For several years after I arrived in China, I was treated like the “Other,” constantly quizzed on my nationality, what my compatriots ate for breakfast and my impressions of China. When visiting small towns or the countryside, at times I was ogled, which made me feel I was somehow, well, odd. That was a new … Continue reading Backgrounder: Contemporary Ethnic-themed Fiction out of China
Category: China’s Ethnic-themed Fiction (中国民族题材文学)
Reclaiming the Evenki Narrative: Last Shaman’s Daughter Tells her People’s 20th-century Tale
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
Altaic Storytelling: What We’re Reading Now (2016.4.12)
Just started 冬牧场 (lit, winter pasture) by Li Juan. In 2010, she was commissioned to live with a Kazakh family as they herded their camels, sheep and horses deep into the desert of southern Altay where they traditionally graze during the bitterly cold winter. Her job: To document the little known, semi-nomadic lifestyle of Xinjiang's Kazakh … Continue reading Altaic Storytelling: What We’re Reading Now (2016.4.12)
List: Modern China-based Evenki Authors & Their Published Works
* 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
Quick Guide to China’s Contemporary Ethnic-themed Literature in Translation
Updated: May 3, 2018 (No plans to further update) Quick Guide to China’s Contemporary Ethnic-themed Literature in Translation I’m often too busy to immediately write a well-researched post about contemporary “ethnic-themed” fiction that has been translated and published in a foreign tongue. This is a loose category (民族题材文学) that includes stories — regardless of the … Continue reading Quick Guide to China’s Contemporary Ethnic-themed Literature in Translation
Excerpt: Hong Ke’s Xinjiang novel, “Urho”
Hong Ke's novel, Urho (乌尔禾, 红柯著), is set during the 1960s in the Zungharian Basin at the edge of the Gurbantünggüt Desert. This remote and rugged area of Xinjiang was once a favored hunting ground for the Mongol Khans when they ruled Cathay. A Han soldier back from the Korean front --- dubbed “Hailibu” by … Continue reading Excerpt: Hong Ke’s Xinjiang novel, “Urho”
“Funeral of a Muslim”: Sales Top 3m, TV Series in the Pipeline
Sales of Funeral of a Muslim (穆斯林的葬礼, 霍达著), Huo Da’s classic saga of a Hui family in Beijing that spans the turbulent years of the Japanese invasion, World War II and part of the Cultural Revolution, have now topped three million copies, according to a press conference held in the capital on September 11 (突破). This arguably makes … Continue reading “Funeral of a Muslim”: Sales Top 3m, TV Series in the Pipeline
“Last Quarter of the Moon”: Evenki Odyssey Captured in Chinese Novel Set in the Greater Khingan Mountains
My translation of Chi Zijian’s Last Quarter of the Moon (额尔古纳河右岸) can be ordered — e-book, hard cover and paperback — online at various places, including Amazon. Read the opening for free here (click on the cover), or the author’s Afterword. For information on other editions, see: Dutch (Het laatste kwartier van de maan), French, Italian … Continue reading “Last Quarter of the Moon”: Evenki Odyssey Captured in Chinese Novel Set in the Greater Khingan Mountains
Documenting Folk Songs of Yunnan’s Bai People in Multilingual Format
Chinese Ethnic Minority Oral Traditions: A Recovered Text of Bai Folk Songs, a new work in the Cambria Sinophone World Series, was published recently. A brief backgrounder on how it came into being: In 1958 while conducting fieldwork in Yunnan, a professor came across a rice paper booklet with strange script created from Chinese characters. … Continue reading Documenting Folk Songs of Yunnan’s Bai People in Multilingual Format
“Customs of Zhuang People”
The book “Customs of Zhuang People” describes a remote village where people feel more comfortable singing to stranger than talking to them. So if you got lost in the mountains, you are better off singing your inquiries if you want to get directions from the locals. 『壯族風情錄』裡說，在壯山裡問路，要用唱的人家才回答你。 這不是為難人嗎？ 我好不容易背了簡單的句子問路。這麼看來，練說的不夠，要練唱！ 所以，我寫了首相見歌，等我壯文再多學點，可以用壯文來唱。 Visit Song of Reunion 相见歌 for full text by Chilin … Continue reading “Customs of Zhuang People”
Ethnic ChinaLit 