart of Tai Po – with its ten years of unchanging calm surface. It indifferently and peacefully reflects the faces of couples by the seawall, the white long dresses hanging outside apartment windows, and the flickering flames and smoke of conflict. Yet, its turbulent depths have carried away the souls and regrets of flight attendants, the bodies of beloved deceased cats, and crumpled letters that never reached the other side. Many fragments of emotions and memories deserve a better future than the river's end at Tolo Harbour. Now, through "Tiptoeing," they are delivered into your hands, the reader. May your heart carry them even further.

"'Tiptoeing' can mean being light-footed. I always wish I could handle heavy things with ease, expressing intense and heavy emotions lightly. That's a kind of graceful detachment that I long for but cannot achieve."

"The act of being light-footed might also be likened to a form of gentleness. I no longer harbor the distant and hypocritical desire to be kind, but I still hope to preserve room for gentleness, to try to understand before criticizing. Always. And beyond these various meanings, 'tiptoeing' is also a portrayal of a group of people who cannot adapt to the city's system, who exist outside the system, and are untamed." — Author's Preface