Search results for ""author wang jiren""

The 17-Year-Old Hussars is a collection of two short novels about the coming of age for teenagers in rapidly-changing 20th century China.The teens depicted in the first part of the collection, The Seventeen-Year-Old Hussars, were the first lost generation of China as the country went through the biggest social revolution in modern history. Lucky to have missed the tumultuous Cultural Revolution days when the old value system had been castigated as feudal and retrogressive and when most of the schools were closed and only the selected few were allowed college education, they were nevertheless condemned to grow up in a virtual moral vacuum. Unable to get into college-tracked key high schools, they entered career-tracked technical schools, but the 40 "hussars" were still considered semi-losers, because their secured future employment would also doom them to a relatively low social status. You could almost feel the angst and pain of these foul-mouthed teenagers and their sense of loss through their rebellious behaviors and escapades. In contrast to the northern-most Chinese province Jilin, a rather unsophisticated location where the first collection took place, the second part Keep Running, Little Brother was set in Shanghai, the most cosmopolitan city of China. The locals with material wealth unmatched by the rest of the nation take their privileged status as a given and have a natural suspicion of all others who struggle to share this prosperity. The protagonist growing up in a rather well-to-do family, had to struggle to overcome his inner demons, to turn his life around. His was not a struggle for survival, as with the less fortunate ones, but a struggle more akin to someone who suffered from "affluenza," a social disease more prevalent not only among the young, but also among the old.

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In this collection of Chinese short stories by prize-winning author, Jin Yucheng, the past experiences of the leading characters act as heavy shadows in their present-day lives. The development of the story-plots and complex ideas of these characters are interwoven with one another like riddles. The leading characters tirelessly explore the significance of life in the changing era and in their own life experiences. The SpecimensMy old friend Xiaohan was put behind bars for opening the mail of others. His wife Heiti thought that he had died, which was why she didn''t come to see him in jail. Not long ago, a public document from a stranger reached my mailbox. Could this be related to Xiaohan? Using the return address from the public document, Heiti and I went there to look into it.A Nest of Nine BoxesFor dozens of years, the grandmother had been chiseling the wall and digging into the ground. She was looking for things that her husband may have hidde

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This collection of five stories by celebrated contemporary Chinese novelist Pan Xiangli, gives a rich look into the lives of cosmopolitan women living in modern China.Pan's heroines exhibit strength of character, sense of humor, and integrity while retaining their grace, beauty, and feminine style. In love, they need no fairy tales. These women let go of traditional ideals while holding true to their individual desires and expectations. They dare to pursue love on their own terms, all the while maneuvering the changing landscape of work, lifestyle, and the city. Pan Xiangli writes with a keen eye towards the lifestyle, mindset, and cultural values of the modern Chinese woman. Her characters assert their womanly beauty as defined by confidence, willingness to face challenges, and the self-assuredness to pursue happiness—all while being stylish and charming. Her colorful portraits will no doubt leave a lasting impression on the reader.The Way of Her FragranesIn The Way of Her Fragrance, Li Sijin is a 30-something, lively, and successful deputy managing editor of Shanghais newspaper, The City Intelligencer. While her relentless passion and professionalism make her a star at the news bureau, her admiration for her boss Luo Yi and her personal sense of right and wrong often get the best of her. What will it take for Li Sijin to be true to herself and to find fulfilling happiness? White MicheliaThe young and sprightly Xu Yi has been assigned to attend her first writer's conference. There, she meets Ji Mengbei, who is intrigued by Xu Yi's simple serenity. In White Michelia, the two engage in a cautious, playful dance against the backdrop of their own experiences and anticipations. A Miracle Rides In on a SleighIn A Miracle Rides In on a Sleigh, a woman ponders her simple life as a housewife. She is content, well loved, and very comfortable. But she wonders about choice and possibilities of the past, present, and the future. Then one Christmas day, she finds out. Lady BossHan Xiaoyan works for the glamorous and successful Zhong Keming, who seems to have it all. But Han quickly learns that, behind every confident woman, life stories are complicated. As Han navigates some big decisions in her own life, her Lady Boss becomes a witness and an unexpected confidante. Listen to the NightA phone call catches "Miss Dream" off guard as she is taken on an unexpected journey to rediscover her past. The voice on the other end of the line goes alongside her as she slowly allows herself to face her present reality without giving up her memory of what was once true. In Listen to the Night, they both learn what it means to live in the present and to thrive after love and loss.

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A suspense writer comes upon several murder stories on his computer that are written in his own unique style. He doesn't remember writing them, but it is not impossible for him, as a man who suffered memory loss, to be their author. Soon a journey takes him to northwest China along the ancient Silk Road. He is shocked to learn that the murders in the stories really happened in cities he visits. The horrific crimes were committed in the years when he lost his memory, but none of them have been solved. Did the best-selling writer ever kill? Are those murder stories accurate records of what he did?

