Architecture was not Liu Jiakun’s first choice. Before it on his list of potential subjects to study came medical sciences (to please his parents), storage management and tannery. Even when he did finally commit to architecture in the 1970s, Liu did not immediately take to it. He signed up, he says, because he thought it was mostly about drawing, and was disappointed to find it was not, quitting the profession soon after to become a novelist. It was only gradually that he drifted back. “Life will find its own way,” he says.
建筑并不是劉家琨首選的專業。在他打算攻讀的潛在專業名單上,醫學(為了取悅父母)、倉庫保管和皮革處理都排在建筑學前面。即使他在上世紀70年代最終念了建筑專業,他也沒有立即喜歡上它。高考之所以報建筑學,他說那是因為他以為這個專業主要是畫畫,結果卻失望地發現并不是這樣,他很快改行成了小說家。他后來才慢慢又轉回這一行?!叭松詴ふ业匠雎?,”他說。