Yan Lianke

Yan Lianke (Chinese: 阎连科'; born August 1958) is a Chinese writer of novels and short stories, based in Beijing. His work is highly satirical, which has resulted in some of his most renowned works being banned in China.[1] He has admitted to self-censorship while writing his stories in order to avoid censorship.[2]

Yan Lianke
Yan Lianke in 2010
Born	August 1958 (age 62) Henan, China
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	Chinese
Alma mater	Henan University; People’s Literature Army Arts College
Period	1980–present
Genre	fiction, prose, script, literacy theory
Notable awards	Lu Xun Literary Prize, Franz Kafka Prize
Spouse	Zhai Lisha
Children	Yan Songwei

Yan Lianke
Traditional Chinese	閻連科
Simplified Chinese	阎连科
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yán Liánkē Wade–Giles Yen Lien-k'o

He started writing in 1978 and his works include: Xia Riluo (夏日落), Serve the People! (为人民服务), Enjoyment (受活), and Dream of Ding Village (丁庄梦). He has also published more than ten volumes of short stories. Enjoyment, which was published in 2004, received wide acclaim in China. His literature has been published in various nations.

Life

Yan Lianke was born in Song County, Henan Province, China. Though he lives in Beijing, he has said that his heart remains in Henan, and he has based numerous works on life in Henan, including Dream of Ding Village. He entered the army in 1978. He graduated from Henan University in 1985 with a degree in politics and education. In 1991, he graduated from the People's Liberation Army Art Institute with a degree in Literature.

Literary career

Fiction

Yan published his first short story in 1979. He had published 14 novels and over 40 short stories. His novels include The Passing of Time (Riguang liunian), Hard as Water (Jianying rushui), Lenin’s Kisses (Shouhuo), Dream of Ding Village [Dingzhuang meng], Books of Odes (Feng ya song), The Four Books (Sishu), The Dimming Sun (Rixi); over 50 novellas including “The Dreams of the People of Yao Valley” (Yaogouren de meng), “Summer Sunset” (Xia riluo), The Years, Months, Days (年月日), “Awaking in Spring Peach Garden” (Taoyuan chun xing). His early writings are mostly Realist pieces heavily influenced by 19th century Realism. But towards the end of the 1990s his style displayed a major change. His subsequent works are more infused with wild imagination and creative allegories. His sometimes myth-like dramatic plots are often allegorical depictions of the human conditions. His representative works, including the novellasYears Months Day and Marrow (Balou tiange), and the novel The Passing of Time have received critical acclaim from critics. His Peace Regiment Series, Yao Valley Series and Balou Mountain Series are particularly influential.

A good number of his fictions are set in the natural environment of Balou Mountain. It has become the most important setting of Yan's literary world, and the most noted fictional landscape created in Chinese literature. This is particularly true with the publication of the “Balou Mountain Series” comprising The Passing of Time [Riguang liunian], Hard as Water [Jianying rushui] and Lenin’s Kisses [Shouhuo] around 2000. The depictions of Chinese history and reality in these novels are characterised by a sharp edge which is simultaneously profound, absurd and carnivalesque. Yan's protagonists are strange in behavior, and psychologically twisted and complex. This represents another major change in Yan's style from his earlier works. They often provoke surprise in his readers and critics, and debates and controversies at the time of their publication.

Yan became “sensitive” in China at the time of publication of Lenin’s Kisses. He openly challenged what he described as Realism of the spirit(s) [Shengshi zhuyi], and advocated for a return to “a realism that transcends reality”[1]. This has revived the prolonged debate in the Chinese literary circles on Realism. In France, the French translation of Lenin’s Kisses has also received critical acclaim. Its translations in other languages have been equally popular. A writer of Le Monde rates Yan's writings highly, and rates him one among the great writers in the world. The same writer suggests that Yan distinguishes himself with his sophisticated insights on the society expressed in his fictions, and that his writings often shows a devastating humour.[2] The Guardian describes him as a master of satire with a rich imagination[3]. Vanity Fair (Italy) notes Yan's mastery in writing between magic and reality.[4].The Frankfurt Christian Science Monitor suggests that Yan possesses both the talent for writing great works and the courage to confront difficult issues[5]. The Japanese magazine The World considers Yan and his writings important setters of standard for Chinese literature and freedom of expression[6].

