"And that's Cuicui's room."

Tian is a local woman who studied foreign literature in northern Hebei province. When her tutor saw Border Town on her file and asked if it was Shen Congwen's Border Town, Tian saw the significance of her hometown and decided to return a year and a half ago.

"I felt a sense of mission to promote my hometown to a wider audience."

In Shen's novel, Cuicui's quiet life by the river was disrupted when two brothers — Tianbao and Nuosong — both fell in love with her. Tianbao, the elder, spoke first; Nuosong, the younger, sang from across the water.

In a place where love is won through mountain songs, Cuicui's heart answered Nuosong without words. Tianbao, defeated and heartbroken, left by boat and drowned. Guilt drove Nuosong away too, leaving Cuicui alone by the river, waiting and pining.

Today, the white pagoda above Cuicui's home still stands on the hill, watching silently as modern visitors bring the story back to life. Down the slope, a viewing platform offers the perfect photo spot that frames the pagoda and residence together, where fiction and reality finally align.

As one goes further into the town, a unique ferry operates on the Qingshui River — a steel cable spans the river, and boatmen pull wooden poles with grooves along it.

"They were originally hemp ropes, replaced with steel cables in the 1990s," Tian explains, adding that this pulling ferry has existed since old Chadong, exactly as described in the novel.