One of China's most influential writers, Han Han hopes to influence the world with his writings.
Author/ critic/racecar driver Han Han will be published in English this fall through American publishing company Simon and Schuster, according to a New Yorker article last year. A collection of his blog posts and short issue as well as a novel is currently planned for the author.
The author, known for his subversive tales and the edgy comments, has recently been brought to the spotlight in Western media, with the Times naming him one of the 100 most influential people in the world and publications New York Times featuring him. In China, he is embroiled in his own news wars, with the threat of a lawsuit against a defamer. Last year, his book “1988: I want to talk with the world” was China’s 4th most sold book, just after two of Guo Jingming’s books and a first translation of A Hundred Years of Solitude (a huge step up from 2010, where the most popular translated novel was Twilight) .
Even China's richest author feels protective of his father.
idarklight’s note: I translated this a long time ago, and he wrote this even longer ago. Nevertheless, I think it deserves to be put up. No matter what you do wrong or what anyone accuses of you, there’s always your family standing behind you. Don’t forget to wish your father a Happy Father’s Day!
A few years ago, 200 thousand yuan was a big sum of money for me. That time, it was father’s fiftieth birthday, and father learned to drive.
I thought for a long time what to get father. In the end, I tightened my belt and decided to give him a car.
A publishing merchant heard that I wanted to buy a car, so he recommended the editor of a newspaper’s auto section to me. Every issue of that newspaper has a whole spread about cars; they knew cars like the back of their own hands. They said that they could help me pick a car, and then send it to my hometown Zigong, and give it to my father. I happily agreed.
The day after father received the car, I was in Shanghai; when I went downstairs to buy something, I saw the newspaper. On it was a picture of my father. Father sat on the car, his hands on the steering wheel; he was a little shy, but still smiled very happily. I picked up the newspaper and saw the large title on it: “the ridiculous smile of someone who suddenly got rich.” (more…)
Liu Shishi plays a modern girl who accidentally travels back to the Qing dynasty and finds herself caught in a web of love and power struggles.
Ever get bored with the lists of upcoming dramas that end with the words “remake?” Ever wonder why is it that so many recent Chinese dramas have been remakes or re-adaptations?
Until recently, Chinese popular literature was rare. Whereas Japan (and other East Asian nations) could draw back on its mangas as a source for stories, China only found such a source for more light-hearted TV series with its recent boom in pop lit. Luckily, with the advent of the Internet and the recent explosion of internet novels that followed, more and more series are finding their inspiration through those new writings.
Most recently, two popular such adaptations include Du Lala’s Promotions and Summer of Bubbles. And while some adaptations will fail in this stage of trial and error, you can definitely expect to see more dramas based on internet novels. One particularly popular genre has been time-traveling series. It comes no surprise, then, when Bu Bu Xin Jing, one of the first and most popular of the genre, was announced to be made into a series. While this unfortunately is set in the Qing dynasty of shaved heads, more adaptations are certainly to come. Scriptwriter Yu Zheng has already announced the adaptation of Song in the Cloud (云中歌), another novel by the same author that follows the tale of wolf-girl Cloud Song (云歌) as she leaves her home in the deserts to seek her childhood love in the Han capital of Chang’an (Xi’an). I’m beyond excited for that particular adaptation, for not only the way more beautiful clothing, but also the semi-magical realm it creates.
In Bu Bu Jing Xin, Liu Shishi plays a modern girl who one day woke up as Maertai Ruoxi, the daughter of a high Qing official in the reign of Kangxi. Caught between her love for the doomed 8th prince (Kevin Cheng) and the seemingly cold 4th prince (Nicky Wu), she faces the questions of following her heart or following history. Can she change history with love? Or should she give up love to stay alive?
A long time ago, in Yi Yao’s memories, the fountain was still very pretty. At that time, she had just entered school. The school’s front doors were still being fixed, so all the students entered from this back door.
During that time, the fountain would have pretty waterfalls everyday, and a lot of girls and boys sat around the fountain to eat together. From the plant in the middle of the fountain, on the statue, would fall countless baby green or soft pink buds, floating on the water surface, and being eaten by the red fishes in the water.
Until later, the front door was done building, and all the students entered that way. Slowly, no one ever came to this former door anymore.
Until that winter, when because there are no more students throwing bread crumbs into the pool, so the last fish in the pool slowly floated onto the surface, its white stomach shining a shade of green under the sunlight.
