Hu Qingqing (Canada)
Creative Award
Author Biography:
Graduated from the Materials Department of the National University of Defense Technology, Hu Qingqing served as vice president of the university’s “Divine Sword Club” and began publishing poetry and essays during college. Her social research papers appeared in professional journals and were compiled into collections. During her career, she independently produced the provincial TV program Happy Treasure Hunt, founded a personal cultural studio, and served as lead writer for several provincial documentaries and award-winning feature films on CCTV. She also scripted the first environmental science education film Talking About HSE for China National Petroleum Corporation.
After immigrating to Canada, she published poetry, essays, and serialized novels such as Romance of Fireworks in Chinese-language newspapers. Several of her micro-fiction works were included in the Canadian Chinese Microfiction Collection (2018), and her microfiction collection Walking Alone Through Time was published in 2019. In 2025, the full copyright for her work The Luzon Mask was signed for publication.
Awarded Work: Night Never Ends (80 Episodes)
Story Synopsis:
Set in Republican-era Shanghai, this story revolves around old characters, familiar scenery, and nostalgic events, chronicling the rise and fall of Shanghai’s tram system while tracing a family’s joys and sorrows. It is adapted from family history.
The protagonist’s grandfather, Ziliang, had two wives. In the 1940s, he and his father Shusen lived in a humble shack while the elder, mixed-heritage grandmother studied Chinese landscape painting on a terrace in the foreign concession. The younger grandmother, from rural Anhui, had fled to Shanghai after her home was bombed by Japanese forces.
Ziliang and Shusen earned a living as blacksmiths during a difficult time untouched by war. Ziliang, harboring ambitions, notices British automotive company employees collecting passenger data along the Huangpu River. Inspired, he boldly secures a contract to supply tram rails from a British manager — marking the start of his business career. His enterprise grows with the tram system, eventually expanding into construction and philanthropy, helping the town’s infrastructure and supporting education. Ziliang amasses wealth, buys a villa in the foreign concession, and marries both grandmothers.
However, Japanese invasion disrupts their lives. When the bank freezes 45,000 silver notes sent by British merchants, Ziliang’s father urges him to return to the countryside to avoid the war. Yet fate offers no respite. A local killing of a Japanese officer leads to Ziliang being beaten, and though he survives by paying ransom, his spirit is deeply shaken.
Meanwhile, the elder grandmother suffers a miscarriage and mental collapse, while the younger grandmother gives birth to a son amid chaos. After Japan’s surrender, Ziliang restarts his factory, but British merchants default payments, leading to repeated lawsuits. His brother Xiling joins the Communist Party seeking to overthrow the old government, while Ziliang relies on persistence and legal channels. Eventually, he wins the third lawsuit, Shanghai is liberated, and all foreign assets are frozen.
Ziliang is labeled a “progressive capitalist,” while Xiling dies in an assassination and is recognized as a martyr. With new government policies enforcing monogamy, Ziliang chooses the elder grandmother to stay with him. The younger grandmother leaves, taking care of the child temporarily. Over time, the elder grandmother’s mental condition worsens. After the Cultural Revolution, the younger grandmother returns to Shanghai with a roasted sweet potato stall, only to learn that her son has committed suicide over political complications. She finally reunites with her grandfather before his death, entrusted with the care of her grandmother and the granddaughter.
In the end, policies stabilize, and the younger grandmother brings the elder grandmother and granddaughter back to the villa. The elder grandmother recovers, and the granddaughter is sent abroad to search for distant relatives. She carries a metal box containing yellowed photographs and moldy receipts preserved by her grandfather, to be opened when she becomes a lawyer. Years later, having achieved her dream, she returns to Shanghai, revisits the factory, the old tram lines, and discovers that history has quietly changed — yet the faces in the photographs evoke memories and silent sorrow.
Professional Review:
Set against the historical backdrop from Republican Shanghai to the Reform and Opening era, this drama traces a tram entrepreneur’s family through war, love, faith, and societal upheaval. The intertwining of destiny, identity choices, and era-driven conflicts gives the plot weight and depth, making it a work that blends epic historical scale with intimate family sentiment.
