Well, since leaving Fuling I've been racing through several Chinese cities so this is a bit of a condensed update!
My first stop was Dongguang, with Leslie Chang's fascinating account of young female migrants who have left their village homes for the dubious benefits on offer from China's huge industrialised factories (some as big as towns themselves, with their own stores) that make anything from sports shoes to car parts. We follow the true ife accounts of several of these girls as they strive to make their way, find their identity and avoid the pitfalls of this huge urban sprawl where friendships are fleeting, working hours long and wages low.
We also hear a parallel story of Chino-American Chang's own family history that mirrors the experience of the girls' own hopes and fears in migrating to a strange city miles from home. Along the way Chang makes some telling points about the new found freedoms of China's rural youth and the impact upon the traditional Chinese way of life...
Next up was the wonderful novel 'The Ghost of Neil Diamond' by debut author David Milnes. Set in the underbelly of Hong Kong, this unique tale follws the (mis)fortunes of a washed-up 48-year old Neil Diamond impersonator desperately trying to make his way in an impersonal city of karaoke bars and chepa hotels, whilst dealing with shady promoters and disillusioned tribute acts along the way. A great tale that manages to be both tragic and comic in equal measures - and often at the same time - this was my first '5 star' novel in quite some time.
Macau's book - 'Ballad of a Small Player' by Lawrence Osborne, took a similar theme - though here the ashed-up Englishman abroad is an invererate gambler, posing as a Lord but actually frittering away the ill-gotten gains that we embezzled from an aged widow back in the UK - purposely seeking to lose his fortune in the many high and low-brow casinos that pepper Macau and its neighbouring Kowloon district. Whilst the gambler 'Lord Doyle' is not what he seems, neither are the mysterious young 'karaoke girl' that he meets or, indeed, the night-time gambling dens of Macau. All in all an good read tinged with an elegaic, vaguely supernatural, air.
Most recently I have been visiting Shanghai with 'Red Mandarin Dress' - a detective novel by Qui Xiaolong. This novel features Detective Inspector Chen and is part of an ongoing crime novel series featuring the policeman, who used a combination of psychoanalysis, classical literary theory and old-fashioned police work to solve his cases. The case in this instance revolves around a series of murders all involving young women who are found in public places wearing only a torn, old-fashioned red mandarin dress. Chen must untangle the mystery of the dress and follow the leads - is this the work of a lunatic or are their subtler, even politicial, motives here...
And so, I now travel on a remote village in the vast East-central plains of Henan Province with 'The Dream of Ding Village' courtesy of celebrated Chinese auther Yan Lianke. Whilst this work is presented as a novel it is based on actual events whereby villagers were coerced into selling vast quantities of blood and then infected with the AIDS virus as they were injected with plasma to prevent anaemia. Whole villages were wiped out in this way, with no responsibility taken or reparation made. ' The Dream of Ding Village' focuses on one village, and the story of one family, torn apart when one son rises to the top of the Party pile as he exploits the situation, while another is infected and dies. Narrated by the dead boy, the novel is still banned in China....
My first stop was Dongguang, with Leslie Chang's fascinating account of young female migrants who have left their village homes for the dubious benefits on offer from China's huge industrialised factories (some as big as towns themselves, with their own stores) that make anything from sports shoes to car parts. We follow the true ife accounts of several of these girls as they strive to make their way, find their identity and avoid the pitfalls of this huge urban sprawl where friendships are fleeting, working hours long and wages low.
We also hear a parallel story of Chino-American Chang's own family history that mirrors the experience of the girls' own hopes and fears in migrating to a strange city miles from home. Along the way Chang makes some telling points about the new found freedoms of China's rural youth and the impact upon the traditional Chinese way of life...
Next up was the wonderful novel 'The Ghost of Neil Diamond' by debut author David Milnes. Set in the underbelly of Hong Kong, this unique tale follws the (mis)fortunes of a washed-up 48-year old Neil Diamond impersonator desperately trying to make his way in an impersonal city of karaoke bars and chepa hotels, whilst dealing with shady promoters and disillusioned tribute acts along the way. A great tale that manages to be both tragic and comic in equal measures - and often at the same time - this was my first '5 star' novel in quite some time.
Macau's book - 'Ballad of a Small Player' by Lawrence Osborne, took a similar theme - though here the ashed-up Englishman abroad is an invererate gambler, posing as a Lord but actually frittering away the ill-gotten gains that we embezzled from an aged widow back in the UK - purposely seeking to lose his fortune in the many high and low-brow casinos that pepper Macau and its neighbouring Kowloon district. Whilst the gambler 'Lord Doyle' is not what he seems, neither are the mysterious young 'karaoke girl' that he meets or, indeed, the night-time gambling dens of Macau. All in all an good read tinged with an elegaic, vaguely supernatural, air.
Most recently I have been visiting Shanghai with 'Red Mandarin Dress' - a detective novel by Qui Xiaolong. This novel features Detective Inspector Chen and is part of an ongoing crime novel series featuring the policeman, who used a combination of psychoanalysis, classical literary theory and old-fashioned police work to solve his cases. The case in this instance revolves around a series of murders all involving young women who are found in public places wearing only a torn, old-fashioned red mandarin dress. Chen must untangle the mystery of the dress and follow the leads - is this the work of a lunatic or are their subtler, even politicial, motives here...
And so, I now travel on a remote village in the vast East-central plains of Henan Province with 'The Dream of Ding Village' courtesy of celebrated Chinese auther Yan Lianke. Whilst this work is presented as a novel it is based on actual events whereby villagers were coerced into selling vast quantities of blood and then infected with the AIDS virus as they were injected with plasma to prevent anaemia. Whole villages were wiped out in this way, with no responsibility taken or reparation made. ' The Dream of Ding Village' focuses on one village, and the story of one family, torn apart when one son rises to the top of the Party pile as he exploits the situation, while another is infected and dies. Narrated by the dead boy, the novel is still banned in China....
RSS Feed
