He Qifang (1912-1977), a prominent member of the modern literary circle known as the Beijing School, was born into a wealthy landowning family in Sichuan. In an era in which realism and utilitarianism dictated in large part the evolution of Chinese poetry and other literature, his collections Record of Painted Dreams <<画梦录>> and Notes on Returning Home <<还乡杂记>> emerged as entirely unique; written in a smooth yet masterfully controlled stream-of-consciousness style, his essays were a search for "unalloyed tenderness, unalloyed beauty” in simple language. [Translation]