Liu Shaoyong (USA)
Creative Award
Author Biography:
Liu Shaoyong, pen name and online name: LuckyLiu, is a contributing critic for Works magazine, a member of the Chinese Fiction Society, the Guangdong Writers Association, and the New York Chinese Writers Association, as well as a research fellow at Liaoning University’s Think Tank. He has published the novels Money Loop and The Founder, and has written nearly one million words in various Chinese and American publications. His online works My Real Story of Starting a Business in Guangdong and What Formula Milk Can I Feed You, My Child have received nearly ten million views and have been widely reprinted by major web portals. His works have won numerous awards, including First Prize at the Third International Symposium on Creative Cities, the Special Award from the China Cultural Foundation, Second Prize in Yangcheng Evening News’s literary competition, the Xiangshan Literature Award, and the Zhongshan Literary Excellence Award.
Award-Winning Work: Swimming to the Other Shore (62 Episodes)
Story Summary:
Since childhood, Zhong Hong has struggled with poor grades and body-image discrimination due to her weight. Her mother, recognizing her daughter’s unique strengths, guides her toward a career in swimming. Despite hardships, Zhong’s mother endures a life of diligence and sacrifice for the well-being of her children. Through relentless training, Zhong Hong grows both in skill and spirit—shaped by her mother’s perseverance, encouraged by a disabled basketball player, and guided by her dedicated coach. She learns to overcome self-doubt, reconcile with teammates, face her rival Diana’s provocations, and ultimately triumph as a champion.
Coach Li Tengfei, driven by a lifelong passion for swimming, starts from humble beginnings and dedicates his life to nurturing athletes. His obsession with work, however, costs him his marriage to Song Hui. Yet he fulfills his dream by training a generation of world-class swimmers, eventually sacrificing his health and life for the sport he loves. Song Hui, meanwhile, becomes consumed by material pursuits and neglects their son, Xiao Li, who spirals into delinquency and is sent to a reformatory. Nevertheless, no one abandons him. With the help of those around him—especially Zhong’s kindhearted mother, who sells her home to help cover his debts—Xiao Li reforms and rebuilds his life. Moved by these acts of compassion, Song Hui finally awakens to the true meaning of love, education, and redemption, and comes to understand her late husband’s greatness.
The story conveys a timeless truth: that through persistence and effort, anyone can swim from failure to success, cross life’s turbulent waters, and achieve self-realization through endurance and faith.
Professional Review:
This drama uses the world of competitive sports as its framework, interweaving themes of family, education, and personal growth. It presents a powerful duality of “defeat and redemption” and “love and sacrifice.” Zhong Hong’s triumph over self-doubt, Xiao Li’s journey from rebellion to renewal, and Li Tengfei’s selfless devotion all converge into a stirring emotional rhythm of transformation. The narrative embodies the realist message that “greatness is forged through the ordinary.”
