In How a Lone Ghanaian Cartoonist Stood up to China just published in Quartz Africa, freelance journalist Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu profiles a young artist who has emerged as a thorn in the side of China as it works overtime to forge a friendly, ‘win-win’ image for itself as a partner to African business. Earlier this … Continue reading Cartoonist Takes the Mickey out of China’s Africa Grab
Sichuan Hua (四川话) sounds like a remote mountain primate attempting rap-opera (As uttered by rock musician and peripatetic travel writer 小飞, aka Thomas Bird)
纸托邦网站 （Paper Republic）最近采访了我 (话语权还给少数民族作家 ): 纸托邦：你怎么注意到郭雪波写的小说《蒙古里亚》？ Bruce Humes (徐穆实): 几年以来，为了我的博客 “Ethnic ChinaLit”，我习惯了关注新推出来的 “民族题材”的作品。经常到我所在地的书店（主要是深圳，后来是昆 明）逛一逛，看到少数民族新出的虚构文学作品，就买来看看。有时写书评，有时翻译一章节选，发表在博客上。目的是引起海外采购编辑、文学代理商和出版人的兴趣。 我翻译的迟子建的小说《额尔古纳河右岸》（Last Quarter of the Moon）出版了之后 （2013 年），我开始转型，即不再注意汉族写 “他者” 的故事，而专注少数民族写关于自己民族的作品。2014 年从土耳其回中国，我对北方边界讲阿尔泰语的民族，例如维吾尔族和蒙古人，给予了特别的关注。其实，能用流利的中文写小说的少数民族作家并不太多，所以有关的出版消息比较容易被我发现。 我购买《蒙古里亚》的具体理由我记不清了。可能是我读了冉平的《蒙古往事》 ，得知他 --- 还有不少 “蒙古历史专家” --- 不会蒙古文的时候，我就开始寻找蒙古作家，想聆听他们的心声。当时应该是我听说郭雪波是地地道道的蒙古人，从小说蒙古语，促使我找他的作品。 全采访内容，请点击这里 我翻译《蒙古里亚》的英文节选在这里。
Authorities in the capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region have banned the sale of books by an ethnic Uyghur who served as the region’s first chairman, reports Radio Free Asia (Ban): Observers said the ban — part of an internal party order issued in April last year, but only recently learned of by RFA’s … Continue reading Censorship in Xinjiang: Books by former Chairman of the Region are Banned
A South African investigative journalist’s The President’s Keepers — documenting the ‘cancerous cabal’ that is reportedly bankrolling Jacob Zuma’s presidency — has become a best-seller even as the state moves to ban it. According to a report in Quartz Africa (Jacob Zuma’s corruption scandals are getting South Africans to read again), the State Security Agency … Continue reading 非漂出版专讯: 2017.11 AfroLit4China Newsbriefs
The long awaited second volume of Nelson Mandela’s memoirs — Dare not Linger — has just been published. Left unfinished at his death, it has been completed by South African writer Mandla Langa, who reportedly worked from the partial draft, Mandela’s own notes and private archives. I am interested because I’d like to know if it … Continue reading Mandela: “Dare Not Linger” Launched in English, as Weibo Bans Search in Chinese
. . . I began thinking one of literature’s tasks was to give voices to the voiceless, and to humanize people . . . so my first book of stories, The Refugees, worked exactly in that register, trying to humanize the Vietnamese people. But eventually I realized that this was a task that was doomed … Continue reading 非漂 [Fēi Piāo] Quote of the Week: “An Expanded Capacity for Empathy”
Believe it or not, China imports more from Africa than just oil, diamonds and exotic parts of endangered species to maximize male, erh, performance (壮阳). Fiction writing, for instance. According to my newly updated mini-database of African literature in translation — 非洲文学 : 中文译本 — there are almost 100 contemporary African works (mainly novels) now … Continue reading African Fiction: Exports to China on the Rise in 2017
First enfeoffed by Qing Emperor Qianlong in 1758, this Uyghur dynasty in northeastern Xinjiang eventually boasted a line of eleven monarchs, popularly known as the “King of Kuqa” (库车王). Kuqa was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located on the branch of the Silk Road that ran along the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, but to … Continue reading Last King of Kuqa: Uyghur Author Patigül Launches her Xinjiang Historical Novel
As part of the global One Belt, One Road publicity campaign, China's media is publishing a bevy of articles introducing major oasis cities along the ancient Silk Road, including this one focusing on Xinjiang's Aksu (一带一路上的阿克苏: 新型全球化的城市样本). Here's a pic from the article, showing modern-day Aksu residents dancing.
Ethnic ChinaLit 