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The Corpse Walker introduces us to regular men and women at the bottom of Chinese society, most of whom have been battered by life but have managed to retain their dignity: a professional mourner, a human trafficker, a public toilet manager, a leper, a grave robber, and a Falung Gong practitioner, among others. By asking challenging questions with respect and empathy, Liao Yiwu managed to get his subjects to talk openly and sometimes hilariously about their lives, desires, and vulnerabilities, creating a book that is an instance par excellence of what was once upon a time called “The... more The Corpse Walker introduces us to regular men and women at the bottom of Chinese society, most of whom have been battered by life but have managed to retain their dignity: a professional mourner, a human trafficker, a public toilet manager, a leper, a grave robber, and a Falung Gong practitioner, among others. By asking challenging questions with respect and empathy, Liao Yiwu managed to get his subjects to talk openly and sometimes hilariously about their lives, desires, and vulnerabilities, creating a book that is an instance par excellence of what was once upon a time called “The New Journalism.” The Corpse Walker reveals a fascinating aspect of modern China, describing the lives of normal Chinese citizens in ways that constantly provoke and surprise. less 
Marianne Bastid-BruguièreIt’s a bit like the first one: the writer Liao Yiwu is not much appreciated by the present government – he was put in jail in 1989 because he’d written a poem called ‘The Massacre’, about the 4 June incident in Peking. He spent ten years in jail, where he was put with the ordinary criminals, so he mixed with all kinds of people and interviewed them and recorded their life stories, and it’s an... (Source)
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She Lao, Jean M. James | 4.16
Rickshaw is a new translation of the twentieth-century Chinese classic Lo-t’o Hsiang Tzu, the first important study of a laborer in modern Chinese literature. While the rest of the Chinese literary world debated hotly, and for years, the value of proletarian literature, Lao She wrote the novel that the left wing insisted on but failed to produce. Published in 1938 and set in Peking, Lao She’s eighth novel is a relentless account of a worker’s struggle, failure, and utter corruption.
Lao She’s depiction of the rickshaw puller Hsiang Tzu is a study in social misery... more Rickshaw is a new translation of the twentieth-century Chinese classic Lo-t’o Hsiang Tzu, the first important study of a laborer in modern Chinese literature. While the rest of the Chinese literary world debated hotly, and for years, the value of proletarian literature, Lao She wrote the novel that the left wing insisted on but failed to produce. Published in 1938 and set in Peking, Lao She’s eighth novel is a relentless account of a worker’s struggle, failure, and utter corruption.
Lao She’s depiction of the rickshaw puller Hsiang Tzu is a study in social misery compiled by an acute critic and keen observer. His character portraits are memorable; his crowd scenes are masterful; his comprehension of human motives is always profound and often unsettling.
It may be said, in all fairness, that Lao She wrote eloquently rather than elegantly. His language is the language of the streets; brusque, energetic, never dull. His dialect is that of Peking, famous for its sparkle and colorful idiom. This new translation, which omits nothing and alters nothing, serves not only the orientalist but all who esteem good writing. less Marianne Bastid-BruguièreIt’s by Lao She, a famous writer who committed suicide in 1966 because he had been persecuted by the Red Guards. He was a Manchu, who lived in Peking almost all his life but who taught Chinese at SOAS in England in the late 1920s. This novel, published in 1905, is about Hsiang-Tzu, a man who pulls a rickshaw in Peking, at the bottom of society, almost an outcast, and who becomes a victim of his... (Source)
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Wu Jianren, Fu Lin, Patrick Hanan | 4.08
Published within a few months of each other in 1906, Stones in the Sea by Fu Lin and The Sea of Regret by Wu Jianren take opposite sides in the heated turn-of-the-century debate over the place of romantic and sexual love and passion in Chinese life. The Sea of Regret, which came to be the most popular short novel of this period, is a response to the less well-known but equally significant Stones in the Sea. Taken together, this pair of novels provides a fascinating portrait of early twentieth-century China's struggle with its own cultural, ethical, and sexual redefinition. more Published within a few months of each other in 1906, Stones in the Sea by Fu Lin and The Sea of Regret by Wu Jianren take opposite sides in the heated turn-of-the-century debate over the place of romantic and sexual love and passion in Chinese life. The Sea of Regret, which came to be the most popular short novel of this period, is a response to the less well-known but equally significant Stones in the Sea. Taken together, this pair of novels provides a fascinating portrait of early twentieth-century China's struggle with its own cultural, ethical, and sexual redefinition. less Marianne Bastid-BruguièreIt’s a short novel of the early 20th century, by a not very well-known writer called Fu Lin, and it’s called Stones in the Sea. It’s one of the first novels where the writer says ‘I’. Of course, Shen Fu is also an ‘I’ narrator – it’s an autobiography – but that is quite unusual in Chinese literature, and among late 19th, early 20th-century novels this is the first where the writer writes about... (Source)