The bans imposed on Serve the People and Dream of Ding Village have turned him into the most noted, therefore the most controversial Chinese writer.”[7]. The Four Books was published in 2011 in Taiwan. In this novel Yan has shown attainment of his imagination to a new level. It was also around the same time when he advocated a Realism of the spirit(s) [Shengshi zhuyi] [8], purporting that Chinese literature should represent “the invisible reality”, “the reality that is covered up by reality”, and “the non-existing reality”. This advocacy in the construction of an “absolute reality” is put into practice in his own novels The Explosion Chronicles and The Dimming Sun. The characters in these works are “Chinese through-and-through”. Their plots are depictions of a reality that is “Chinese through-and-through”, but filled with imaginative “possibilities” and “mytho-realist” “impossibilities”, which express his vision of his China being a “dark”, “desperate” place where the idea of “future” only brings “anxieties”[9].

These works are his practice of his avowed aspiration in Discovering Fiction [Faxian xiaoshuo] to create a Chinese literature endowed with the modern spirit of world literature, and differentiate themselves from Western Surrealism, Absurdism and Magical Realism, and that is modern and belongs to the East. In this sense, Yan Lianke can be appreciated as a writer of world literature. His novels Serve the People, Dream of Ding Village, Lenin’s Kisses, The Four Books and The Explosion Chronicles have been translated into a number of languages and distributed widely in the Americas, Europe and the Australia. Almost all these translations have attracted attention and critical acclaim for the novels in their respective literary markets. Further, The Explosion Chronicles extended its fame to Africa, being shortlisted with Carlos Rojas' English translation for the GPLA 2017,[3] one of the most international literary contests on the continent.

In terms of the contents, Yan's fictions have all shown tremendous anxieties in his vision of “the Chinese people”, Chinese reality and history. In terms of generic treatment, every one of his novels has displayed a new structure and linguistic style. To many it is his diverse styles, his readiness to break norms, and his capacity to create new literary norms that have differentiate him from other Chinese writers. It is in this connection that he describes himself as “a traitor of literary writing”[10]. His is a pioneer of 20th Century Chinese literature, and is the only Chinese writer who has gained international acclaim without any support, either strategic or financial, of the Chinese Government.

Literary criticism

Yan is the only contemporary Chinese creative writer who has systematically published critical appreciations of 19th and 20th century literatures. These include numerous speeches and dialogues he has given and participated in around the globe, and various pieces of theoretical writings. They are collected in My Reality, My -ism [Wode xianshi, wode zhuyi], The Red Chopsticks of the Witch [Wupo de hong kuaizi], Tearing Apart and Piling Up [Chaijie yu dieping], Selected Overseas Speeches of Yan Lianke [Yan Lianke haiwai yanjiang ji], and Silence and Rest [Chenmo yu chuaixi]. In these works he expresses in detail his understanding of Chinese literature, world literature, and the changes literature has gone through in the past decades. His 2011 publication Discovering Fiction [Faxian xiaoshuo] is an exegesis of his re-discovery of 19th and 20th century Chinese literature and world literature. The book is characterised by his personal style of argument and rationality. It is also in this book that he advocates the differentiation of “full causal relations”, “zero causal relations”, “half causal relations” and “inner causal relations” in the plots of fiction. He considers this a “new discovery” of fiction writing, and designates it a “Mytho-realism”[11] of Chinese literature. This is the first attempt from a Chinese writer active in the international literary circles to contribute to the theoretical discussions of Realism in the global context. This view of his has been discussed in the academe internationally.

In 2016 Yan Lianke was appointed Visiting Professor of Chinese Culture by the Hong Kong University of Science Technology to teach writing courses. The course material is collected in Twelve Lectures on 19th Century Writings and Twelve Lectures on 20th Century Writings. They contain his analyses of and arguments about the most influential writers of world literature in the 19th and 20th centuries. Of the two Twelve Lectures on 20th Century Writings is more influential, since it represents an attempt of a Chinese writer to review and research on in a comprehensive manner the dissemination and impacts of 20th century world literature on China. It can be used as a research reference or a writing guide.

In the area of critical and theoretical writings, Yan Lianke is the most prolific and vocal among contemporary Chinese writers. Not all writers and critics agree with his views, but he is widely recognised as being unique among contemporary Chinese writer in terms of his persistence in reflecting on methodologies of creative writing.

Essays

Yan Lianke's body of creative works include not only fiction, but also a considerable number of lyrical essays which read in stark contrast to his fiction. While his fiction is characterised by an acute sense of contemporaneity, rich imagination and a compelling creative impulse, his essays are characterised by a conventional aesthetic of the Chinese essay which comes across as gentle, lyrical, and showing much finesse. His long essay My Father’s Generation and Me [Wo yu fubei], House No.711 [711 hao yuan] and his other collections of essays mostly depict the daily life of the Chinese people, and nature in the four seasons, in a lyricism that comes across familiar to Chinese readers. The styles of his fiction and that of his essays are so different that it is difficult to reconcile them as the same body of works by a single writer. His non-fiction works have created an image of the author in both positive and negative light, so that the author becomes a figure who is rich and multi-faceted in his personality.

