Little Aunt Crane

by Geling Yan, Esther Tyldesley (Translator)

In the last days of World War II, the Japanese occupation of Manchuria has collapsed. As the Chinese move in, the elders of the Japanese settler village of Sakito decide to preserve their honor by killing all the villagers in an act of mass suicide. Only 16-year-old Tatsuru escapes. But Tatsuru's trials have just begun. As she flees, she falls into the hands of human traffickers. She is sold to a wealthy Chinese family, where she becomes Duohe—the clandestine second wife to the only son, and the secret bearer of his children. Against all odds, Duohe forms an unlikely friendship with the first wife Xiaohuan, united by the unshakeable bonds of motherhood and family. Spanning several tumultuous decades of Mao’s rule, Little Aunt Crane is a novel about love, bravery and survival, and how humanity endures in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Genres: Historical Fiction, China, Fiction, Asia, Chinese Literature, Novels, Asian Literature

496 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Geling Yan (嚴歌苓) is one of the most acclaimed novelists and screenwriters writing in the Chinese language today and a well-established writer in English. Born in Shanghai, she served with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) during the Cultural Revolution, starting at age twelve as a dancer in an entertainment troupe.

After serving for over a decade with the PLA (including tours in Tibet and as a war correspondent during the Sino-Vietnam border conflict), Ms. Yan was discharged with a rank equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel. She published her first novel in 1986 and ever since has produced a steady stream of novels, short stories, novellas, essays and scripts. Her best-known novels in English are The Secret Talker, published by HarperCollins; Little Aunt Crane published in the UK by Random House affiliate Harvill Secker; The Flowers of War, published in the U.S. by The Other Press and elsewhere by Random House's Harvill Secker; The Banquet Bug (The Uninvited in its UK edition - written directly in English); and The Lost Daughter of Happiness, (translated by Cathy Silber) both published by Hyperion in the US and Faber & Faber in the UK. She has also published a novella and short story collection called White Snake and Other Stories, translated by Lawrence A. Walker and published by Aunt Lute Books.

Many of Geling Yan's works have been adapted for film and television, including internationally distributed films Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (directed by Joan Chen) and Siao Yu (directed by Sylvia Chang; produced by Ang Lee). Chinese director Zhang Yimou made The Flowers of War, a big-budget film based on her work set during the 1937 Rape of Nanking, starring Academy Award winning actor Christian Bale; Coming Home 归来, based on her novel The Criminal Lu Yanshi 陆犯焉识, and One Second 一秒钟, also based on that novel.

Ms. Yan has also written numerous scripts based on her own and other authors' work, both in English and Chinese, including a script for a biopic on the iconic Peking opera star Mei Lanfang for director Chen Kaige (released as Forever Enthralled 梅兰芳) starring Leon Lai and Zhang Ziyi. She wrote the script for Dangerous Liaisons 危險關係, a Chinese-language film directed by South Korean director Hur Jin-ho and starring Zhang Ziyi, Jang Dong Gun and Cecilia Cheung. Her novel Fang Hua 芳华 is the basis a film of the same name (English title Youth) directed by Chinese director Feng Xiaogang 冯小刚. Her novel A City Called Macau 妈阁是座城 was made into a film directed by Li Shaohong 李少红, released in 2018.

Geling Yan a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and of France's Société des Gens de Lettres. She is affiliated with the Hollywood screenwriters' union, Writers' Guild of America, west, and is a former member of the Chinese Writers' Association (中国作家协会).

Geling Yan went to the United States at the end of 1989 for graduate study. She holds a Master's in Fine Arts in Fiction Writing from Columbia College, Chicago. To date she has published over 40 books in various editions in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the US, the UK and elsewhere; has won over 30 literary and film awards; and has had her work adapted or written scripts for numerous film, TV and radio works. Her works have been translated into twenty-one languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, English, Farsi, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Uyghur, and Vietnamese, and her English-language novel The Banquet Bug/The Uninvited was translated into Chinese. She currently lives in Berlin, Germany.

She has been subject to an unofficial but effective ban in China since March 2020, when she wrote and promulgated an essay on the Chinese government's initial handling of COVID-19. Her future Chinese-language work will be published by her own publishing company, New Song Media GmbH.

For non-Chinese language publishing she is represented by Agence Astier-Pécher.

