Tangerine

火龙果Jiangsu Kuwei Culture Development Co., Ltd. · ChinaAug 2025

2.6

Word count: 6.6K words
Chapters: 7

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Summary

[Premium Fiction + Rural Literature + Feminism + Realist Literature]

There is a madwoman in the village.

The madwoman is beautiful, and many have harbored improper thoughts about her. They say she is mad, but she is not—she is simply quiet and withdrawn.

Wang Lao'er from the village entrance had already paid her family a bride price of two hundred yuan and married her. But on their wedding night, the madwoman cut off Wang Lao'er's member. Blood flowed like a river; crawling out the door, his hands covered in blood, Wang Lao'er pointed at the madwoman and wailed, "This madwoman! I kindly…

Editor's review

Set against a rural backdrop, *Oranges* uses the figure of a woman the villagers call the "madwoman" to explore reality and the condition of women. The novel opens with a strikingly violent episode, but the author does not linger on the sensational; instead, through the contrast between "mad" and "not mad," she reveals how discursive power is distributed in village society and what lies behind a woman's silence. The prose is restrained and the narrative pace steady; the main tension arises from the characters' relationships and village gossip. This is a book for readers interested in feminism and rural realism, best read slowly and quietly. As you read, pay attention to how the label "mad" is used by those around her, and to the contrast between the protagonist's silence and her actions—these two points are key to understanding the book's intent.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in fiction on feminism and rural realism
Literary readers who prefer restrained narration and are willing to read closely for character situations
Readers interested in village public opinion and gender power relations

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting light, sweet romance or fast-paced wish-fulfillment fiction
Readers sensitive to or uncomfortable with depictions of violence

Reading tips

First read the opening conflict without preconceptions, then revisit the character relationships to understand where the "mad" label comes from.
While reading, notice how village gossip is narrated and consider who is defining the protagonist's "madness."
Read alongside comparable rural women's fiction and compare the differences in narrative perspective.

About the publisher

Jiangsu Kuwei Culture Development Co., Ltd. China · Founded in 2014

Jiangsu Kuwei Culture Development Co., Ltd. is a cultural enterprise focused on planning and publishing literature and social science books. Public information is limited, and the available details come mainly from its in-house catalogue. Its publishing areas cover prose and essays, foreign literature, social science classics, mystery and detective fiction, and history books, with attention to reissues and boxed sets of classic works. Representative titles include Wang Zengqi's essay collection Renjian Youwei, Wanwu Youqu, The Little Prince, a boxed set of Western philosophical classics, Mao Dun's classic works, a collection of Yasunari Kawabata's award-winning works, Cai Lan's essays, and the Eddie Flynn courtroom mystery series. Its authors include Chinese and foreign names such as Wang Zengqi, Mao Dun, Yasunari Kawabata, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Plato, and Marcus Aurelius, reflecting a publishing profile that brings together Chinese prose, foreign literature, and philosophical and social science classics.

版权信息
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章

FAQ

What is the relationship between the title "Oranges" and the story?

The materials do not explain a direct correspondence between the title and the plot. From the text, "Oranges" seems more like a symbolic title, forming a kind of contrast with the protagonist's situation of being watched and labeled. Readers are advised to note passages where oranges or related objects appear and to understand the author's intent in context.

Is the protagonist, the "madwoman," really mad?

The synopsis explicitly states, "They say she is mad, but she is not—she is simply quiet and withdrawn," indicating that "mad" is more a label imposed on her by the villagers. Her silence and extreme actions need to be understood in the context of specific plot developments; one should not judge based solely on the opening event.

Is this book suitable as an introductory text for understanding feminism?

It is a realist novel under the feminist label, not a theoretical work. If you want to experience gender situations and rural discourse through literature, it can serve as supplementary reading; if you need a systematic conceptual overview, it is advisable to pair it with theoretical works.

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About the author

火龙果 Author

Huolongguo is a Chinese-language author about whom little public information is available. Seven of the author's works are held in the collection, spanning classic works, social fiction, and modern romance. The representative titles suggest a fairly varied body of writing: Tear Open the World's Her unfolds across four volumes, while Good Days and Half an Ordinary Life lean toward social fiction, and The Charlatan, On the Self-Cultivation a Young Lady Ought to Have, Women in Marriage, and Oranges carry a modern-romance flavor. The titles range widely in subject matter, touching on both everyday life and emotional relationships, and together point to sustained efforts in popular narrative writing. Since dates of birth and death, nationality, and an English name are all unrecorded, this note offers no speculation and sketches the author's profile solely from the available bibliographic information for readers' reference.