Chinese Literature

If you're into speculative fiction with a sharp political edge, "The Fat Years" is a chillingly relevant read. Chan's insight into Chinese society and his background in activism give this novel an authenticity that's hard to ignore. The premise of an entire month erased from memory is unsettling, and as the mystery unfolds, the impact hits close to the bone. It's a thought-proving thriller that goes beyond a simple narrative to question memory, history, and power.

‘One of the masters of modern Chinese literature’ Jung ChangThis gripping dystopia contrasts the reality of life in China today with the sunny optimism of the ‘Chinese dream’.One dusk in early June, in a town deep in the Balou mountains, fourteen-year-old Li Niannian notices that something strange is going on. As the residents would usually be settling down for the night, instead they start appearing in the streets and fields. There are people everywhere.Li Niannian watches, mystified. Until he realises the people are dreamwalking, carrying on with their daily business as if the sun hadn’t already gone down. And before too long, as more and more people succumb, in the black of night all hell breaks loose.Set over the course of one night, The Day the Sun Died pits chaos and darkness against the bright ‘Chinese dream’ promoted by President Xi Jinping. We are thrown into the middle of an increasingly strange and troubling waking nightmare as Li Niannian and his father struggle to save the town, and persuade the beneficent sun to rise again.Praise for Yan Lianke's books: ‘Nothing short of a masterpiece’ Guardian‘A hyper-real tour de force, a blistering condemnation of political corruption and excess’ Financial Times‘Mordant satire from a brave fabulist’ Daily Mail ‘Exuberant and imaginative’ Sunday Times ‘I can think of few better novelists than Yan, with his superlative gifts for storytelling and penetrating eye for truth’ New York Times Book Review

Blending fact and fiction, this darkly comic fable “may be the purest distillation yet of Mr. Ma’s talent for probing the country’s darkest corners and exposing what he regards as the Communist Party’s moral failings” (Mike Ives, The New York Times).Called “Red Guards meet Kurt Vonnegut . . . powerful!" by Margaret Atwood on Twitter, China Dream is an unflinching satire of totalitarianism. Ma Daode, a corrupt and lecherous party official, is feeling pleased with himself. He has an impressive office, three properties, and multiple mistresses who text him day and night. After decades of loyal service, he has been appointed director of the China Dream Bureau, charged with replacing people's private dreams with President Xi Jinping's great China Dream of national rejuvenation. But just as he is about to present his plan for a mass golden wedding anniversary celebration, his sanity begins to unravel. Suddenly plagued by flashbacks of the Cultural Revolution, Ma Daode's nightmare visions from the past threaten to destroy his dream of a glorious future.Exposing the damage inflicted on a nation's soul when authoritarian regimes, driven by an insatiable hunger for power, seek to erase memory, rewrite history, and falsify the truth, China Dream is a dystopian vision of repression, violence, and state-imposed amnesia that is set not in the future, but in China today.

If you're drawn to narratives that blend personal history with larger historical events, "One Man's Bible" may resonate with you. Gao Xingjian's steady prose will guide you through a poignant exploration of memory, suffering under Mao's regime, and the redemptive power of storytelling. This novel is particularly suited for those interested in the psychological impact of political turmoil and how it shapes a life in self-imposed exile.