As of July 7, 2022, Penguin is launching a collection of novels "to change the way we think about — and act upon — the most urgent story of our times: the climate crisis": " VINTAGE EARTH is a collection of novels to transform our relationship with the natural world. Each one is a work of creative activism, a … Continue reading Last Quarter of the Moon: Re-launching as One of 8 Novels in “Eco-fiction” Genre
Chi Zijian's Last Quarter of the Moon 《额尔古纳河右岸》(迟子建著) A Multilingual List of Translations, Book Reviews, Academic Papers & Related Info 《额尔古纳河右岸》: Translations of the Novel Arabic (الربع الأخير من القمر); Dutch (Het laatste kwartier van de maan, translated direct from my English version); English (LastQuarter of the Moon); French (Le dernier quartier delune); German (Das … Continue reading Guide to Related Links: Chi Zijian’s “Last Quarter of the Moon” (额尔古纳河右岸)
With the upcoming launch of Ett brokigt band om renens horn, we have a rare instance of a member of China’s dwindling reindeer-herding Evenki telling her people’s story in a European language. Given the historic marginalization of Scandinavia’s own semi-nomadic reindeer-herders, the Sami, it is particularly significant to see that the first translation of the … Continue reading Swedish Readers to Get First Glance into World of China’s Marginalized Reindeer Herders
There are only 30,000 or so Evenki (鄂温克族) on the Chinese side of the Sino-Russian border. But this Tungusic-speaking, reindeer-herding people — particularly the group known as the Aoluguya Evenki — has been the subject of several award-winning documentaries and even a novel that won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2008. According to an … Continue reading Reclaiming the Evenki Narrative: Last Shaman’s Daughter Tells her People’s 20th-century Tale
* Under Construction * Modern China-based Evenki Authors & Their Published Works This list is based mainly on authors published in 2015 in 《新时期中国少数民族文学作品选集·鄂温克族卷》(lit, Selected Fiction by Ethnic Minority Writers in the New Period, Evenki Volume, at left), but I've added in many of their other published short stories and novels. All links are to … Continue reading List: Modern China-based Evenki Authors & Their Published Works
Three separate volumes of fiction in Chinese have just been published featuring the works of writers of three ethnic groups that have traditionally inhabited northeastern China and even further north in Siberia: the Daur, Evenki and Oroqen (Elunchun). This is of interest because unlike ethnic groups like the Tibetans, Uyhgurs or Mongolians, none of the … Continue reading Fiction Collections from Daur, Evenki and Oroqen Writers Launched
Among one of the first batches of young Orochen (鄂伦春) chosen to receive a formal Chinese-language education in Zhalantun in 1948, E’erdenggua (额尔登挂) was just 17 at the time. She had never been outside her village on the banks of Chuo’er River (绰尔河畔) in Inner Mongolia, and didn’t speak a word of Chinese. Now 84, … Continue reading Profile of Octogenarian Orochen: Folk Song Singer, Folk Tale and Dictionary Compiler
I grew up in places with names like "Winnetka" and "Sewickley," spellings no doubt based on mangled transliterations of old, even ancient Native American words. I vaguely recall that Sewickley meant "sweet water," but no one seemed sure. How many cities, mountains and rivers in China, I wondered, hide their non-Han origins? Evenki Mountain Name … Continue reading “Last Quarter of the Moon”: Evenki Place Names behind the Hànzì
Inner Mongolia has just passed a law aimed at protecting the culture of the Elunchun (鄂伦春), also known as the Oroqen, according to an item republished at Chinawriter.com.cn (鄂伦春传统文化). Like the Evenki portrayed in Chi Zijian’s Last Quarter of the Moon, the Oroqen speak a Tungusic tongue, and their population has markedly declined since the … Continue reading Inner Mongolia: Tardy Legal Move to Protect Oroqen Culture it Once Suppressed
Ever since I completed my translation of Han author Chi Zijian’s Last Quarter of the Moon, set in the Greater Khingan Range (大兴安岭) that divides the Manchurian plain of northeastern China from the Mongolian Plateau of Inner Mongolia, I’ve been wondering: How would one of the indigenous nomadic peoples, an Evenki, Oroqen or Daur for … Continue reading “Duobukuer River”: Daur Writer Paints Brighter Future of One Who Left the Greater Khingan Range Behind
Ethnic ChinaLit 