Yi Yao took off her jacket and squeezed the water out of it. Her clothes are almost all soaked.
Two puddles immediately formed under her feet, and Yi Yao raised her hand to wipe off the wet water on her face.
She turned around, and saw Gu Senxi, his pants rolled up, a boy’s strong thighs soaked in the black pool water.
He picked up the last book, shook it, opened it and then put it at the edge of the pool to dry. Then he came out of the pool.
Yi Yao didn’t care about the Gu Senxi standing behind her, grabbed the pile of wet books, and started to leave the school. As she was about to exit the school door, Yi Yao raised her head and saw Qi Ming.
In her mind flashed back that text in her cellphone like captions
–Teacher held me back for something. I can’t wait for you today. You go home first.”
And in the background, was the backs of Qi Ming and a girl walking together. The two pushed their bikes very, very slowly, Qi Ming’s face was facing the girl, her hair blown open by the wind, refreshing and clean. In Qi Ming’s backseat was a very intricate box.
–it’s hard to guess whether it’s ready to be given, or just received.
But perhaps these are no longer important.
Yi Yao walked behind them, at the same slow speed.
The wind blew on her, and the clothes touching the skin spread a wet cold around her. But she seems to have already lost the feeling of coldness.
Only that the hand hugging the books are too tight, giving her a stream of sour pain.
Cfensi is having a bookclub, with Guo Jingming’s Tiny Times as our first book! Practice your Chinese by reading the number one Chinese pop lit (and soon(?) to be movie and TV series) with us. Read more about it here.
Yi Yao looked down, and slowly gave back the crumpled pink bill back to the boy.
She picked up the broomstick, and walked to the classrooms upstairs.
She turned around and looked at the stranger’s face in the sunset. She said, “No matter you believe it or not, I really didn’t.”
Yi Yao turned again and hurried her steps upstairs. Behind came the boy’s low voice, “Hey, my name is Gu Senxin. I really didn’t give you money because …”
Yi Yao didn’t wait for him to finish. She turned, and kicked the trashcan in his direction.
The plastic trash can rolled down the stairs. Countless numbers of papers and plastic bags flew out, covering the entire stairwell. The boy moved to the side and avoided the trash can that was aimed at him.
When he looked back, there was no one left in the stairwell.
The light flooded in from the windows on top of the stairwell.
He stood a bit, then bent over, picked up the waste papers one by one, put back the trash can, and then put the waste back in the can.
With her eyes closed, Yi Yao can still imagine Tang Xiaomi’s beautiful and touching face in the eyes of her classmates as she blackened Yi Yao’s name under the pretense of a friend.
“She should really be pitied…” “She probably does this for an unspeakable reason. Maybe it’s her family…”
“She definitely doesn’t want to do this, neither …”
In a crowd of boys with smiles of all motives, Tang Xiaomi sketched her tragic story.
The classroom was empty. Everyone had gone home.
Yi Yao walked to her seat, and realized that her backpack was missing.
The empty drawer was open, like a mocking mouth.
Yi Yao lowered her head and silently cried. She raised her sleeves to wipe off the tears, and found her sleeves full of dust. (more…)
“Hey, for you.”
Under the light, the boy’s face was one of a complete stranger.
Yi Yao tightly grasped her broomstick, faced him and was silent.
The sunset shone threw the windows in the hallway. After a few reflections in the stairways, the light slowly turned into soft liquids, collecting in Yi Yao’s gradually reddening eyes.
Yi Yao held on tighter.
“What do you mean? Yi Yao grabbed the broomstick and stood in front of him.”
“Nothing … they said I could give you money…” the boy lowered his eyes, his hands frozen in the air. His white shirt showed through his school uniform. It was extra clean, with not a bit of dirtiness.
“What do you mean?,” Yi Yao opened her eyes as large as possible. She didn’t want to break down, she didn’t want to blink and let out the stinging tears.
“They said if I gave you money, you would …” the boy lowered his head, and said nothing more. (more…)
Movie or book trailer? The epic trailer for Mark of the Cavalier looks like it’s for an anime rather than a book.
Ten years ago, seventeen-year-old author and pop idol Guo Jingming wrote Ice Fantasy, his first novel of the heartrending brotherhood of the Ice Kingdom Princes. Since then, Guo Jingming has published six novels, giving him the bestselling book of the year in China for seven of the ten years (he didn’t publish any novels for the other three).
