Spring Silkworms and Other Stories

by Mao Dun, Sidney Shapiro (Translator)

This is a collection of 15 short stories written by the famous Chinese author Mao Tun during the period of 1927-44. Through these stories he depicts Chinese society in the thirties: calamities in the countryside and economic depression, caused by the dual pressure of imperialist aggression and feudal exploitation, as well as the misery of the people and the process of their awakening. He also describes the upheavals experienced by people of various classes and strata during the period of the Japanese invasion. He portrays various characters, including those workers who heroically resisted the enemy; students who took part in movements to save the nation; weak-kneed vacillating petty-bourgeois intellectuals; wealthy capitalists who hated the people and supported the reactionary policies of the Kuomintang government; stock exchange speculators, women employees and young, homeless waifs in the cities. Dealing with a wide range of subjects, this book is a mirror of the old China after the failure of the First Revolutionary Civil War, when it was under reactionary Kuomintang rule. These stories are outstanding for their progressive outlook and artistry. Shen Yanbing (1896-1981), better known by the pen name Mao Tun, was a member of the generation that created a truly vernacular Chinese literature in the early twentieth century. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, he was named Minister of Culture.

Genres: Chinese Literature, Short Stories, China, Fiction

248 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 1979

About the author

Mao Dun (4 July 1896 – 27 March 1981) was the pen name of Shen Dehong (Shen Yanbing), a 20th-century Chinese novelist, cultural critic, and the Minister of Culture of People's Republic of China (1949–65). He is one of the most celebrated left-wing realist novelists of modern China. His most famous works are Ziye, a novel depicting life in cosmopolitan Shanghai, and Spring Silkworms. He also wrote many short stories.

He adopted "Mao Dun" (Chinese: 矛盾), meaning "contradiction", as his pen name to express the tension in the conflicting revolutionary ideology in China in the unstable 1920s. His friend Ye Shengtao changed the first character from 矛 to 茅, which literally means "thatch".

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes luck does not bring good fortune, as was the case with Old Bao's family. After a bad year of very little production of silkworms, a great prosperous year followed, however none of the factories would buy these silk worms, and the surplus of product ended up putting the family more in debt and adding to the physical distress/fatigue.

[Susan Chow-Dukhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories depicting Chinese society in the 1930's. Some of the stories left you wondering if the author's intention was to just to give you a peek into the private lives of some families, as the stories seem incomplete.
The first three stories in the book were the strongest, as they highlighted the conflicts of a poor multigenerational family trying to overcome hardships, over three seasons. The patriarch of the family is so entrenched in tradition and superstitions that he is unaware that he is responsible for some of his family's misfortunes.

[Salwa | سلوى · Rating 4 out of 5]

النسخة التي قرأتها تحتوي فقط ثلاثية واحدة ٢١٣ ص
"دود قز فصل الربيع" ب ترجمة روزيت خوري، لكنني لا أستطيع إضافتها هنا، لذا سأكتفي بأقرب توثيق لها.

الكتاب يقسم ل ٣ أجزاء
١- دود قز فصل الربيع
٢- حصاد الخريف
٣- انتهاء فصل الشتاء
وفيها نتابع عناء لاوتونغباو وعائلته في توفير قوت يومهم، حيث يربي في الربيع دود القز ويطعمه ورق التوت للحصول على الحرير، ثم في الخريف يقوم بتأجر أرض وزراعتها بالأرز ومحاولة منع جفافها.
ستقرأ الكتاب وستظن أنه معاناة فلاح في وقتنا هذا وستتفاجأ بتاريخ كتابتها ١٩٣٣.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got in my #communist #bag with this one and enjoyed it! The stories are pointedly political and very of the era (1927-44 China), which is a point in time I haven't read much about before. Crazy that Mao Tun went on to be deputy to the First National People's Congress in 1954. Writing really has power!

[SALAH · Rating 4 out of 5]

زرقاء

[Leo46 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a bit overrated. Interesting psychological/subjective insights of material conditions of such "backwards" villages in China during KMT rule, but it is still a fiction. Author has a cool name, though.

[Trounin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Имя для китайца — маска: первое он получает в детстве, второе — в школе, вступив во взрослую жизнь — третье, а далее уже по желанию. Для видного литератора Шэня Яньбина определяющим стал псевдоним Мао Дунь (в переводе означает «Противоречия»). Пик творчества Мао Дуня пришёлся на период нестабильности в освободившемся от имперских пут государстве. Он поддерживал Коммунистическую партию, открыто выступавшую против Гоминьдана. В сюжетах его произведений преобладает отражение тяжёлого экономического положения страны и отсутствие перспектив на обретение спокойной жизни. Виной тому были не только противостояния внутренних сил, но и агрессивная политика Японии, устроившей бойню в Шанхае в 1932 году. Много позже, после гражданской войны, когда КПК приняла бразды власти, Мао Дунь был назначен Министром культуры КНР и занимал этот пост на протяжении пятнадцати лет. С 1953 до самой смерти в 1981 году он возглавлял Союз китайских писателей.

(c) Trounin

[Máté Arató · Rating 5 out of 5]

A selyemhernyo tanulsaga: az élet sz.r! Erdekes konyv mert semmit sem tudtam a hernyotenyesztesrol de eleg lehangolo...

[Bathed In Sin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mandatory for school... still enjoyed it