2018: Chinese fiction in translation
Our reviews of Chinese fiction—novels and short story collections—in translation this year.
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“Hidden Words Hidden Worlds: Contemporary Short Stories from Myanmar”, edited by Lucas Stewart and Alfred Birnbaum
The crisis of recent months between the majority Buddhist Burmese and minority Islamic group calling themselves Rohingya serves as a reminder that Myanmar (Burma) is not a unified country in the sense of one nation, one state. The central government’s overreaction to an increase in Islamic radicalization in some rural areas by the brutal expulsion…
“Shop Cats” of Hong Kong & China by Marcel Heijnen
Dutch photographer Marcel Heijnen lived in Hong Kong in the 1990s and left for Singapore around the Handover. When he returned in 2015, he was happy to see that some parts of the territory hadn’t changed much. Sai Ying Pun (“Western”), the area where he moved, still enjoyed small mom and pop shops, many of…
“Chinese Lessons: An American mother teaches her children how to be Chinese in China” by Patti Waldmeir
Contrary to popular belief, it is not, nor has it been, easy to adopt a child from China. Babies do not exit the country like cheap electronics and fast fashion. But there was one period when the doors were slightly ajar. It was during this period that Patti Waldmeir was able to adopt two baby…
“Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist” by Julie Leung
As a child growing up in Atlanta, author Julie Leung didn’t have the opportunity to read about inspiring Chinese-Americans and, specifically, Chinese-American artists. When she learned about Tyrus Wong, the artist who created the style in the Walt Disney film Bambi, through his New York Times obituary, Leung decided to write his story in the…
“Simple Heart” by Cho Haejin
A child was abandoned on the train tracks of Cheongnyangni Station, Seoul. Nothing was known of her before that moment—no certificates, no paperwork. She would grow up to be called Munju by her foster father, then Esther by the nuns at the orphanages, and finally given the name Nana by her French adoptive parents. Those…
“A Career of Japan: Baron Raimund von Stillfried and Early Yokohama Photography” by Luke Gartlan
If you turn to page 105 in this book you will see two extraordinary figures standing and facing each other in a colored albumen print from 1872. They both have bare feet; one wears a light-blue three-quarter length robe, rather like an elegant silk dressing-gown, and the other a similar one of a darker color, with…