Famous works

Serve the People!

This phrase was coined by Mao Zedong in 1944 when he wrote an article, "To Serve The People", to commemorate the death of a red army soldier Zhang Side (张思德). In that article Mao said:" To die for the benefit of the people, is more important than Tai mountain; working for the fascists and dying for those who oppress and exploit the people, that death would be lighter than a feather. Comrade Zhang Side died for the benefit of the people, so his death is heavier than Tai mountain."

During the Cultural Revolution, this article was required reading for millions of Chinese; it was also one of the Three Old Articles(老三篇). "To serve the people" became one of the most popular slogans of all times, even being used today. However, there was evidence suggested by author Jung Chang's book Mao: The Unknown Story, indicating that Comrade Zhang Si-De was in fact killed while processing raw opium when the kiln collapsed on him.

Yan Lianke used Mao's phrase for the name of his novel Serve The People!, which contains vivid and colorful descriptions of sex scenes, resulting in extensive controversy when it was featured in 2005 in a magazine "Flower City". The Chinese government ordered the publisher to stop the release of 30,000 copies of the magazine, which in turn created huge demand for the novel.[1]

Dream of Ding Village

Another award-winning novel by Yan Lianke, Dream of Ding Village (丁庄梦), is about a heavy subject: AIDS sufferers with almost no outside help. To get first hand knowledge about the subject, Yan Lianke visited AIDS sufferers, eventually seven times, and even lived with villagers for periods of time. Dream of Ding Village has been compared with Albert Camus' The Plague (1947). Dream of Ding Village was published in Hong Kong in 2006, where it was again banned by the Chinese government. The reasons put forward were its use of "dark descriptions, to exaggerate the harm and fear of AIDS".

Major works

Yan started publishing in 1979. So far the body of works he has produced includes 15 novels, more than 50 novellas, more than 40 short stories, 3 extended essays, 5 collection of essays, 6 collections of literary criticisms, and about a dozen TV and film scripts, amount to over 10 million Chinese characters. However, because of both the controversial nature of and the Chinese government's ban on his works, a considerable part of this body of works has not been published in China. These include the novels Serve the People [Wei renmin fuwu], Dream of Ding Village [Dingzhuang meng], The Four Books, [Sishu], The Dimming Sun [Rixi], and a range of his essays and speeches. Many of his works have been translated and circulated in more than 30 languages including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Czech, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Mongolian.

Major Works published in Chinese:

Novels

Title	Publisher	Year
The Hell of Feelings 情感獄	PLA Art and Literature Press 解放軍文藝出版社	1991
The Last Female Educated Youth 最後一名女知青	Hundred Flowers Art and Literature Press 百花文藝出版社	1993
Crystal Yellow in Life and Death 生死晶黃	Tomorrow Publishing Company 明天出版社	1995
How are You, Pan Jinlian 金蓮，你好	China Art and Literature Press 中國文藝出版社	1997
The Passage of Time 日光流年	Huacheng Press 花城出版社	1998
	Lianjing Publishing Co. Ltd. (Taipei) 聯經出版事業公司﹙台北﹚	2010
Hard as Water 堅硬如水	Changjiang Art and Literature Press 長江文藝出版社	2001
	Rye Field Publishing House (Taipei) 麥田出版﹙台北﹚	2009
Cock Fight 斗雞	Changjiang Art and Literature Press 長江文藝出版社	2001
Transgression 穿越	PLA Art and Literature Press 解放軍文藝出版社	2001
Summer Sunset 夏日落	Lianjing Publishing Co. Ltd. (Taipei) 聯經出版事業公司﹙台北﹚	2010
Lenin’s Kisses 受活	Chunfeng Art and Literature Press 春風文藝出版社	2004
	Rye Field Publishing House (Taipei) 麥田出版﹙台北﹚	2007
Dream of Ding Village 丁莊夢	Art and Literature Press (Hong Kong) 文化藝術出版社﹙香港﹚	2006
	Rye Field Publishing House (Taipei) 麥田出版﹙台北﹚	2006
	Lingzi Media Pte Ltd. (Singapore) 玲子傳媒私人有限公司 ﹙新加坡﹚	2006
Serve the People 為人民服務	Rye Field Publishing House (Taipei) 麥田出版﹙台北﹚	2005
	Lingzi Media Pte Ltd. (Singapore) 玲子傳媒私人有限公司 ﹙新加坡﹚	2005
	Art and Literature Press (Hong Kong) 文化藝術出版社﹙香港﹚	2005
The Odes of Songs 風雅頌	Rye Field Publishing House (Taipei) 麥田出版﹙台北﹚	2008
	Phoenix Publishing Group 鳳凰出版集團	2008
The Four Books 四書	Rye Field Publishing House (Taipei) 麥田出版﹙台北﹚	2011
	Ming Pao Publishing Ltd. 明報出版社﹙香港﹚	2011
The Explosion Chronicles 炸裂志	Shanghai Art and Literature Press 上海文藝出版社	2013
	Rye Field Publishing House (Taipei) 麥田出版﹙台北﹚	2013
The Day the Sun Died 日熄	Rye Field Publishing House (Taipei) 麥田出版﹙台北﹚	2015
Want to Sleep Together Quickly 速求共眠	INK 印刻文學	2018

