The Big Bus

张燕燕Dalian Publishing House · ChinaMay 2025

Rating 3.5
Word count
306K words
Chapters
72
ISBN
9787550511071

Tags

Social Fiction Regional TransformationCommon Man EpicCity MemoryDalian SceneryTide of the TimesLocal LiteratureCentury-Old Trams

Summary

A title in the Dalian Fine Literary and Artistic Works Creation and Production "5511" Project, Da Gongjiao is local author Zhang Yanyan's devoted portrait of the Dalian tram's winding journey through more than a century, unfolding a hundred-year panorama of the city's history.

Editor's review

Da Gongjiao writes a city's hundred-year transformation through its tram lines, and the entry point is very concrete: tracks, platforms, carriages and the daily lives of passengers all serve as carriers of urban memory. As a selected novel in the Dalian Fine Literary and Artistic Works Creation and Production "5511" Project, it carries a clear sense of local writing and will appeal to readers interested in urban history, transport history and the regional culture of Northeast China. It need not be read as dry local gazetteer material; the novel is more likely to present the changes of the times through the fates of its characters and the extension of the lines. Readers can follow the renewal of the tram routes and observe changes in urban space and ordinary people's lives. Its value lies in turning an everyday facility like public transport into an emotionally warm urban symbol, giving local readers a sense of familiarity and helping outsiders understand the rhythm of life in a port city. It suits slow reading, with a map at hand or memories of city streets in mind.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Before reading, learn the basic routes of the Dalian tram to build a sense of space.
  2. Sort the main characters and route changes along a timeline so names and dates do not scatter your attention.
  3. Local readers can read alongside the stops they know, keeping fictional plot and urban memory separate.
  4. Slow down at passages dealing with historical background; there is no need to race through.

About the publisher

Dalian Publishing House China · Founded in 1987

Dalian Publishing House is a Chinese publisher focusing on children's literature, primary and secondary school education, and urban culture books. Its catalogue contains 218 titles, covering common categories such as world classics, general biography, classical poetry, foreign literature, essays and miscellaneous writings, and science fiction. Representative books include the "Fantasy World Classic Masterpieces" series, such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Wind in the Willows, biographies such as Qu Yuan, an anthology of famous Tang and Song ci poems selected by Zhu Shenghao and Song Qingru, and the "Dajia Wencong" essay collections. Its author resources include Chinese and foreign writers and scholars such as Lewis Carroll, Kenneth Grahame, You Guoen, Zhu Shenghao, and Song Qingru. The publisher has developed certain strengths in children's literature and the introduction of classic works; publicly available information on its publishing background is limited.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 大连市文艺精品创作生产“5511”工程项目委员会
  3. 本书编委会
  4. 序
  5. 上篇
  6. 一
  7. 二
  8. 三
  9. 四
  10. 五
  11. 六
  12. 七
  13. 八
  14. 九
  15. 十
  16. 十一
  17. 十二
  18. 十三
  19. 十四
  20. 十五
  21. 十六
  22. 十七
  23. 十八
  24. 十九
  25. 二十
  26. 二十一
  27. 二十二
  28. 二十三
  29. 二十四
  30. 二十五
  31. 二十六
  32. 二十七
  33. 二十八
  34. 二十九
  35. 三十
  36. 三十一
  37. 中篇
  38. 一
  39. 二
  40. 三
  41. 四
  42. 五
  43. 六
  44. 七
  45. 八
  46. 九
  47. 十
  48. 十一
  49. 十二
  50. 十三
  51. 十四
  52. 十五
  53. 十六
  54. 十七
  55. 十八
  56. 十九
  57. 二十
  58. 二十一
  59. 二十二
  60. 二十三
  61. 二十四
  62. 下篇
  63. 一
  64. 二
  65. 三
  66. 四
  67. 五
  68. 六
  69. 七
  70. 八
  71. 九
  72. 尾声

FAQ

Is this book nonfiction or a novel? The materials identify it as a novel selected for the Dalian Fine Literary and Artistic Works Creation and Production "5511" Project. It takes the hundred-year history of the Dalian tram as its subject, but the specific characters and plot are fictional creation and should not be cited as strict local transport history.
Can I read it without knowing Dalian? Yes, but it takes a little patience. The story has a strong local background, and readers familiar with Dalian's streets and tram routes will enter it more easily; outside readers can first learn the basic city geography and focus on the characters' fates and the changes of the times.
Is it suitable as a urban-culture reading recommendation for students? It suits extracurricular reading for secondary and university students interested in local history, but if used for course recommendation, teachers should supplement real materials on the development of the Dalian tram to help students distinguish fictional narrative from historical fact.

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About the author

张燕燕 Author

Zhang Yanyan is an author about whom little public information is available; three of her works are included in the database. Judging from their subjects, her writing spans foreign literature, social fiction and documentary literature, with a focus on how ordinary people live and feel within specific social circumstances. Her representative works include The Lie Life of Adults, which touches on concealment and truth in the adult world; Dagongjiao, which turns its attention to the everyday crowds in urban public space; and Dahua Factory, Dahua People, which records the relationship between a factory and its workers in a documentary manner. Though the three works differ in subject, they all lean toward realism, with plain language and attention to characters' situations and concrete detail rather than heavily dramatized plots. Since no reliable public information is available on her birth and death dates, nationality, education or writing career, no inferences are made here; this note simply outlines her writing focus based on the existing titles for readers' reference.