Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The 14th-century novel The Water Margin/Outlaws of the Marsh/All Men Are
Brothers (Shuihu Zhuan) is, on the surface, an excellent tale of honourable
bandits and corrupt officials along the lines of the stories of Robin Hood. On a
deeper level, though, it is a reminder to Confucian officials of their right to rebel
when faced with a morally suspect government (at least one emperor officially
banned it).
Classical Chinese maintained its authority over literary minds until the early
20th century, when it increasingly came under the influence of the West.
Torch-bearing author Lu Xun wrote his short story Diary of a Madman in 1918.
Apart from the opening paragraph, Lu's seminal and shocking fable is written
in colloquial Chinese. For Lu Xun to write his short story in colloquial Chinese
was explosive, as readers were finally able to read language as it was spoken.
A growing number of contemporary voices have been translated into Eng-
lish, but far more exist in Chinese only. The 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature-win-
ner Mo Yan ( Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out ; 2008), Yu Hua ( To Live ;
1992) and Su Tong ( Rice ; 1995) have written momentous historical novels
set in the 20th century; all are excellent, though not for the faint of heart.
'Hooligan author' Wang Shuo ( Please Don't Call Me Human ; 2000) is one
of China's best-selling authors with his political satires and convincing depic-
tions of urban slackers. Emigre Ma Jian ( Red Dust ; 2004) writes more politic-
ally critical work; his debut was a Kerouacian tale of wandering China as a
spiritual pollutant in the 1980s.
Controversial blogger Han Han ( http://blog.sina.com.cn/twocold ) catapulted
himself into the literary spotlight with his novel Triple Door , a searing critique
of China's educational system.
Winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2010, Bi Feiyu's Three Sisters is a
poignant tale of rural China during the political chaos of the early 1970s. In
Northern Girls , Sheng Keyi illuminates the prejudices and bigotries of modern
Chinese society in her story of a Chinese girl arriving as an immigrant worker
in Shenzhen.
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