Reviews

[AiK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Роман о силе духа японской девушки Тацуро, чье имя переводится очень поэтично - «много журавлей», в 16 лет проданной китайской бездетной семье, чтобы она рожала и вскармливала детей, выполняя функции суррогатной матери. Это было по окончании второй мировой войны, тогда она потеряла родителей, братьев и сестер. Тридцать лет она прожила в послевоенном Китае. С трудом она выучила язык, на преодоление культурных различий тоже ушло много сил, она пыталась быть счастливой даже в таких условиях. Жизнь шла ни шатко ни валко, как говорила жена Чжана Сяохуань «нет мыла – обойдемся щелоком, нет мяса – обойдемся баклажанами, нет муки, обойдемся отрубями». Сначала они жили в деревне, потом перебрались на юг, на сталелитейный завод. Ее бросили на берегу Янцзы, и только через месяц она смогла вернуться. Ей пришлось пережить и подозрения в шпионаже, травлю, постоянные сплетни, но в семье к ней относились неплохо, скрывали ее от всех, поскольку японцы в те годы были врагами. Вернувшись в Японию после налаживания отношений спустя многие годы, она столкнулась с тем, что и японское общество не захотело принимать ее и дискриминировало так же, относясь как к отсталым. Ее детей называли «китаезами», в то время как в Китае ее называли «японской гадиной». Это книга о том, что любому обществу нужно быть добрее к людям, особенно к тем, кого по воле судьбы выбросили из одного и забросили в другое.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A prolific Chinese author sheds light on a couple of little-known historical incidents: the Chinese invasion of Manchuria, and the practice of selling female Japanese prisoners. The opening tragedy is hard to take, but if you persist you’ll find a delicate story of daily life in an unusual domestic arrangement; polygamy rarely appears in fiction, usually only in African literature. I especially appreciated the original metaphors, such as “his heart was a mushy persimmon,” and the sympathetic picture of Duohe’s predicament. This has some of the flavor of a classic family saga like Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth.

My full review will be appearing in Stylist magazine’s Book Wars column.

[Nicky Harman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great piece of story-telling, Yan Geling at her best, exploring a hitherto unknown corner of China and Chinese history. I loved the characters, the taciturn husband, the quarrelsome, loud-mouthed wife, the enigmatic character of Duohe/Tatsuru/Little Aunt Crane, who is almost literally deaf and dumb, and yet has a presence within the family that none of them can ignore. The story, which follows these three from youth to old age and death, is utterly strange, yet completely convincing. I found it engrossing. The translator Esther Tyldesley has done a wonderful job of recreating this tale in English, and the naturalness of her dialogue is especially striking. For readers who like Yan Geling, the short story project READ PAPER REPUBLIC has posted a complete, free-to-view, newly translated story here: https://paper-republic.org/pubs/read/..., to mark the publication of "Little Aunt Crane". Called "Disappointing Returns", it has a similarly feisty heroine – read and enjoy!

[Pun Otakufrenzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This just became my favorite book of all time. Though many people might have different opinion on this book, but I can totally feel the mood of the story straight through my heart. The struggle to survive, the adaptation to live, the dilemma to move on with life--everything is piece so perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle that it really captivated me to my very core. There's not a lot of book that I would recommend this much, but I can't denied the joy of this book.

Everything is so beautifully written, masterfully crafted--with every word and phrases incredibly fit in to each other. I love this book, every nook and canny, every broken and stuttered plot is just a pleasure to experience.

11/10 would lock this book forever in my heart.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the concept of this book. The storyline of the end of the Second World War and a young Japanese girl sold into a Chinese family. It should have made for fantastic reading. For me I found the pace too slow and often just not enough happened. I found it boring in places, however I didn’t want to give up as I was interested enough to want to know what happened to the family in the end.

An ok read, insights into the world of Chinese communism under Mao but just not in a writing style that I liked.

[Annie Yang-Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

朱小环写绝了，跃然纸上的鲜活气，浑然立体的小女人大女子，最打动人心。书的其余部分都显单薄，好像全书的精华都给小环吸走了似的。

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would of enjoyed this a lot more had it been maybe 100/200 words shorter. I really enjoyed watching the ever changing relationships in this family dynamic, and thought it was an interesting way to explore Japanese-Chinese relations post WW2. The pacing was very off, it felt like it was building to a crescendo that never happened. Also, a lot of time was spent on mundane every day tasks and interactions, and some crucial/life changing events were simply glossed over. I will probably update this review after making some notes for my dissertation.

