Red City, Green Yunnan

姚霏East China Normal University Press · ChinaSep 2019

Rating 3.5
Word count
232K words
Chapters
26
ISBN
9787567581456

Tags

Classic Works New Literary VoicesFictional FrontierHuman NatureShort FictionAvant-garde LiteratureExperimental NarrativeSouthwest NarrativeLinguistic ExperimentRegional WritingNorthern Yunnan

Summary

One of the "East China Normal University Writers Series." It is divided into three sections—avant-garde texts, fictional northern Yunnan, and fragmentary sketches—and collects 17 novellas and short stories, including representative works that the author has previously published in avant-garde literature and Yunnan literature and that have had considerable influence, such as "Two Pieces on Red Universe," "City Plague," "The Northern Yunnan Fist Affair," and "The Pagoda." The works are ingeniously conceived, robust in language, and clear in prose, with a distinctive literary power.

Editor's review

City Red, Yunnan Green is a novel by Yao Fei set in Yunnan, rich in regional color and historical depth. With delicate brushwork, it sketches the landscapes and customs of Yunnan and the fates of its people amid changing times, weaving personal feeling with devotion to home and country into a narrative aesthetic both weighty and agile. A writer deeply rooted in Yunnan's local culture, Yao Fei writes with a solid texture of lived experience and no lack of poetic flight, building between the fiery red-earth plateau and the emerald waters of Dianchi a story world vivid in color and alive in atmosphere.

The book's value lies not only in its lively depiction of local customs but also in how it reflects, through the rise and fall of several families over generations, certain key facets of Yunnan's modern history. Rather than grand epic narration, the author dissolves grand history into the details of daily life and the choices and emotional upheavals of individuals, making history palpable and tangible. The book's exploration of themes such as city and countryside, tradition and modernity, staying and leaving is subtle and profound, prompting reflection on identity and cultural continuity.

As a reading experience, City Red, Yunnan Green has a well-paced rhythm: the first half lays a solid foundation as the web of relationships gradually unfolds, while conflicts erupt in concentrated fashion in the middle and later sections, with strong emotional impact. The author excels at using imagery and metaphor with regional character; red and green are not only visual colors but become the emotional and fated tonal key running through the book. For readers who love regional literature, care about the history of individual fates, and are culturally curious about Yunnan, this is an immersive work. It asks for some patience in entering the world the author creates, but once inside, readers are rewarded with a rich and distinctive literary journey.

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Reading tips

  1. While reading, pay attention to how descriptions of nature mirror characters' inner states.
  2. It helps to learn a little about the Yunnan history or folk customs mentioned in the book to deepen understanding.
  3. Note the recurrence and variation of the core images of red and green throughout the book.

About the publisher

East China Normal University Press China · Founded in 1957

Adhering to the publishing purpose of "broad education," East China Normal University Press extends beyond its three main areas of textbooks, academic works and general-interest books, and its catalogue clearly reflects a vision that bridges Chinese and foreign humanities and social sciences. In foreign literature it offers classics such as Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country and The Old Capital (translated by Chen Dewen), Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and Rilke's annotated edition of The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (translated by Chen Zao); in architecture, Chen Congzhou's two-volume Appreciation Dictionary of Chinese Gardens; in social psychology, The Social Animal: 12th Edition; and it also includes philosophy titles, traditional-culture works such as the six-volume Paintings for the Protection of Life, and education books. Its authors include renowned Chinese and foreign writers and skilled translators, showing a publishing profile that balances classic translation, scholarly accumulation and public reading. Public information is limited; the above is based only on the books in the catalogue.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 序 这已经是另一个人
  3. 第一辑 先锋文本
  4. 红宙二题
  5. 城疫
  6. 惘寂
  7. 被同情的人
  8. 老鼠和我的冷斋一梦
  9. 中国象棋
  10. 版画
  11. 第二辑 虚构滇北
  12. 旧村札记
  13. 世道
  14. 滇北拳事
  15. 烧炭老人
  16. 滇北故人录
  17. 第三辑 细碎表述
  18. 浮屠
  19. 学院六人图
  20. 哭孩
  21. 第八个是虚像
  22. 附录
  23. 姚霏，一个把小说当做玩具的作家
  24. 野猪和家猪的话题或者碎片
  25. 姚霏：不该被忽视的先锋作家
  26. 后记

FAQ

Is this a purely historical novel? It is not a historical novel in the strict sense. Set in modern Yunnan, it focuses on the fates of families and individuals. History serves more as the stage and driving force behind the characters than as a direct object of depiction.
Is the novel difficult to read? The language itself is graceful and fluent, but the book contains regional cultural detail and has a relatively leisurely narrative pace, so it may require quiet, sustained attention. Readers without background knowledge of Yunnan can still follow the main story, but some relevant knowledge will enhance the experience.
What is the book's main emotional tone? On the whole it is weighty yet warm, interwoven with deep affection for one's homeland, melancholy over times past, and the resilient vitality shown amid life's unpredictability. It is not simply sad or cheerful.

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About the author

姚霏 Author

Yao Fei is an author about whom limited public information is available. Her writing is primarily documentary, with some literary work with a local flavor. The library holds two of her works. The first, Evidence: Uncovering 172 Comfort Stations in Shanghai, is an investigation and documentation of comfort stations in the Shanghai area, combining archival research with documentary writing and showing the author's attention to historical sites and chains of evidence. The second, City Red and Yunnan Green, judging by its title, reflects urban and Yunnan regional experience and is closer to literary observation and narrative. Though the two works differ markedly in subject, they together show the author's ability to move between documentary and literary writing: on the one hand attending to materials, places, and facts, and on the other noticing local scenery and the texture of language. As information such as birth and death dates, nationality, education, and personal experience is unavailable, a full biography cannot yet be outlined; only a brief account of the orientation of her existing works can be given.