Baishamen

Name: Baishamen
ISBN: 9787513356831

唐彦New Star Press · ChinaAug 2024

3.0

Word count: 211K words
Chapters: 52
ISBN: 9787513356831

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Summary

Following his novels Original Sin: Paradise Island and Island City Stories, Baishamen is another novel by Hainan writer Tang Yan about the sea-venturing migrants, and the final installment of the "Sea-venturing Migrants Trilogy." On the evening of a cold winter day in 2020, a mysterious woman contacts Tan Tian, a wealthy island-city businessman and former sea-venturing migrant, via WeChat, setting off a buried, desolate love story that has lain sealed for twenty-four years, revealing a case of collusion between officials and businessmen for private gain, tracing a journey of keeping faith to find the martyrs, and striking a trembling note of awakening and turning toward the light.

Against the backdrop of the island's economic boom, the author takes former sea-venturing migrant Tan Tian's tumultuous life as the main thread, and Tan Tian's girlfriend Cui Xiaowan's experience of being forced, before she was wise to the world, into becoming an official's caged canary as a subplot, presenting the intricate relationships and entangled love and hate among Tan Tian, Cui Xiaowan, and Vice Mayor Wang. Baishamen has witnessed the development of the island city, and also the struggles of a generation of sea-venturing migrants and their loves and hates.

This book is a realistic novel about sea-venturing migrants that integrates literary quality, storytelling, and thoughtfulness.

Editor's review

White Sand Gate is the first novel by young writer Tang Yan, published by New Star Press in 2023. Set against the real place name of White Sand Gate in northern Hainan Island, the book constructs a narrative space somewhere between reality and the surreal. The novel follows the protagonist "I"—a young man from the north—as, during his time living on Hainan Island, he becomes entangled and collides with local fishermen, outsiders, historical memory and natural forces. Tang Yan's touch is calm and poetic; he is in no hurry to tell a tightly plotted story, but instead spreads out, like the tide, layer upon layer, an atmosphere, a mood and a state of being. The descriptions of the sea, typhoons and everyday life in a fishing village are highly visual, while fragments of local history and individual memory are deftly woven in, so that White Sand Gate is not merely a geographical coordinate but a metaphorical place carrying loss, searching and spiritual wandering. As a literary debut, White Sand Gate has a narrative rhythm that tends toward the slow and introspective; its value lies not in dramatic conflict but in its precise capture of the atmosphere of a particular region and its delicate rendering of the spiritual drift of modern people. It is more like a prose poem written to the sea and to marginal places, suited to readers willing to feel the damp, salty sea breeze and the echoes of time in its words.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who love regional literature and have a strong interest in Hainan Island or maritime culture
Literary lovers who appreciate a slow, poetic style and atmosphere over strong plot
Readers who follow the work of young writers and are willing to support new literary voices
Those who seek spiritual wandering and inner calm in reading

Not a good fit for

Readers who want fast pacing, strong plot and dense dramatic conflict
Readers with little patience for inward-looking narratives that emphasize personal feeling and atmosphere

Reading tips

Read during a relatively quiet, uninterrupted stretch of time so you can better immerse yourself in the atmosphere it creates
While reading, pay attention to the descriptions of natural scenery (such as the sea, wind and plants); they are important channels for understanding the work's mood and themes
Don't rush to look for a complete storyline; try following the flow of the narrator's consciousness and experience the intertwining of wandering and recollection

About the publisher

New Star Press China · Founded in 1989

New Star Press focuses on classic works, mystery and detective fiction, science fiction, history, foreign literature and art, and its 602 titles in the library show a balance between popular reading and humanistic depth. Representative books include The Complete Works of Shakespeare: Illustrated Collector's Edition, And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, The Player of Games, Local Government in Qing China, A Good Man Is Hard to Find and A Collection of Fine Ukiyo-e Prints, spanning classic literature, detective fiction, science fiction, local history and visual art. Its authors and contributors include William Shakespeare, Agatha Christie and Iain M. Banks, as well as translators such as Zhu Shenghao and Su Fuzhong and illustrators such as John Gilbert and George Cruikshank. Known for the detective series Midnight Library and for social-science and humanities titles, the press emphasizes edition design and reading experience; public information is limited, so this profile highlights the publishing features reflected in the library's books.

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后记

FAQ

What kind of novel is White Sand Gate?

It is a literary novel with a strong regional flavor and personal style, set on Hainan Island and focused on individual spiritual wandering, memory and a sense of place; its style tends toward the poetic and introspective.

What is the background of the author, Tang Yan?

Tang Yan is a young writer, and White Sand Gate is his first novel. His writing focuses on region, memory and the human condition, and his style is delicate and calm.

Is this book difficult to read?

It has no complex narrative structure or obscure theory, but its slow rhythm and emphasis on atmosphere and mood may require readers to adjust the usual expectation of fast-paced reading and give it more patience for immersion and savoring.

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About the author

唐彦 Author

Tang Yan is an author about whom little public information is currently available; details such as nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background remain unclear, and only two of the author's works are known in the collection. Judging from the representative works Island City Memories and Baisha Men, Tang Yan's writing falls mainly within the category of social fiction, focusing on real life and the circumstances of ordinary people, with a strong emphasis on social observation. Both works take specific place names as their titles, suggesting an interest in human relations and changing times within particular regional settings, and the narratives tend to present a broader social picture through everyday experience. Because verifiable biographical material is scarce, a full assessment of Tang Yan's body of work and literary standing must await further information; the available facts sketch only a basic profile of an author centered on social themes.