Overview
What good is a town without people? Wu Township is hollowing out. Our most capable sons and daughters have long since uprooted from their birthplace on the central plains to fuel China's economic miracle. The ancient trees now sit in the shade of a modern aqueduct, funnelling even our precious water to the metropolises beyond. From the marketplace where gossip is traded to the long-abandoned execution grounds, ordinary life carries on. For we who remain, feuds between neighbours compound the burdens shared by increasingly ageing shoulders. But If you know where to look, you'll find the town still clings to its customs and dreams. Let me show you around. If we're lucky, we'll run into the benevolent doctor or beauty store owner, and if we're not, the corrupt local official, perhaps even the souls of executed ancestors. Why do you want to visit? To see it before it's all gone... of course.
Full Product Details
Author: Liang Hong
Publisher: ACA Publishing Limited
Imprint: Sinoist Books
ISBN: 9781838905613
ISBN 10: 1838905618
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 28 July 2023
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
"Praise for the author;“Speaks to universal challenges, problems facing not just Chinese villages but also alienated communities around the world."" - Ian Johnson, New York Times;“It is in these stories that the universality of people’s hopes, fears and frustrations really shines through.” - Jo Lateu, New Internationalist; “Stunningly insightful… What makes Liang’s study so compelling is the way in which it offers a glimpse of a world in which personal problems … exist on the same level as broader social and political problems.” Mark Rappolt, ArtReview"
Author Information
Liang Hong (b.1973) is a writer, essayist and professor at Renmin University of China. Growing up in a village in rural China, Liang Hong's talent and work ethic drove her to pursue writing and academia in the city; however, it is her determination to hold on to the memories of her rural upbringing that sets her apart from the crowd. Narrativising rural China, she has been heralded by critics as a trailblazer, focusing on the lives of ordinary rural people and exploring something other than the metropolis. In addition to her novels, Liang is also a prolific writer of short stories and literary criticism. She has won a number of prizes, including the Seventh Wenjin Books Award of the National Library of China and the Second Zhu Ziqing Prose award.
