A concert exploring Kyrgyz musical traditions from past to present, curated by Mu Qian, who holds a PhD in ethnomusicology: The concert will include solo, duo, and trio performances drawn from traditional kuu, vocal works, revived repertoire, and new creations shaped by diasporic experience. Through shifting textures and instrumental combinations, the concert highlights both continuity … Continue reading NYC Jan 10 Event: Kyrgyz Music – from Yesterday to Today
Author: xumushi
Chinese-to-English literary translator. Interested in topics such as fiction by the non-Han peoples of China, storytelling by Altaic peoples, and Silk Road cultures.
“The Red Wind Howls”: Tibetan Novel makes China Books Review “Best of 2025”
Writes Alexander Boyd, Associate Editor, China Books Review: The Red Wind Howls is a banned historical novel about the cataclysms in the Tibetan region of Amdo under Mao Zedong. Structured as a diptych, we first follow three decades in the life of the delightfully despicable Alak Drong, a reincarnated lama corrupt in all ways imaginable, … Continue reading “The Red Wind Howls”: Tibetan Novel makes China Books Review “Best of 2025”
Documenting Uyghur Detention Camps in Fiction and Non-fiction
In "He Recorded China's Detention of Uyghurs. The U.S. Wants to Deport Him to Uganda," the New York Times (Dec 16, 2025) reports: In 2020, a Chinese citizen had heard reports about China’s mass detention and surveillance of Uyghurs. But he wanted to see if they were true for himself. So the citizen, Heng Guan, … Continue reading Documenting Uyghur Detention Camps in Fiction and Non-fiction
Foreign Language Editions of Chi Zijian’s “Last Quarter of the Moon”
《额尔古纳河右岸》的外文版 Current Translations of the Novel Arabic (الربع الأخير من القمر); Dutch (Het laatste kwartier van de maan, translated direct from my English version); English (Last Quarter of the Moon); Finnish (Poulikku); French (Le dernier quartier de lune); German (Das letzte Viertel des Mondes); Italian (Ultimo quarto di Luna); Japanese (アルグン川の右岸) ; Korean (《어얼구나 강의 … Continue reading Foreign Language Editions of Chi Zijian’s “Last Quarter of the Moon”
Launch: N American edition of “Last Quarter of the Moon”
More than a decade after my translation of the classic tale of the nomadic, reindeer-herding Evenki of northeast China, Last Quarter of the Moon (额尔古纳河右岸， 迟子建 著), Milkweed Editions --- an independent, non-profit literary publisher --- is launching a special edition targeting N America in January 2026. Previously published by Harvill Secker in the UK, … Continue reading Launch: N American edition of “Last Quarter of the Moon”
“Daughter of Dunhuang”: Fan Jinshi’s Biography Launched at Moscow Book Fair
The Russian version of the Dunhuang-based archaeologist Fan Jinshi’s biography, биография фань цзиньши сердце мое в дуньхуане , has just been officially launched at the 2025 Moscow Book Fair. This makes it the second foreign language edition to date; my translation of her《我心归处是敦煌》(Daughter of Dunhuang: Memoir of a Mogao Grottoes Researcher) was published in 2024. … Continue reading “Daughter of Dunhuang”: Fan Jinshi’s Biography Launched at Moscow Book Fair
Shanghai Baby — Looking Back
In Never again Crazy like Wei Hui, popular novelist Zhang Yueran interviews the author -- now a therapist -- of that naughty, banned-in-China-at-the-turn-of-the-century novel, Shanghai Baby: Zhang Yueran: Can you talk about your early works? There's a lot in there that's incredibly valuable. Zhou Weihui: They can't be all bad, I suppose, but they aren't … Continue reading Shanghai Baby — Looking Back
What We’re Reading Now: Men and Gods of Mongolia
The difference between Camelus Dromedarius, the single-humped camel, and Camelus Bactrianus, the two-humped camel, is so fundamental that, as regards their habit of life and performance, they are no more to be confused than a team of Arctic dogs and a pack of Australian dingos. (Men and Gods of Mongolia, published in 1935 by Danish … Continue reading What We’re Reading Now: Men and Gods of Mongolia
Ikram Nurmehmet: Travails of Uyghur cinematography in the People’s Paradise
In Balancing What Can Be Said with What Can Only Be Implied, Shelly Kraicer explores the cinematic themes of young Uyghur filmmaker Ikram Nurmehmet, imprisoned in Xinjiang since 2023, likely due to having studied in Turkey: It is always difficult for what China calls “ethnic minority” (i.e. non-Han Chinese) filmmakers to make the films they … Continue reading Ikram Nurmehmet: Travails of Uyghur cinematography in the People’s Paradise
Trilingual Links to Writing by Xinjiang’s Liu Liangcheng (刘亮程)
Jun Liu and I have completed our translation of a novel, 凿空, by Liu Liangcheng, a Han author born and bred in the part of northwest China that borders on Central Asia. The novel’s working title is The Audible Annals of Abudan, but the Chinese title can be rendered as “Hollowed Out.” Ms. Yvonne Wang … Continue reading Trilingual Links to Writing by Xinjiang’s Liu Liangcheng (刘亮程)
Ethnic ChinaLit 