China media’s recent high-profile reportage of the launch of volume one of the first-ever bilingual version of King Yalu (亚鲁王), a Miao historical epic passed down orally, has been labelled “unscientific” (媒体对 《亚鲁王》报道不科学) by an academic whose views carry weight. Traditionally sung over several days at a funeral, King Yalu is the story of war, defeat … Continue reading Scholar Critiques Media Coverage of Newly Published Miao Classic “King Yalu”
Category: China’s Ethnic-themed Writing from the Southwest (华南民族题材文学)
“Butterfly Mother” and “Dragon-Eagles”: Processing Folklore in Southwest China
In the latest edition of Oral Tradition (Processing Epics), Mark Bender explores—via highly readable notes on his field-work—how the Miao myth-epic Mai Bang (Butterfly Mother) and the Nuosu’s creation-epic Dragon-Eagles have gradually been rendered in written form: My title also contains the word “processing”—and by that I mean the process through which traditional texts are performed … Continue reading “Butterfly Mother” and “Dragon-Eagles”: Processing Folklore in Southwest China
Hani Author Cun Wenxue: Questioning Value of Made-in-China Modernity
In An Author Who Confronts our Demons, Liu Jun (刘浚) highlights the writing of a contemporary Hani (哈尼族) author: Yunnan writer Cun Wenxue [存文学] grabs readers by the throat and thrusts them into the mountain-locked life of the Lisu people [傈僳族] on page one of his novel Biluo Snow Mountain [碧洛雪山]. No wonder a film … Continue reading Hani Author Cun Wenxue: Questioning Value of Made-in-China Modernity
“Bisezhai Village” (碧色寨): Chronicling the Collision of Cultures behind the Building of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railroad
Kunming-based Fan Wen (范稳), author of a trilogy set on the border of Yunnan and Tibet, has launched a new novel exploring the history of the Yunnan-Vietnam railway that linked Haiphong with Kunming in 1910. Bisezhai Village (碧色寨) portrays the clash of cultures between the French, then colonial masters of Indochina just south of Yunnan and the … Continue reading “Bisezhai Village” (碧色寨): Chronicling the Collision of Cultures behind the Building of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railroad
“Canticle to the Land:” Named One of Top Ten Books of the Year by “China Reading Weekly”
The last novel in Fan Wen's Yunnan-Tibetan trilogy, Canticle to the Land (大地雅歌), has been designated as one of the top ten Chinese books published in 2010 by China Reading Weekly (中华读书报), an influential B2B publication serving China's publishing industry. To learn more about this novel, visit: The Creation Story: An English-language excerpt from Canticle to … Continue reading “Canticle to the Land:” Named One of Top Ten Books of the Year by “China Reading Weekly”
Fan Wen: New Novel to Explore Culture Clash behind Kunming-Haiphong
Fan Wen (范稳), the Chinese Catholic author who recently completed his fictional trilogy spotlighting cultural and religious collisions in the "multicultural wonderland" of the Yunnan-Tibet border, now has another historical novel in mind, 碧色寨 (Bisezhai Station). The first book in the published series, Harmonious Land (水乳大地), recounts the tale of a multi-ethnic settlement in Lancangjiang Canyon … Continue reading Fan Wen: New Novel to Explore Culture Clash behind Kunming-Haiphong
Fan Wen’s Yunnan-Tibetan Trilogy: A Catholic Chinese Author’s Imagination Takes Flight
The China Daily features a piece on the third and final novel in a trilogy exploring the border on either side of Yunnan and Tibet: At last author Fan Wen (范稳) has his reward for a decade of immersion in the multicultural wonderland along the Yunnan-Tibet border: Canticle to the Land (大地雅歌), the closing novel … Continue reading Fan Wen’s Yunnan-Tibetan Trilogy: A Catholic Chinese Author’s Imagination Takes Flight
Interview with China Novelist Fan Wen: A Century of Cultural Collisions in Shangri-la
Shuiru Dadi tells the tale of a multi-ethnic settlement in Lancangjiang Canyon—Gateway to Tibet—beset by battles between arrogant French Catholic missionaries, incompetent Han officials and their marauding troops, Naxi Dongba Shamanists, and the dominant Tibetans, not all of whom lead pacific, vegetarian lives in the local lamasery. The saga spans most of the 20th century, hopping … Continue reading Interview with China Novelist Fan Wen: A Century of Cultural Collisions in Shangri-la
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