The Big Red Book of Modern Chinese Literature: Writings from the Mainland in the Long Twentieth Century

by Yunte Huang (Editor)

A panoramic vision of the Chinese literary landscape across the twentieth century. Award-winning literary scholar and poet Yunte Huang here gathers together an intimate and authoritative selection of significant works, in outstanding translations, from nearly fifty Chinese writers, that together express a search for the soul of modern China. From the 1912 overthrow of a millennia-long monarchy to the Cultural Revolution, to China’s rise as a global military and economic superpower, the Chinese literary imagination has encompassed an astonishing array of moods and styles―from sublime lyricism to witty surrealism, poignant documentary to the ironic, the transgressive, and the defiant. Huang provides the requisite context for these revelatory works of fiction, poetry, essays, letters, and speeches in helpful headnotes, chronologies, and brief introductions to the Republican, Revolutionary, and Post-Mao Eras. From Lu Xun’s Call to Arms (1923) to Gao Xinjiang’s Nobel Prize–winning Soul Mountain (1990), this remarkable anthology features writers both known and unknown in its celebration of the versatility of writing. From belles lettres to literary propaganda, from poetic revolution to pulp fiction, The Big Red Book of Modern Chinese Literature is an eye-opening, mesmerizing, and indispensable portrait of China in the tumultuous twentieth century.

Genres: China, Fiction, Poetry, Short Stories, Anthologies, Asia, Essays

624 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2016

About the author

Yunte Huang a professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is the author of Transpacific Imaginations and Charlie Chan. Born in China, he lives in Santa Barbara, California.

Reviews

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting anthology of Chinese writers of the 20th century. A lot of poetry and excerpts from longer works.

I felt it gave me a good taste of the transformation, or I should say, the many transformations that have taken place in China in the past century. Each writer has his own unique view of his country and society.

Some of them are written in the manner of a folk tale, others are surreal and others simply good fiction that reveals reality.

What I did not realize is that while Christianity and Islam are illegal (except for state sanctioned churches) many Chinese still practice Buddhism and even become monks. Is it because the roots are too deep to uprooted? Or does Buddhism pose no threat to the government.

Preceding each work is a brief biography of the author, which, to me, was just as interesting as their writing.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and varied collection of stories. Hesitated to mark as "finished" though, as this is one of those that I could dip in and out of for a long time, and find something new every time. I need to create a shelf called "continually reading"....!

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

One either likes or dislikes China, and then proceeds to justify one's likes or dislikes. That is just as well, for we must take some sort of attitude toward China to justify ourselves as intelligent beings.

-Lin Yutang, 'My Country and My People'

[F]urthermore, to not be afraid of ghosts requires a troubling explanation: one must first prove the existence of ghosts to prove one shouldn't be afraid of them.

-Bei Dao, 'City Gate Open Up'

This is an anthology that was intended to contain fifty authors, but circumstances (including greedy Anglo publishers) meant that only forty-eight come with excerpts. Of those, eleven of the full fifty are women, while ten are so of the remaining forty-eight. In regards to my own plain of awareness, thirteen of the fifty are of some familiarity to me, though throwing out the non included lowers that to twelve and leaving out the one that I hadn't remembered I'd read until a quick internet search further lowers that to eleven. Of the fifty, three have been read by yours truly, but once again, leaving out the non included lowers to two and getting rid of the non remembered boils down to a measly one. Previous to this, I'd committed to reading another four of the represented authors, all of them included, and in the wake of completing this, another two have been added to my shelves. That raises my levels of commitment to fifteen of the fifty contemplated, or thirteen of the forty-eight enshrined, aka barely a quarter of what is offered in this compendium whether you stick to the dreamed of compilation or stick firmly with the real. True, there's many a writer who'd qualify for inclusion but one way or another missed the cut off, and I've acquired works of and even got around to reading at least one or two here and there. And in any case, when it comes to anthologies such as this, is it better to learn that there's so much more out there for me to discover? Or am I at least somewhat correct in worrying that my meanderings, for all the benefits I've derived from enculturated upbringings and hyperspeed technologies, haven't prepared me much for modern day onslaughts of Sinophobia and whatever else slung out by a homeland eager to engage in the Cold War, 2.0. As always, things to consider.

