Blogs in December 2014

Red Dust 29th December 2014

In 1983, Ma Jian turned 30 and was overwhelmed by the desire to escape the confines of his life in Beijing. With his long hair, jeans and artistic friends, Ma Jian was under surveillance from his work unit and...

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The Dark Road 1st January 1970

The Dark Road is an angrier, more openly confrontational novel than its predecessors (Red Dust and Beijing Coma). Set in the river towns and vast waste sites that line the banks of the Yangtze in Guangdong province, it tackles...

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Beijing Coma 1st January 1970

Dai Wei lies in his bedroom, a prisoner in his body, after he was shot in the head at the Tiananmen Square protest ten years earlier and left in a coma. As his mother tends to him, and his...

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