The people of Yanjin know to always have a few jokes on hand.

For three thousand years, they have been terrorised by Hua Erniang, a forsaken spirit that rules over their dreams. Failing to amuse this supernatural guest means not waking up at all, crushed by her jilted heart which has calcified into a mountain.

Growing up inside a town adapting to socialist ideals, Mingliang's life is beset with hardship and adversity that leaves his family in tatters. Seeking fortune elsewhere, he heads west across China's vast central plain, encountering nothing but restless souls mortgaged to debts from former lives, each unwilling to move on for their own reasons.

No matter how many times you try to start afresh, you can only run so far from a broken home. Some wounds take more than a lifetime to heal, but in the meantime, a few wisecracks tucked into the back pocket won't hurt.

A lame joke can be a crushing experience

About the Author
Liu Zhenyun is an author of novels and short stories, winning many awards including the prestigious Mao Dun Literature Prize. His works have been translated into 23 languages, and in 2018, he was honoured with France's Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters for his contributions to world literature. A number of his novels have been adapted into films, for which Liu himself wrote the screenplays. Howard Goldblatt is the translator of more than fifty works in Chinese, including the novels of Nobel laureate Mo Yan, for which he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. A former academic, his translations have won two Man Asia Literary Prizes. He has received two grants from the National Endowment of the Arts. Sylvia Li-chun Lin is an award-winning translator and writer. She has translated short stories and novels from Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. A former professor at the University of Notre Dame, she is the recipient of a translation grant from the National Endowment of the Arts.

Reviews

"Liu Zhenyun's works have achieved great success with the Chinese people. They have been translated into over 20 languages and enthusiastically received by audiences the world over. A pioneer in magical realism, Liu is also considered by many to be China's greatest humorist." - Award ceremony, Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (France)

"Liu Zhenyun establishes a narrative form that is complicated yet concise, and his works are endowed with cultural and philosophical significance. Traversing the rise and fall of all living things in this vast world of ours, he offers an exquisite analysis of the spiritual conditions of the Chinese people. In his tireless examination of Chinese style and the Chinese heart, he carries on the spirit of critical reflection from the May Fourth era, while at the same time echoing the traditions of classical literature. The results are original and remarkable." - on Someone to Talk To, 8th Mao Dun Literature Prize

Book Information
ISBN 9781838905835
Author Liu
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Sinoist Books
Publisher ACA Publishing Limited