Collections of Novellas and Short Stories

Title	Publisher	Year
Stories of the Neighbourhood 鄉里故事	Hundred Flowers Press 百花文藝出版社	1992
Peace Allegory 和平寓言	Changjiang Art and Literature Press 長江文藝出版社	1994
The Road to Heaven 朝着天堂走	China Youth Press 中國青年出版社	1995
Collected Works of Yan Lianke (5 volumes) 閻連科文集﹙5卷﹚	Jilin People's Press 吉林人民出版社	1996
Collected Stories by Yan Lianke 閻連科小說自選集	Henan Art and Literature Press 河南文藝出版社	1997
Happy Home 歡樂家園	Beijing Press 北京出版社	1998
The Golden Cave 黄金洞	Literature Press 文學出版社	1998
Waxing and Waning: A Second Look on the Legendary Slut Pan Jinlian 陰晴圓缺：重說千古淫婦潘金蓮	China Literature Press 中國文學出版社	1999
To the Southeast 朝著東南走	Zuojia Press 作家出版社	2000
Marrow 耙耧天歌	Bei’e Art and Literature Press 北岳文藝出版社	2001
The Hammer 三棒槌	New World Press 新世界出版社	2002
Days in the Village 鄉村歲月	Xinjiang People's Press 新疆人民出版社	2002
Years, Months, Days 年月日	Xinjiang People's Press 新疆人民出版社	2002
	Mingpao Publishing Ltd. (Hong Kong) 明報月刊出版社﹙香港﹚	2009
Works by Contemporary Writers: Yan Lianke 當代作家文庫 閻連科卷	People's Literature Press 人民文學出版社	2003
The Map of Heaven 天宮圖	Jiangsu Art and Literature Press 江蘇文藝出版社	2005
Revolutionary Romanticism: Representative Short Stories of Yan Lianke 革命浪漫主義：閻連科短篇小說代表作	Chunfeng Art and Literature Press 春風文藝出版公司	2006
Mother is a River 母親是條河	Dazhong Art and Literature Press 大眾文藝出版社	2006
Dream of the People of Yao Valley 瑤溝人的夢	Chunfeng Art and Literature Press 春風文藝出版公司	2007
Works by Yan Lianke (12 volumes) 閻連科文集﹙12卷﹚	People's Daily Press 人民日報出版社 Yunnan People's Press, Tianjin People's Press 云南人民出版社、天津人民出版社	2007
Representative Works of Yan Lianke (17 Volumes) 阎连科作品精选集（17卷）
No. Four Restricted Zone The Map of Heaven 四號禁區 天宮圖	Wanjuan Publishing Co. 萬卷出版公司	2009
To the Southeast 朝着東南走	Wanjuan Publishing Co. 萬卷出版公司	2009
Representative Works of Yan Lianke 閻連科小說精選集	Sun Hung Kai Properties Arts Culture Co. (Taipei) 新地文化﹙台北﹚	2010
Awaking in the Cherry Garden 桃園春醒	Huangshan Books 黃山書社	2010
Geisha Blossoms: Novellas by Yan Lianke (Volume One) 1988-1990 藝妓芙蓉 ：閻連科中篇小說編年 1988-1990 ﹙第1輯﹚	Zhejiang Art and Literature Press 浙江文藝出版社	2011
The Scholar Returns: Novellas by Yan Lianke (Volume Two) 1991-1993 中士還鄉 ：閻連科中篇小說編年 1991-1993 ﹙第2輯﹚	Zhejiang Art and Literature Press 浙江文藝出版社	2011
Balou Mountains: Novellas by Yan Lianke (Volume Three) 1993-1996 耙耬山脉 ：閻連科中篇小說編年 1993-1996 ﹙第3輯﹚	Zhejiang Art and Literature Press 浙江文藝出版社	2011
Awaking in the Cherry Garden: Novellas by Yan Lianke (Volume Four) 1996-2009 桃園春醒：閻連科中篇小說編年 1996-2009 ﹙第4輯﹚	Zhejiang Art and Literature Press 浙江文藝出版社	2011
Representative Works of Yan Lianke 閻連科短篇小說精選	Yunnan People's Press 雲南人民出版社	2013
Yan Lianke in Black and White: Novella in Four Books (4 volumes) 黑白閻連科——中篇四書﹙四卷﹚	People's Literature Press 人民文學出版社	2014
	Two Fishes Culture (Taipei) 二魚文化﹙台北﹚	2014