[Zlatka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book - people from different cultures thrown together to be a family in difficult times making the best out of it.

The author is somehow a bit repetitive though.

[Linda Lpp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm sad for this story to end. Spanning unthinkable years, cultural and oppressive lives of poverty for many and the later generations of the Zhang's. Keeping the secret of Duohe's Japanese heritage led to an interesting facade she was the sister of Xiaohuan who was married to Zhang Jian, when she was in fact was the children's real Mother.

Fascinating story but at times very difficult to learn of all the hardships they endured.
I did not like the ending which seemed to change course abruptly at one point, and then attempt to tidy up the loose ends with everyone in the story facing once again a new set of challenges. Who now is the foreigner?
And somehow I missed the significance of Aunt "Crane". Sure Zhang Jian worked with a crane, but beyond that I was left hanging.

[Melissa Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book.

In one part when he learns about her story his attitude changes about her. It makes me think that there is so much we dont know about the people we encounter and why its so hard to be anything but polite and courteous to those around you at all times. You just never know where life will take you or what someone else's life is like up to the point where they encounter you.

It really made me think and I will always love books that make you think.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This captivating story follows the fortunes of Tatsuru/Duohe and the Zhang family during several turbulent decades of Chairman Mao’s rule in China. The longed-for children are produced for Zhang Jian and Xiaohuan but their very existence creates shifting suspicions, tensions, dynamics and loyalties for all concerned. The changing relationships in the family, as they learn to accommodate this unusual and complex situation are explored, the heart of the story lying in how they manage to find ways to negotiate these, to live together harmoniously and to come to care for each other. Against all the odds, this potentially dysfunctional family set-up works; it is able to thrive because of the development of genuine caring and a willingness to accommodate differences.
The narrative conjures up a vividly colourful picture of the enforced intimacy which results from living in over-crowded conditions, where neighbours are as likely to betray as to support, and where there is often a dark thread of fear and desperation running through everyday life. The massive changes in China under Maoist rule provide a chillingly evocative background to this intensely intimate story.
I found the writing lyrical, moving and, at times, wonderfully amusing. The characters were all brought vividly to life as the story progressed, and I quickly found myself caring about what happened to them. I also learnt a lot about Chinese/Japanese history, particularly the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, a period about which I had previously had scant knowledge.

[Garnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most really good novels, I think, are about what it means to be a human being. This one is about what it means to be a family. During World War II, the Japanese encouraged poor Japanese farmers to migrate to northeast China as pioneers settling newly occupied territories. The book opens at the end of the war. Japanese troops are evacuating China, leaving behind the women, children and old men, all that remained in the villages after the men and older boys were taken for soldiers. Abandoned in an alien land, few survive. A young survivor (Auntie Crane) is sold to a childless family to produce sons. How can this dysfunctional family come together and survive in New China, with its deeply held hatred of the Japanese and the numerous political campaigns of the Communist government? Auntie Crane, isolated in an alien environment, unable to speak Chinese, has a remarkable determination to survive and makes herself an indispensable part of the family structure. It’s a fascinating story, told from the perspective of different family members: Auntie Crane, the father, his wife and each of the children. Reading this book was a milestone achievement for me: the first serious novel I managed to read in the original Chinese (with the help of a really good dictionary.) (Chinese title 小姨多鹤 by 严歌苓.)

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

真是一则童话故事啊

很苦涩 但也温情 像童话一样柔情和浪漫 但终究是苦涩的

男人啊 真是没一个好东西

现实中的历史和故事两相���照

最后无情无义又投机取巧的人在日本做了一辈子饱受歧视衣食无着生活艰苦的底层中国崽子
哎 养小孩真是一件投入巨大 产出却非常不稳定不可控的事情 现代社会里大家终于有权利认真考虑这件事了

而沉默寡言的善良小孩赶上了好时候 有些时代的人一辈子都没有一次的好时候
等到从文工团退伍 军人安置费用是一大笔 再转业进体制内就是赶上分房子 房价起飞 巨额拆迁 或者如果和流行趋势一起下海经商 就有改革开放 加入世贸 一切都made in China 再到奥运年 时运的极点啊 善良小孩能学本事 会做事 连身体都好 他全能赶上

