臺灣文學虛擬博物館

Europe and the United States　/　The Spanish Sahara and the Islas Canarias　/　China　/　Central and South America 

In her life, few things were more important to Sanmao than travel. In the two decades following the 1960s, when many were still unfamiliar with the idea of "travel."Sanmao had created her own cartographic stories, leaving footprints in Spain, Germany, Europe, the United States, African Sahara, Central and South America, China, etc. She had once said, “In my wandering travels, I never sought the idea of the romantic"; instead, she was seeking, in the déjà vu-like nostalgia, the ever-changing, ceaseless beauty of life.

Europe and the United States

Leaving for Not Loving

Sanmao’s decision to go abroad was initially only a half-serious act in response to her boyfriend’s inaction. Out of mild exasperation, she ran through the necessary procedures, never expecting its realization in full sincerity. Yet that was how her destiny was sealed: she did go to Spain, Germany, and the United States…. Love drove her away, but had also changed the rest of her life.

The Spanish Sahara and the Islas Canarias

Callings from Afar

Out of penchant for wandering, in response to callings from afar, she left and went into the desert in search of the nostalgia from a previous life, determined to be the world’s first woman explorer to have crossed the Sahara Desert.

China

On Familiar Grounds

Sanmao had trice visited China: in 1989, she went back to Xiaosha Town to pay homage to her ancestors; in April 1990, she visited the west of China; in the summer of 1990, she headed toward the south of Yangzhi River and also went to the southwest part of China, but was inhibited from going to the Silk Road out of health concern.

Central and South America

For the Lilies on the Plateau

Sanmao had wanted to visit Central and South America for a long time and was only deterred from lack of financial support. In 1981, under the sponsorship of Wang Tiwu from United Daily News, Sanmao finally departed on a six-month long trip in Central and South America, traveling with photographer Mi Xia.