Black Skirt

Name: Black Skirt
ISBN: 9787540252809

李倩Beijing Yanshan Press · ChinaFeb 2024

3.5

Word count: 176K words
Chapters: 51
ISBN: 9787540252809

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Summary

Independent, ambitious, and full of dreams, An Qian joins the international hotel brand EL BENCH after graduating from university. From personal butler to department director, she navigates the bewilderment of early career life, the clash between ideals and reality, and the friction between love and work. Over ten years, relying on her unyielding spirit and singular creativity, An Qian ultimately becomes the first Chinese general manager in the history of the EL BENCH hotel group—and finds a beautiful love of her own along the way.

Editor's review

Black Dress is a collection of novellas and short stories by the writer Li Qian, including seven pieces such as "Black Dress," "White Chrysanthemum," and "Red Kapok." These stories adopt a female perspective, delicately portraying urban women's predicaments, struggles, and self-awakening in love, the workplace, and the family. Li Qian's prose is cool and sharp; she excels at revealing the undercurrents in her characters' hearts through the details of daily life and subtle interpersonal interactions. The women in these stories often wear a "black dress"—an image that is both an elegant disguise imposed by social discipline and a metaphor for their inner strength and complexity. The author offers no cheap redemption; instead, she leads readers to face the trivialities and helplessness of life, and the glimmers of light within them. The book's literary value lies in its precise psychological portraiture and restrained narrative style: it does not pursue dramatic plot twists but gathers force in the ordinary, prompting readers to think deeply about the conditions of modern women's lives. For readers who enjoy literary short fiction and care about women's issues, this is a work that offers an immersive reading experience and lingers in the mind long after.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers interested in the living conditions and inner worlds of contemporary women
Readers of novellas and short stories who appreciate delicate prose focused on psychological description and atmosphere
Readers seeking texture and human depth in understated narratives
Readers concerned with urban relationships and emotional themes

Not a good fit for

Readers who want strong plots, fast pacing, and clear resolutions
Readers with no interest in realist fiction or women's perspectives

Reading tips

Read in order to sense the subtle echoes of imagery and theme across the different pieces.
Pay attention to details of clothing and color; they are often key to understanding a character's state of mind and the core of the story.
After reading, pause for a moment to consider the unspoken gaps and the complexity of the characters' choices.

About the publisher

Beijing Yanshan Press China · Founded in 1985

Beijing Yanshan Press is a publisher distinguished by its focus on cultural relics and museology, Beijing regional history and literature, fine literature, and classical documents and ancient books, forming a publishing direction known as the “four literary and one ancient” approach. According to in-house data, the press has published 190 titles, covering social psychology, inspirational growth, Eastern philosophy, popular science, martial arts fiction, and management. Representative books include Maslow’s Motivation and Personality, Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, Chen Lisheng’s Wang Yangming’s “Unity of All Things”, Zhang Jiexin’s The Three Heroes and Five Gallants, and Peng Jianfeng’s Mechanisms Create Talent and Reimagining the Organization. Its author resources include Maslow, Carnegie, Fang Shihua, and Zheng Sijie. Public information is limited; its publishing features emphasize classic translations, academic research, and the organization and dissemination of traditional martial arts texts.

版权信息
Chapter 1 职场萌芽：理想比什么都重要
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Chapter 2 海绵“菜鸟”：机会来源于坚持
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Chapter 3 十字路口：初心不改的选择
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Chapter 4 业绩，业绩：每一次重要的冲刺
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Chapter 5 离开舒适圈：中国人才“混迹”海外酒店
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Chapter 6 情定海岛：爱情还是与职场邂逅啦
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FAQ

Is this a novel or a short story collection?

It is a collection of novellas and short stories, consisting of seven standalone pieces that resonate thematically with one another.

Is the tone heavy or warm?

The tone is cool, realistic, even somewhat austere. It presents the complex facets of life without deliberately creating warmth or sentimentality, though glimmers of humanity and resilience are not absent.

Does the author Li Qian have other well-known works?

Li Qian is a writer with a distinctive style. In addition to Black Dress, she is the author of works such as As If Yesterday, and she continues to explore the inner lives of urban women.

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About the author

李倩 Author

Li Qian is an author whose public biographical information is limited. Her works span a notably wide range of subjects, including applied psychology, inspirational growth, legal practice, social culture, health, and management. Across the eleven titles already published, she attends to inner individual experience, as in her writing on healing for survivors of complex trauma, and distills wisdom and courage from the life of her father, Bruce Lee. She has also written on civil litigation procedure, the VR industry and consumer surveys, breast cancer-related health topics, the history of French business, and fiction. Her style tends to combine practicality with readability, translating specialized or experiential material into writing accessible to general readers, and her work on psychological healing and personal growth is especially attuned to readers' needs.