I am looking for a good fiction book set in China against the backdrop of the communist regime and other social/cultural changes over the last 50 years. Any recommendations? Has anyone read books by the author Ha Jin and what do you think of them?
Thanks
2006-09-24 08:32:48 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Wild Swans - Three women of China is fabulous. The biogrpahy of a grandmother who was the concubine of a warlord, her daughter who became a communist party official, and the granddaughter who was a red guard and then escaped China to become a writer in England. Terrific. When I showed it to a friend of mine who grew up in Shanghai in the 1960s and 70s, she said "This is everyone's story!"
2006-09-24 08:36:35 · answer #1 · answered by matt 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Chen Ruoxi, THE EXEECUTION OF MAYOR YIN AND OTHER STORIES FROM THE GREAT PROLETARIAN CULTURAL REVOLUTION.
Dai Sijie. BALZAC AND THE LITTLE CHINESE PRINCESS
Mo Yan, SHIFU YOU'LL DO ANYTING FOR A LAUGH
Han Shaogong, A DICTIONARY OF MAQIAO
All of these are "literary fiction;" MAYOR YIN is the most accessible.
For something more popular, try the detective fiction of Qiu Xialong, particularly A LOYAL CHARACTER DANCER.
All in all, for life in China during the Cultural Revolution, I'd recommend MAYOR YIN.
2006-09-24 12:20:15 · answer #2 · answered by o41655 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
May be stretching the 50-year window, but you really can't beat Pearl Buck (of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, near where I grew up) for stories of China.
2006-09-24 09:55:38 · answer #3 · answered by auntb93again 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan ( or the Kitchen God's Wife)
2006-09-24 10:40:15 · answer #4 · answered by bunny 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't submit to Cole Talent Agency - Merced, Ca. FRAUDS!
2006-09-24 09:44:37 · answer #5 · answered by coletalentagencysucks 1 · 2⤊ 1⤋