Floating City

Name: Floating City
ISBN: 9787542662187

Liang XiaoshengShanghai Joint Publishing Company · ChinaJun 2019

3.5

Word count: 292K words
Chapters: 12
ISBN: 9787542662187

Report an error Find this book

Summary

When a disaster strikes without warning, a city breaks away from the mainland overnight and drifts like a lone island amid raging waves. From then on, the "Floating City" is like a giant ship, carrying its bewildered people toward an unknown fate. A besieged floating city, a war between humans and gulls—thrilling and appalling, too dreadful to describe. Facing crisis after crisis as conflicts of interest erupt, the novel lays bare the worst of human nature: cruelty turned into a game, venomous jealousy, the ugliness of mutual hatred among fellow citizens, and the psychological virus of anarchy...

Reading Floating City, we seem to witness the myriad ways people at the end of the century behave across every level of society as they sink into an awkward and terrifying predicament—leaving every reader filled with an indescribable melancholy and desolation.

Editor's review

Floating City is a novel by Liang Xiaosheng written in the early 1990s, marked by strong allegorical color and a critical spirit. It imagines the absurd event of an island called "Floating City" breaking away from the mainland and drifting out to sea, and against this backdrop vividly depicts the complex spectrum of human nature amid drastic social change—from initial shock and bewilderment to subsequent greed, madness, factional strife, and moral collapse, and finally to despair and nihilism. The work transcends any specific historical narrative; with its highly imaginative premise and cold, sharp brushwork, it constructs a grand metaphor about human destiny, the collective unconscious, and the survival of civilization.

As an editor, I believe the value of Floating City lies in its enduring intellectual edge and literary texture. It is not merely a product of a particular era but a mirror reflecting universal human nature. Liang Xiaosheng fuses an intellectual's anxieties, an analysis of national character, and existential questioning, so that the drift of "Floating City" becomes a symbol of the spiritual predicament that any reader might encounter. Its portrayal of group psychology and its exposure of the relationship between power and desire remain startlingly relevant today. The prose is dense, the imagery rich, and the narrative moves between the real and the surreal, offering a tense and thought-provoking reading experience. It is a serious literary work that requires patient savoring and can bring readers deep shock and lasting reflection.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in contemporary Chinese literature and social change who want intellectually substantial works
Literary lovers who enjoy allegorical, symbolic fiction and the pleasure of multiple layers of interpretation
Thoughtful readers concerned with group psychology, human nature, and social critique
Readers who want to understand Liang Xiaosheng's early style and the critical-realist side of his literary world

Not a good fit for

Casual readers seeking light entertainment and fast, plot-driven reading
Readers who find strongly metaphorical and speculative prose obscure or impatient-making

Reading tips

Read it alongside Liang Xiaosheng's later works such as A Lifelong Journey to understand the constant humanistic concern and varied artistic methods in his oeuvre.
Do not over-insist on matching the story to specific historical figures; focus instead on the universal human nature and existential condition revealed at the allegorical level.
The atmosphere is oppressive and heavy; read it in intervals and leave room for aftertaste and reflection.

About the publisher

Shanghai Joint Publishing Company China · Founded in 1986

Shanghai Joint Publishing Company focuses on humanities and social science publishing and has developed a distinctive profile in the collation and translation of classical literature and world classics. Its 258 titles in the database cover classical literature, world classics, foreign literature, literary appreciation, general biography, and modern poetry. Representative publications include the Annotated Dream of the Red Chamber by Zhiyanzhai series, as well as collected and selected works by classic authors such as Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Shakespeare. Its authors and translators include Cao Xueqin, Zhiyanzhai, Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Zang Zhonglun, Zeng Siyi, Xu Zhenya, and Cao Ying. The press emphasizes the annotated collation of classic texts and the publication of authoritative translations, forming a publishing profile that spans both Chinese classical literature and world literary classics. Because public information on some details of its publishing history is limited, they are not discussed here.

版权信息
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章
第十一章

FAQ

Is Floating City a science fiction novel?

Not in the traditional sense. It uses a surreal allegorical premise (a city drifting away from the mainland), but its core is social analysis and a human experiment conducted through this extreme situation. It is essentially serious critical-realist literature, focusing on philosophical and sociological inquiry rather than technological imagination.

Is its style very different from A Lifelong Journey, for which the author won the Mao Dun Literature Prize?

The difference is striking. A Lifelong Journey is an epic realist masterpiece depicting the fate of an ordinary family amid the tides of history, warm and weighty; Floating City is more absurd and symbolic, with a cold, sharp style, focusing on the psychology of social groups and abstract metaphor, more experimental and critically pointed—another important facet of Liang Xiaosheng's writing.

Is Floating City difficult to read?

It has a certain threshold. It does not rely on intricate plot but advances through dense imagery, group portraits, and intellectual expression. It requires patience, an interest in observing society and human nature, and a willingness to interpret symbolic texts. Readers used to traditional linear narrative may find it challenging at first.

Related on WeRead

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Liang Xiaosheng Author · Chinese · 1949

Liang Xiaosheng is a contemporary Chinese writer, born in 1949 in Harbin, with ancestral roots in Rongcheng, Shandong. His original name is Liang Shaosheng. In 1968 he went to the Great Northern Wilderness as a sent-down youth, and in 1977 he graduated from the Chinese Department of Fudan University. He later worked as an editor at the Beijing Film Studio and as a professor at Beijing Language and Culture University. Known for his novels about educated youth, he draws much of his material from his years in the Great Northern Wilderness and from the lives of ordinary people. His plain, substantial style intertwines personal fate with social change. His representative works include *Tonight There Is a Snowstorm*, *Snow City*, *The Ring of Years*, and *The Human World*; in 2019 he received the 10th Mao Dun Literature Prize. His writing also touches on themes of inspiration and personal growth and has reached a wide readership.