As I announced recently, my translation of Chi Zijian’s Last Quarter of the Moon has been launched for a North American readership by Milkweed Editions.
More aptly entitled Right Bank of the Argun in Chinese – after the tributary of the Amur that marks the boundary between Russia and northeastern-most China – the novel is a moving tale of the 20th-century decline of reindeer-herding nomads in the sparsely populated, richly forested mountains of Inner Mongolia.
Over the last three centuries, three waves of outsiders have encroached upon the Evenki’s isolated way of life: the Russians, whose warring and plundering eventually pushed the Evenki down from Siberia southward of the Argun River; the Japanese, who forcibly recruit their men into the ranks of the Manchukuo Army; and the Han Chinese of the People’s Republic, who fell the forests that are crucial to the survival of reindeer, outlaw hunting, and eventually coerce the Evenki to leave the mountains for life in a “civilized” permanent settlement.
Readers might be wondering: What happened to the real-life Aoluguya Evenki after they were resettled outside Genhe, Inner Mongolia, at the turn of the 21st century?
If you’d like to know, visit Melting Away: In China’s Far North, a Once Proud Tradition of Reindeer herding Breathes its Last.
This thoroughly researched essay is amply illustrated in color and includes some rather disturbing footage as well. About as close to investigative reportage as one can get in the Xi Jinping Era. Very powerful.
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