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In this anthology by one of China's rising female authors, the philosophical concept of cause and effect is the main theme that echoes throughout this series of four Chinese novellas. In The Night of Rammusen an orphaned young woman explains the tragic demise of her beloved childhood friend in a written letter to her lover, weaving a heartbreaking tale of loyalty and betrayal. In The Trilogy, the reader is literally treated to three short stories, beginning with a ring so unique that it survives a cremation to be handed down from one owner to the next, cursing each life it touches. Next, we meet a young widow haunted by a cat from her childhood, and lastly, the changes of a little village forces one family to exhume the body of their dead relative to turn him into ashes. In There Is No If, Su De examines the lives of four flawed characters and their entwined destiny as a result of their actions. Finally, Consequences is the first of a two-part story about Daughter Three and her quest to find out where she came from and what and who caused her to be.

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In this contemporary Chinese novel, a family opera performers struggles to remain true to each other and their art as they are buffeted by political turmoil and personal drama.The eventful lives of three generations of outstanding Chinese opera performers form the framework of Behind the Singing Masks, a story of turmoil and resolution, both personal and political.Xie Yingge, a celebrated dan actor of Yue Ju (also known as Shaoxing Opera), grew up and thrived in an environment alive with music. But just as she and her art form were at their zenith in the 1960s, the Cultural Revolution arrived to tear them down. After the decade-long turmoil, as Xie Yingge was poised to revive her career, a stroke forced her to leave the stage for good. To perpetuate the stage persona she had devoted her life to creating, she directed, with the complicity of her younger sister and her stage partner, a play of masks that lasted sixteen years.Was it life imitating art or art imitating life? This engaging story of human frailties, magnified by political movements, is marked by betrayal but also dedication, both to loved ones and to art.

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This award-winning novel, by one of China's most prolific contemporary writers focuses on a middle-class family in near contemporary Shanghai and deals with themes that transcend time and place: family relationships and growing old.Retired nurse Ling Deqing is astonished one day to find her long divorced 80-year-old husband, Xiao Zichen, standing on the doorstep. Following the death of his second wife, he has found his way back to his first home in a fit of absent-mindedness, a sign of the onset of dementia. Reluctant at first, Ling Deqing eventually takes him back to ease the burden on her daughter, Xiao Ying.In Memory and Oblivion, the larger world disappears into the day-to-day problems of caring for a person with Alzheimer's. But within those problems, Ling Deqing discovers the beauty of family relationships, brought into sharp clarity against the backdrop of oblivion caused by Alzheimer's.

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This book of contemporary Chinese literature contains two separate novellas, Calling Back the Spirit of the Dead and The Boarder by one of China's most prolific writers.Calling Back the Spirit of the DeadIn this story of intrigue and heartbreak, Peng Ruigao takes the reader into the heart of a small town and peels away the layers of deceit and corruption that have been surrounding many of its residents. In the middle of the night, Ah Peng is called into the town offices and told of the sudden death of Deputy Town Chief Wei Shouyi. The mysterious death shakes up not only the town offices, but Party headquarters as well. Ah Peng slowly unravels the strange events surrounding this mysterious death of his best friend and colleague and exposes the complexity of the relationships that have been simmering just below the surface of this small town. Betrayal, corruption and romance all have a place in this well-paced, beautifully described yet constantly surprising story. As he unearths more and more details of the events surrounding and preceding his colleague's death, Ah Peng discovers that his own past has been subjected to the forces of jealousy and treachery as well and that neither events nor people are what they seem. An artfully calibrated mystery, this story draws the reader in and keeps surprising through until the very end. The BoarderPeng Ruigao's prose set the tone perfectly for a tale of hardship and perseverance in the Huanglou Township Secondary School. The school's students must contend with the difficulty not just of being far from home, but of the terrible shortage of food they suffer as a consequence of famine in the country. Amongst the students of Class 6 of the ninth grade, a bully named Liu Tingsong slowly contaminates the lives and relationships of the other children at the school as he pushes them to the brink of despair. The gentle Ma Xiaolong is subjected to persecution because of his parents' deeds and political affiliations by staff at the school, while others have their misbehavior overlooked as their parents are in positions of influence. His suffering is alleviated in tender moments of attention from the delicate and kind-hearted Luo Zhaoying who sacrifices whatever she can to help him along. Underneath the cruel behavior of the students there is a glimmer of hope in the loyalty and kindness shown through tiny acts of generosity, loyalty and tenderness, which sustain them through very difficult times. These moments provide respite and redemption from the injustice the students have to endure not just at the hands of their teachers, but the other students as well. In a moving and lyrical tone, Peng Ruigao's beautiful and haunting descriptions bring to life a very difficult time not only in the children's lives, but in China's history.

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