ABSTRACT
The history of modern Southeast Asian literature are the contributions of Sinophone authors, those writing in Chinese rather than an indigenous or national language. This particular example of Sinophone literature, a short story by the author Miao Hsiou, is from Malaysia and writings in the languages and scripts of the other prominent minority populations. Indian and Chinese were not recognized as part of the national literature. This story, Return, tells of lost love, of the directions in which people are pulled between city and kampong, between Malaysia and China. The central character, Ching Tze, sees her lover being drawn back to China and being forced to give up his love for her. In the same way, she had earlier given her up her love for the young teacher in her village to go to the big city. It is a simple yet compelling story that traces universal themes of love and loss, of travel and return, as the title suggests.
