With all the Great Leap Forward books I’ve been reading, I thought I’d take a break and try something contemporary. So last week I picked up Yan Lianke’s Dream of Ding Village (Grove Press, 2011), which has been listed as a finalist for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize.
Several weeks ago I read and enjoyed Yan’s novel, Serve the People (Grove Press, 2008). What stood out in both these novels was Yan’s ability to depict love stories in times of crisis. Serve the People takes place during the Cultural Revolution while Dream of Ding Village is set in the present. But Dream could have been written about the Great Leap Forward. The story is a present day version of the helplessness from back then.
The narrator is Ding Qiang, a deceased 12 year old boy from rural Henan province. The boy dies after some villagers poison him to get back at his father, Ding Hui, an entrepreneur who made a fortune on the sale of his fellow villagers’ blood.
Not only does Ding Hui profit from the blood sales–which result in an HIV/AIDS epidemic–but he also intercepts the free coffins the government aims to provide villagers who die from AIDS, and sells them at a profit. Ding Hui finds yet another venture to profit off the dead. In the end, he’s risen in the government and is wealthier than anyone else in that area.
Ding Hui’s brother, simply named Uncle, contracts HIV in his thirties. His wife leaves him, so rather than suffering alone, he starts an affair with a young woman who also has HIV and is abandoned by her husband. But since Uncle and Lingling are still married to other people, the villagers frown upon their affair. They move in together and later marry. Uncle and Lingling’s relationship is my favorite part of the book.
As you can imagine, the residents of Ding Village don’t fare well. Grandpa, or Ding Shuiyang, is the hero of the story and quite a sympathetic character.
While reading Dream of Ding Village, I could picture the same scenario set some forty years earlier as cadres profited while peasants whittled away to nothing.
Yan Lianke’s books are by and large banned in China. This one is no exception.
I don’t like reading negative books, whether they are set in China or another country. But the cover of “Dream of Ding Village” is artistically pretty. The only English books that I know that are set in contemporary Urban China are by
http://www.qiuxiaolong.com
I didn’t read his books, but they got good reviews by readers.
I’m also searching something contemporary or inspirational through Westerners’ eyes, fictional or non-fictional; or something good and positive translated by native speakers of English; hopefully some stories about the city/white-collar life in modern China…I’m teaching adults English free of charge in my community at my spare time. I wish I could find some good books for me and them. I have read enough English-language books on old China, backward countryside and Cultural Revolution. I wish I could find something fresh…it seems that all the English-language bestsellers on China are all about the dark side of China…
Thanks for your comment! Have you read Xu Ruiyan’s novel, The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai? It’s an endearing story about a Shanghai businessman who loses his memory and can no longer speak Chinese. He’s upper class and has a posh apartment, pretty wife, and guai son. I also liked Nicole Mones’ novel, Lost in Translation, which has nothing to do with the Sofia Coppola film and was published way before the film came out. It’s about a modern-day Beijing chef who is a descendant of a great Chinese chef during the last years of the Qing dynasty.
Susan, thanks for your recommendation. It’s a coincidence that I ordered Lost in Translation, Repeat after Me and The Good Women of China for my Chinese New Year holidays reading; they arrived just in time thanks to Amazon China. I also enjoyed reading Peter Hessler’s Country Driving—one-third of this book tells stories of a factory in Lishui city where my wife hails from…I’m now reading the book description of Xu Ruiyan’s novel; I think I will like it. Thanks again!
How about (and I’m not making this up) “101 Silly Stories From Cheerful China”, published in 2010 by China Daily.
It consists of 101 “Hotpot Columns”, and exactly 0% of the royalties go to the authors – even though the book costs Y100 a throw. One can only wonder where the profits from 3,000 copies actually have gone.
Or you could just trawl the China Daily archives – but you will be hard pressed to find something “modern” that doesn’t show the “dark side” of China.
Let’s face it, good news doesn’t sell.
Even if you have to invent that news in the first place.
I read a story in China Daily late last year on roughly similar lines… of course, it wasn’t duplicated in the mainstream media, although Ellen has spoken to me of such things happening.
It seems that these things are still happening, and the rate of HIV infection from reusing needles is climbing, as unlicenced clinics grow in number.
Nothing like slowly killing someone for purely profit driven motives, is there?
Sounds like a great book. You might want to check out “Will the boat sink the water?” (also banned in China) for more stories about how the poor are getting poorer…
Thanks! I first read about this in the New York Times about 10-12 years ago. Front page story, but then I’ve rarely seen anything since. Thanks for that book recommendation. I’ll check it out!!