The Book of Shanghai (Reading The City)

Author(s): Dai Congrong (Editor), Jin Li (Editor)

Location(s): Shanghai

Genre(s): Short Stories

Era(s): Variouss

As the end of the world arrives in downtown Shanghai, one man’s only wish is to return a library book…

When a publisher agrees to let a star author use his company’s attic to write in, little does he suspect this will become the author s permanent residence…

Shanghai succumbs to a seemingly apocalyptic deluge, a man takes refuge in his bathtub, only to find himself, moments later, floating through the city’s streets…

The characters in this literary exploration of one of the world s biggest cities are all on a mission. Whether it is responding to events around them, or following some impulse of their own, they are defined by their determination a refusal to lose themselves in a city that might otherwise leave them anonymous, disconnected, alone.

From the neglected mother whose side-hustle in collecting sellable waste becomes an obsession, to the schoolboy determined to end a long-standing feud between his family and another, these characters show a defiance that reminds us why Shanghai despite its hurtling economic growth remains an epicentre for individual creativity.

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