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Shen Fu, Leonard Pratt, Chiang Su-Hui | 4.14
Six Records of a Floating Life (1809) is an extraordinary blend of autobiography, love story and social document written by a man who was educated as a scholar but earned his living as a civil servant and art dealer. In this intimate memoir, Shen Fu recounts the domestic and romantic joys of his marriage to Yun, the beautiful and artistic girl he fell in love with as a child. He also describes other incidents of his life, including how his beloved wife obtained a courtesan for him and reflects on his travels through China. Shen Fu's exquisite memoir shows six parallel "layers" of one... more Six Records of a Floating Life (1809) is an extraordinary blend of autobiography, love story and social document written by a man who was educated as a scholar but earned his living as a civil servant and art dealer. In this intimate memoir, Shen Fu recounts the domestic and romantic joys of his marriage to Yun, the beautiful and artistic girl he fell in love with as a child. He also describes other incidents of his life, including how his beloved wife obtained a courtesan for him and reflects on his travels through China. Shen Fu's exquisite memoir shows six parallel "layers" of one man's life, loves and career, with revealing glimpses into Chinese society of the Ch'ing Dynasty. less Marianne Bastid-BruguièreThis is quite different – it’s a very short book. Shen Fu was a clerk who was born into a family of literati in 1763. What is interesting is that he tells a story of love, and of love between husband and wife, which is quite unusual in Chinese literature. He wrote a story of his life after his wife of 23 years had died, and it wasn’t published at the time but was discovered later and published in... (Source)
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5
Based upon the historical bandit Song Jiang and his companions, this Chinese equivalent of the English classic Robin Hood and His Merry Men is an epic tale of rebellion against tyranny and has been thrilling and inspiring readers for hundreds of years.
This edition of the classic J. H. Jackson translation features a new preface and introduction by Edwin Lowe, which gives the history of the book and puts the story into perspective for modern readers. First translated into English by Pearl S. Buck in 1933 as All Men Are Brothers, the original edition of the J.H.... more Based upon the historical bandit Song Jiang and his companions, this Chinese equivalent of the English classic Robin Hood and His Merry Men is an epic tale of rebellion against tyranny and has been thrilling and inspiring readers for hundreds of years.
This edition of the classic J. H. Jackson translation features a new preface and introduction by Edwin Lowe, which gives the history of the book and puts the story into perspective for modern readers. First translated into English by Pearl S. Buck in 1933 as All Men Are Brothers, the original edition of the J.H. Jackson translation appeared under the title The Water Margin in 1937. In this updated edition, Edwin Lowe addresses many of the shortcomings found in the original J.H. Jackson translation, and replaces the original grit and flavor of Shuihui Zhuan found in Chinese versions, including the sexual seduction, explicit descriptions of brutality and barbarity, and the profane voices of the thieving, scheming, drinking, fighting, pimping lower classes of Song Dynasty China. Similarly, the Chinese deities, Bodhisattvas, gods and demons have reclaimed their true names, as has the lecherous, over-sexed and ill-fated Ximen Qing. All of which was sanitized out when first published in 1937.
While Chinese in origin, the themes of The Water Margin are universal enough that it has served as a source of inspiration for numerous movies, television shows and video games up to the present day. less Marianne Bastid-BruguièreI’ve always been interested in Chinese attitudes towards life: towards what happens, the misfortunes of life, and how they handle life in their society. And I think that, although you get a lot of hard facts through the historical record, of course, in order to get the mood and to understand deeper you need to look into literature. The first novel I really like is The Water Margin. It’s one of... (Source)
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