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” It has a story by Yan Lianke who’s thought of as one of the most critical voices in the literary sphere. He lambasts and satirizes various moves the Chinese Communist Party has made, and his works are often banned inside of China. Then there are other writers represented in the collection who work inside the official writers’ organizations or who are not particularly political. You get pieces by writers who had very little schooling and learned to write while they were working in factories, as well as poets and writers who have an almost punk sensibility. Then you also have representations of more refined writing. There is also a lot of attention to how different regions can be in terms of writing. There’s a heavy representation of writers from the Northeast. It’s a way to get out of a Beijing or Shanghai-centric view of China. That’s what I really liked about it.” Read more...
Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Historian
