Arrivals Hall

A book of solace for those who have lived or are currently living abroad,
and for those about to embark on a long journey.

Enduring, restrained, clean, and appropriate, this is a plain and gentle confession from a global nomadic generation about the transitional periods when they couldn't settle down in a foreign land.

After eight, twelve days, or a month abroad, one always wishes wistfully that they could stay longer, planning for a longer vacation next time.

However, if one continuously extends their time abroad to its limit, does it equate to settling down? The imagined cross-border adventure, embarking with great ambitions and overcoming obstacles, might ultimately just be the mundane hustle and bustle of simply living in a new place.

For the small things that create a continuous meaning for me,
because a new place has become an old one.

Arrival and departure, unpacking and packing, adaptation and unfamiliarity, wandering and settling – in this repetitive process, Chen Wei-fen's constant perception of home and foreign lands was shaken, leaving only an infinitely magnified state of transition. And in those hard-to-define boundaries, where it's unclear whether one is going abroad or returning home, merely shuttling back and forth, there also exist seemingly faint meanings and fleeting happiness.

In this way of life that seems to go further than studying or traveling, yet not quite turning a foreign land into home, how do the human connections encountered during the journey, the hardships of moving, job hunting, and visa applications, concretely embody the elusive concept of "drifting"? How do the initial freshness and unease become the trivial stability of daily life?

Enduring, restrained, clean, and appropriate, this is a plain and gentle confession from a global nomadic generation about the transitional periods when they couldn't settle down in a foreign land.

Recommended by writers and poets

◆Chen Wei-fen, who would "unreservedly" describe walking her dog, naturally sees with myriad considerations "the life stories of herself and others that seem ordinary, yet are constrained by various forces, inescapable and tightly bound." I thoroughly enjoy and look forward to reading the "gradually emerging coherent meanings" she captures in various "small moments." ──Jiang E | Writer

◆For those who are always migrating, residing in foreign lands, and constantly in transit. This book is a resupply at shore, the kindness of strangers, a bowl of hot soup before returning to the course. ──Hung Ai-chu | Writer

◆Chen Wei-fen writes about Hong Kong and the UK, which deeply resonates with me, a "former resident." I especially appreciate the texture of her writing. Clear, quiet, warm, like a shallow pool on the surface, but as you read on, you realize that shallowness is merely a reflection; beneath lies a shimmering deep pool, bubbling with geothermal heat. Her writing about foreign lands transcends the melancholy of homesickness and exotic curiosity. Though plain and quiet, narrating her own experiences and observations, it touches upon essential situations with sincere empathy and insight, generating profound and moving power. Reading this book in winter feels even more comforting and warm. ──Tsai Chu-er | Writer

◆Wei-fen's "Arrivals Hall" describes precisely these kinds of lives that are "both here (Hong Kong, Leicester, the U.S.)" and "not here (Taiwan, a boyfriend in Hong Kong, other foreign scholars living abroad)." So intricately woven, with such a gentle, old-fashioned style, she can describe the crampedness of a Hong Kong apartment starting from a single light bulb. She talks about immigrant life in the U.S., telling the story of Kim, the hairdresser; these are all insightful and captivating. She describes her interactions with supermarket and coffee shop staff in Leicester; those extremely tiny, tiny details about life, about the changing colors of seasons, form a complete, mellow, "other place" series. ... Rather than saying "Arrivals Hall" is a travel book, it is more an "arrangement of life" book. ──Luo Yu-chia | Poet