A Chinese Winter's Tale
A Chinese Winter's Tale
By Yu Luojin
Translated by Rachel May and Chu Chiyu
1986; 1988; 1990; 1995; 2001
xix + 210 pages
ISBN 962-201-383-X
A Chinese Winter's Tale is an intensely personal account of a young woman's experiences during the Cultural Revolution. It has here been translated for the first time into English from the original unexpurgated text.
It tells the story of the author's marriage, her traumatic discovery of her own sexual ignorance, the repeated beatings she suffers at her husband's hands; of the love affair that at first seems to offer a rebirth of feeling, but that ultimately leads to an even more profound disenchantment.
A Chinese Winter's Tale is also a compelling social document. Its harrowing account of the arrest, imprisonment and execution of the author's brother, its vivid depiction of Red Guard violence, of political paranoia, of daily life in a Chinese labour camp and in the backward countryside of the Great Northern Wilderness, its daring portrayal of sex, above all its emotional honesty and spirited tone, have made it—even in its censored form—one of the most widely read and controversial works of literature in contemporary China.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Frontispiece — vi
Introduction — vii
1. First Acquaintance — 1
2. Memories: The Diary — 17
3. Memories: The Raid — 25
4. Memories: Labour Cure — 37
5. Memories: A Visit Home — 47
6. Memories: Hebei Province, in search of a husband — 67
7. Memories: Off to the Northeast — and into a marriage! — 85
8. A True Friend — 109
9. A Moonlit Night — 119
10. The Choice — 135
11. My Sacrifice, and its Reward — 145
12. Tale End — 153
Photographs — 164
Map — 172
Glossary — 173
Biographical Notes — 207
Review(s)
Review(s)
'… a frightening account of … endless persecution and deprivation …'
—The China Quarterly
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AUTHOR(s)
Yu Luojin is one of the most outspoken women writers to have
emerged in China since 1949. She now lives in Germany. -
TRANSLATOR(s)
Rachel May studied English literature in England and taught English in China from 1980 to 1982.
Chu Chiyu heads the translation programme at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.