Consequently, no one has ever seen one of those ornament craftsmen fashion an underworld home for himself during his lifetime; more than likely he doesn't much believe in the netherworld. And even if there were such a place, he would probably open an ornament shop when he got there; worse luck, he'd doubtless have to rent a place to open the shop.

-Xiao Hong, 'Tales of Hulan River'

To continue with the statistics a tad longer, five of the full fifty don't have a GR profile. One of those has a sizable Wiki in French and none in English, another has barely anything to go by (have to wonder how much of it has to do with white people being weird about foot fetishes only when it's not them indulging in such), and one is a rock musician, which would have offered some form of reasonable explanation for why there is no GR presence in the days before the Nobel Prize for Lit committee embarrassed itself (if in a rather less abusive fashion than it did in subsequent events) even more than usual. Among them all, we have authors who killed themselves in their twenties, authors who died during WWII in their thirties, authors who starved themselves to death in protest against US forces, authors who bridged the Cultural Revolution, authors who didn't, authors who specialized in French Symbolism, authors who perfected postmodernism, authors more famous for performing on stage, and authors whom the Anglo world would like to do nothing more than forget. Reading this isn't going to break anyone out of a "capitalism all justifiably for the greater good/communism forever destined to fall apart" mindset who doesn't want to be, but certain historical footnotes about massacres of communists under the National government and student protests against imperialism before the fall of the last dynasty of China will provide incentive for further reading in those who wish to. As for my own personal preferences, I plan on acquiring works by Yu Dafu and Lin Yutang, and I'm more keen than ever on finally getting to Mo Yan now that I've had an actual taste of his writing. Still, it's worth noting how the included work by Wang Anyi would not have convinced me that I was destined to love her The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, while I ended up liking Bei Dao more in this anthology's excerpted form than I had in a full collection of his poetry. Pick and choose, pick and choose. And I still have an entire anthology of Chinese avant-garde fiction to get to.

You toss away the empty package on the sidewalk.
People step on it, people spit on it.
Be it a fact, or be it a symbol,
The Goddess of Freedom is but a pack of cigarettes.

-Ai Qing, "On a Chilean Cigarette Package"

This is one of those modern works that I succumbed to the hype of as I so rarely do when it comes to works published during the current millennium, and while the energy and enthusiasm I put into acquiring a copy wasn't entirely borne out by the results, it's a work I appreciate as much for the litmus test for my own literary pretentions as for the reading itself. In the wake of it, I could most definitely use a 20th c. anthology solely devoted to Chinese women writers, or Chinese writers who didn't/don't write in Mandarin, or queer Chinese writers, or ethnically non-Chinese Chinese writers, or wherever else folks like Ma Jian and Yan Lianke or Zhang Xianliang and co. would end up being included. As for those looking to see whether they should read this or not, this isn't a collection that's friendly to beginners, and I'd only recommend it to those who've learned enough about China and engaged enough with its literature, both 20th c. and otherwise, to be able to cut through the propaganda being hurled a mile a minute these days under their own power. Otherwise, all you're going to do is go blah blah oppression, blah blah women, blah blah what's an Opium War/neoliberal capitalist aggression, and all the experimentation, all the fervor, all the thought and creation and potential that these authors wrangled with in the face of a living nation that knew the Roman Empire in its earliest incarnations is going to be so much cheap, Disneyfied tripe in the wind. In short, read this if you're prepared to take it as seriously as Euro/Neo-Euro thinks itself worthy of being taken forever and anon, cause trust me. You don't want to waste this book's time.

"Imagine an iron house without windows, absolutely indestructible, with many people fast asleep inside who will soon die of suffocation. But you know since they will die in their sleep, they will not feel the pan of death. Now if you cry aloud to wake a few of the lighter sleepers, making those unfortunate few suffer the agony of irrevocable death, do you thin you are doing them a good turn?"
"But if a few awake, you can't say there is no hope of destroying the iron house."