In August 2010, he returns to fantasy “Ages Below Critical: Mark of the Cavalier,” a much more massive undertaking aimed at creating a masterpiece artwork in pencils. Other than being the first fantasy novel to be included in literary magazine “Ages Below Critical: Mark of the Cavalier” will break another record by having the highest number of first prints in Chinese history – 2 million copies.
Warning: This translation is as abridged as possible and cuts out almost all romance. Read the original here, Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 2.2 here and Part 3 here. Read Disclaimer here first!
In 6th grade, there was a shish-kabob stand outside of school. A man wearing an Uyghur hat was there everyday.
At that time, everyone in the school went to eat there, but Yi Yao didin’t.
Because Yi Yao had no allowance.
But she wouldn’t ask mother for any, neither.
Later one day, she found five yuan on the ground, waited until everyone in the school left, and then secretly went to buy five shish-kabobs.
After taking the first bite, she covered her mouth and cried.
This event had originally been lost in her memories for a long time. But on the road home, she remembered it agin. The feeling that day, on this night, came to her in full force.
The snowflakes in the sky became larger and larger, and soon the world was white.
Yi Yao couldn’t help but pedaled harder; the bike slipped and sled in the snow, going crookily in the direction of home.
She couldn’t tell whether her face was covered in snow or tears, but either way, it was dirty. Yi Yao reached up to wipe it off, and felt it was sticky and slimy.
She dropped her bike at the door of the courtyard, and ran toward home.
The freezing hands found the keys, put it in the keyhole and opened the door. The room was pitch black.
Yi Yao let out a sigh of relief, turned around and closed the door and turned back around. In the darkness, a sudden slap loudly hit her face.
“You still know to come back? Why didn’t you die outside?”
"Why don't you buy me, give me money ... I'll sleep with you."
Warning: This translation is as abridged as possible and cuts out almost all romance. Read the original here, Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 2.2 here Read Disclaimer here first!
Qi Ming stood in front of her. The street light in front shined perfectly on his face. He rubbed the already red eyes. He said, “Yi Yao, I don’t believe what they said. I don’t believe it.”
As if in the darkness, someone turned the switch, and the tears rolled out without force.
“You clearly believed it!” She dragged out her backpack from the bicycle basket and threw it toward Qi Ming.
Pencil case, textbook, notebook, cellphone, they all came out from the bag and fell on Qi Ming’s body. A pen slashed across his face, immediately leaving a line of blood.
Qi Ming didn’t move.
“You did believe it!” Throws again.
“You believed it…” Throws again and again, until there was only an empty backpack. The texture of the cotton softly hit his body. Qi Ming stood without moving, but felt like it was even more painful than before.
Again and again, the backpack hits his body.
It was as if something poked a hole in his body, and all his energy was slowly leaving through the hole.
Yi Yao fell on the ground. Even her cries are stifled, leaving only her shoulders shaking up and down.
Qi Ming kneeled and held her, pulling her into his embrace.
Like hugging an empty doll.
“Why don’t you buy me, give me money … I’ll sleep with you.”
“I’ll go to bed with you, as long as you give me money.” (more…)
This is a mini update, since I realized it fits with Part 2 a lot more than Part 3
The lights shone through the window, showing the silouettes in the room.
Lin Huafeng opened the closet and felt for a bag. In there were five hundred and eighty yuan.
Minus utilities, minus living expenses, there were three hundred and fifty yuan extra.
She took out three 100′s, and then closed the closet door.
“Open the door,” she violently smashd at Yi Yao’s door. “Open!”
Yi Yao opened the door from inside. Before she could see what her mother outside wanted to do, three 100 yuan bills hit her face.
“Take it. I owed it to you in my past life!”
Yi Yao kneelded and picked up the three bills,” You don’t owe me, you don’t owe me anything.”
Yi Yao threw the money on her hands back at her mother’s face, then slammed the door.
In the dark, no one can see anyone else’s tears.
It wasn’t Yi Yao’s laughable pride, but that she suddenly remembered. She remembered on the road home one day, she saw her mother standing in front of a shop, holding a dress, looking it over and over again. In the end, she sighed and put it back.
The shop’s glaring “20 yuan each” blinded Yi Yao’s eyes in the sunset.
She remembered that mother hasn’t brought new clothes for years.
Outside the door, mother was like puppet without her strings, standing motionlessly in the dark.
Gone were all movements and sounds. Only the burning tears could not stop rolling on her face.