小孩还知道体贴他妈 小环的好日子在后头呢

唉 多鹤 多鹤 苦命的多鹤
但也还行 有凭空出现的救星久美做她的家人 她回家后也有家了 其实也不怕 还年轻 后面还有好几年的中日友好呢 她还是可以经常和小环走动的 她有第二个家

真好

看来看去还是喜欢看女作家写的女角色 像人 她们笔下的女角色像人 而男作家们笔下的女角色呢 像一堆意象和寄托和图腾 甚至意淫和污蔑和贬低 唯独不像人

不想说张良俭了 说小彭吧 其实也没什么可说的 这位小彭 弗一出场 就引起我对直男的厌恶下意识 而后面的情节全解释了我的好直觉

小彭毫无疑问的是一位典型中国直男：从他一开始自作多情的意淫多鹤无可救药的爱上了自己 然后幻想多鹤想要攀附他 从而由对她的厌恶产生快感 再到他恍然大悟自己的自恋是如何偏离事实 他恼羞成怒了 他用自以为的深情解释着自己失败的揣测 用自我惩罚来安慰自己的无能 直到最后真的成为了一个心理变态

啊 多么典型啊 一个多么典型的 求爱失败的中国直男
一个多么典型的 中国男的

善骑者坠于马 善泳者溺于水 善饮者醉于酒 善战者殁于杀
把厂长和书记关起来又贬为“监外执行”的犯人之后成为新领导的小彭厂长死于大字报 大字报的报大约是报应的报吧

公平正义无处可觅 法律法规形同虚设 谁做的恶也不少 而铁拳是不可捉摸没有规律的 砸到谁全是谁的运气 毕竟原始丛林里 弱肉强食优胜劣汰适者生存 血淋淋的

就如同秩序崩坏的社会里人们只期盼青天大老爷降临 越是信仰义警的世界越是腐烂
当秩序成了混乱的时候 就不得不用混乱来维持秩序 拯救法律了

看了太多荒谬新闻 有时候竟也觉得遭了铁拳也算报应了 谁叫你作恶多端呢
我虽然听闻了你诸多骇人听闻的恶行 但也坚决支持你被无罪推断 应有法律来判处你的罪 不应该由铁拳来金口玉言
累了 算了

别误会 此处谈论的当然是造成诸多命案 性骚扰事件 被口诛笔伐多次 却安然无恙大摇大摆招摇过市 最后却无端端被铁拳准备直接捶死的滴滴出行啦
你的罪应有律法裁决
或者 莫须有

毕竟故事哪儿能抛开现实去看呢？

[Jaap Grolleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story from China in the chaotic 20th century that starts brutal, yet becomes more fragile and delicate, chapter by chapter. And when the tale is through, you'll love Duohe, Erhai, and Xiaohuan, and you'll love mantou and noodles, or something simple as an egg, touching the fabric of your shirt.

Little Aunt Crane (It's some of the best character building I've ever seen in a book, each person so vastly different yet real. It's also one of the rare detailed accounts (which I've read) of what life in China from the 50s to 70s must have been, history told through an ordinary person.

Like all good literature, it's about what it means to be human — and expands our capacity for empathy in all its variety; love, anger, jealousy, and family. The big lines of the history books we know are obvious, but we even get to read — feel — the detail of the fog or how pants are ironed, the hairs on someone's body. I've devoured these pages in the last few nights, and now I'm sad the story has come to end.

[Dhanashri Matondkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible work of story telling.. I loved reading about life in post war, rural China. The lives of characters are so far removed from ours, yet the connection I felt especially to Duohe and Xiaohuan was so real. It's heartbreaking to read about the make do they have to adopt, in the food they eat and the clothes they mend and mend again, the life choices they make.

I was surprised to know that a significant number of Japanese lived as far north as Manchuria and experienced such horrifying tragic times. Just shows there is always something more to learn about lives and times in WW2.

This book is definitely in the list of my favorites. In fact I'm going to miss reading it!

[Kaye Arnold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big read! This was a great book but I found it drawn out. An interesting concept, with lots of post WWII drama in remote China, where the Japanese who were so cruel to the Chinese now had the tables turned as they lost the war. Death and communism. Infertility.....a man who needed children to carry on his family name. A young Japanese girl sold to him and made to bear his babies. A secret life of one man and his two women. Mixed race children just added to the drama. A good read for anyone interested in historical fiction.