-Lu Xun, Preface to 'A Call to Arms'

Author list for those truly invested:

Lu Xun
Hu Shih
Guo Moruo
Liu Bannong (non GR)
Xu Dishan
Bing Xin (W)
Li Jinfa (non GR, non Anglo Wiki)
Yu Dafu
He Haiming (non GR, barely an online bio)
Zhu Ziqing
Xu Zhimo
Wen Yiduo
Ding Ling (W)
Mao Dun
Ba Jin
Dai Wangshu
Shen Congwen (W)
Zhou Zuoren
Lin Yutang
Lao She
Bian Zhilin
Xiao Hong (W)
Mao Zedong
Ai Qing
Wang Meng
Zhao Shuli
Anonymous Author of 'The Red Lantern: A Revolutionary Peking Opera in Eleven Acts (non GR, W?)
Bei Dao
Gu Cheng
Mo Yan
Shu Ting (W)
Liu Suola (W)
Yang Lian
Can Xue (W)
Wang Anyi (W)
Zhai Yongming (W)
Hai Zi
Ma Yuan
Che Qianzi
Yu Jian
Chi Zijian (W)
Yu Hua
Su Tong
Zhang Zao
Xi Chuan
Yu Xinqiao
Gao Xingjian
Cui Jian (non GR (Chinese rock musician))

Mentioned, but ultimately not included:
Eileen Chang (Love in a Fallen City)
Qian Zhongshu (Fortress Besieged)

[Faraaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing collection of Chinese literature over the past century. It says a lot about modern China when most of its best writers, poets and artists produced their greatest works in exile, fuelled by a deep longing for their homeland.

China's quest to come out of colonialism and influence of foreign powers and build a strong nation state that cannot be colonised again comes at the cost of its own culture, often allowing it little room to flourish.

[Starla · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 A difficult, long book to get through with two little ones, but worth it. I was hoping to get a picture painted of China in the 20th century and I feel like that happened as well as finding a lot of modern Chinese writers I hope to read more from.

A small pet peeve I had was that the editor used pinyin for the romanization in the introduction to the authors; however, the Wade-Giles system was used in a lot of the translations. I'm not sure if his hands were tied in using the translations, but I found it annoying to go between the two. But that's probably only annoying to someone who has studied a bit of Chinese.

But I loved the cheekiness of the title!

[Andrew Peacock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delightful addition to the library of any serious reader. While it is easy for most readers to come up with a half dozen or more Russian authors, few of us could name any modern Chinese writers. Any Chinese writers we know of are likely expatriates. This book is a fine look into Chinese writing in the 20th century. The topics of the poems and stories and the authors' biographies make it clear what a challenge Mao and the cultural revolution were to Chinese writers. Many authors went through roller coaster rides of lionization and imprisonment.
The stories range from the familiar to the exotic and strange but they are all a wonderful education for all of us outside of China.
Here's a short poem by Gu Chen (1956-1993) that suggests the reality of life in China for a 20th century author.
A Generation
the black night gave me black eyes
still I use them to see the light.
April 1979

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of literature, and perfect for someone looking to become familiar with modern Chinese literature. Now I've got a lot of follow-up reading to do - especially Gao Xingjian, Mo Yan, Xiao Hong, Lin Yutang, Wang Meng, Bei Dao, and Eileen Chang (who was actually not included in this anthology).

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tome became my nighttime reading. It takes time to delve into the literary 20th century of Chinese literature and deserves close attention. A great selection in within the pages. The only minor issue would be if the reader does not know at least basic Chinese history.

[Aaron Mathews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the stories were really entertaining
however, they were only excerpts.
They should have included the entire novels.
Some of the poetry was good.
A lot of it was beyond me.
Still, I did get a feel for Chinese literature.
2/10

[Diana]

DNF, will return to it someday.

[juicyD · Rating 3 out of 5]

there were three separate stories that crucially revolved around a foot fetish