[Misha Herwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the last days of WW2 the Japanese occupation of Manchuria has collapsed. As the Chinese move in, the elders of the Japanese settler village decide to preserve their honour by killing themselves. Only 16 year old Tatsuru, escapes.
The book follows her as she is sold to a Chinese family as a "second wife" to provide children for the childless first wife.
It look me a while to get into the story. The style was very pedestrian but once I became involved I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. To be recommended.

[Lyazzat · Rating 5 out of 5]

sometimes we might forget past, hard times, narrow minded traditions which must be followed and nobody has choice to obey it. Another point, emancipation in society specially applies to the role of women in Asian family.

The book describes a life of Japanese woman in Chinese family/society after World War II.

for me personally the story is heartbreaking and devastating.

[Grazyna Nawrocka]

Ah, and here the situation reverses (Japanese become victims or Chinese in Manchuria - I'm speaking about "Flowers of the War.")

What an exquisite image of cultural differences! How deeply humane struggles with the outside world going crazy! I can't even express richness of "tapestry."

Just read the book!

[Victoria Evangelina Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A devastating account of love, loneliness, family ties, and what makes us human. The language is simple, yet engaging. The characters seen a bit from a far, yet grow deep roots in the reader’s heart.

[Czen Trzynski · Rating 5 out of 5]

緣分真的很難預料，其實這本書早就聽說過，而開始讀是因為某晚看youtube節目去查矢板明夫的生平，又從日本遺孤條目找到了相關的文學作品。寫得挺好看的，感覺作者點到為止地揭露了很多時代特有的荒誕。小環和多鶴兩個人最苦命也最偉大，各位男角色是真不行，或許小二孩張剛還算可以，全靠多鶴的血緣所賜吧。一度認為小彭這個人已經「轉好」了，可是後來又鐵心出賣張儉，其實讓我想不通。反正這個人挺扭曲的，讓人聯想起《日瓦戈醫生》的那個Strelnikov（Pasha Antipov）。小石雖然罪不致死，但也已經夠陰險了。聽說電視劇把主題渲染成日本女人贖罪報恩借子宮生娃的敘事，噁心不已又並無意外，絕對是不會去看了。

[Jim Bode · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting read about a Chinese/Japanese family

A post WW2 Chinese/Japanese family thrown together by chance, and their struggle to survive, the prejudice of their Chinese neighbours.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

小人物的故事体现大时代的变迁。

[Haowei Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ordinary person in the progress of the history.

[Brook · Rating 4 out of 5]

喜欢！有一种心酸夹杂着好笑的感觉。虽然主题很沉重，作者还是很会调侃的。小环真的太讨人喜欢了。

[Vilma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nežinau... Jau labai senai taip buvo, kad skaityčiau tik tam, kad greičiau pabaigčiau, nes numesti viduryje - ne man..Net negalėčiau pasakyti kas nepatiko. Pradžia - nebloga. Siužetas - pusėtinas...Bet viskas kažkaip "be prieskonių", ištęsta, nuobodu ir galiausiai - "greičiau ta pabaiga"...
Kinija. Šeima nuperka į nelaisvę paimtą japonę mergaitę, gimdyti vyrui vaikus, kadangi žmona pati negali jų turėti. Įsibėgėja Mao laikai ir "kelias į šviesų rytojų", o šeima su paaugusiais vaikais ir "teta" persikelia gyventi į miestą...Šeimos trijų narių tarpusavio santykiai, vaikų - tėvų santykiai, atsakomybės klausimas, skurdžios buities ir išgyvenimo "pakeliui į šviesų rytojų" problemos - visa tai paeiliui knygoje...

[Emily Yang · Rating 4 out of 5]

好像确实开始质疑作家身为叙事者是否一定保持政治正确的立场，毕竟不正确的故事也可以是好故事。小环真是个经典的中国女人形象

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

细腻描绘出了那段历史

[Ekaterina Isaevskaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Начало было многообещающим , но как- то быстро все скатилось в пресное, муторное и примитивное повествование с частым повторением сказанного.

[Shiyi Zhang · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am disappointed in its English translation, which had made lost the logic relationships between the characters indicated delicately in its native Chinese language.