Collections of Essays

Title	Publisher		Year
Brown Shackles 褐色桎梏	Hundred Flowers Art and Literature Press 百花文藝出版社		1999
Homeward Bound 返身回家	PLA Art and Literature Press 解放軍出版社		2002
The Witch’s Red Chopsticks: A Dialogue between a Writer and a Literature Ph.D. (Co-authored with Liang Hong) 巫婆的紅筷子：作家與文學博士對話錄 ﹙與梁鴻合著﹚	Chunfeng Art and Literature Press 春風文藝出版社		2002
Transgression without Borders: Essays by Yan Lianke 没有邊界的跨越：閻連科散文	Changjiang Art and Literature Press 長江文藝出版社		2005
Yellow Earth and Green Grass: Yan Lianke’s Essays on Family and Feelings 土黄與草青：閻連科親情散文	Huacheng Press 花城出版社		2008
The Wit and the Soul: Yan Lianke’s Reading Notes 機巧與魂靈：閻連科讀書筆記	Huacheng Press 花城出版社		2008
Deconstruction and Juxtaposition: Speeches on Literature by Yan Lianke 拆解與疊拼：閻連科文學演講	Huacheng Press 花城出版社		2008
Essays by Yan Lianke 閻連科散文	Zhejiang Art and Literature Press 浙江文藝出版社		2009
Me and my Father’s Generation 我與父輩	INK (Taipei) 印刻文學﹙台北﹚		2009
	Yunnan People's Press 雲南人民出版		2009
My Reality, My -isms: A Dialogue with Yan Lianke on Literature (co-authored with Zhang Xuexin) 我的現實，我的主義：閻連科文學對話錄 ﹙與張學昕合著﹚	Renmin University of China Press 中國人民大學出版社		2011
Let’s Go and See 走着瞧	Eastern Publishing Centre 東方出版中心		2011
Discovering Fiction 發現小說	Nankai University Press 南開大學出版社		2011
	INK (Taipei) 印刻文學﹙台北﹚		2011
No. 711 711 號園	Jiangsu People's Press 江蘇人民出版社		2012
	Lianjing Publishing Ltd. (Taipei) 聯經出版社﹙台北﹚		2012
A Load of BS: Yan Lianke’s Overseas Speeches 一派胡言：閻連科海外演講集	CITIC Publishing Group 中信出版社		2012
Essays by Yan Lianke 閻連科散文		Yunnan People's Press 雲南人民出版社	2013
The Most Difficult Thing about Writing is to Stay Confused 寫作最難是糊塗		Renmin University of China Press 中國人民大學出版社	2013
His Words Scatter on the Way 他的話一路散落	Renmin University of China Press 中國人民大學出版社		2013
Thoughts by One Person on Three Rivers 一個人的三條河 感念	Two Fishes Culture (Taipei) 二魚文化﹙台北﹚ People's Literature Press 人民文学出版社		2013 2014
Walking on Other People’s Path: Reflections of Yan Lianke 走在別人的路上：閻連科語思錄	Shanghai People's Press 上海人民出版社		2014
Yan Lianke in Black and White: Essays in Four Books (4 volumes) 黑白閻連科——散文四書﹙四卷﹚	People's Literature Press 人民文學出版社		2014
Silence and Rest: Chinese Literature in My Experience 沉默與喘息：我所經歷的中國文學	INK (Taipei) 印刻﹙台北﹚		2014
December of Two Generations 兩代人的十二月﹙與蔣方舟合著﹚	INK (Taipei) 印刻﹙台北﹚		2015

Awards and honors

• 1998 Lu Xun Literary Prize for "Huang Jin Dong" (黄金洞).
• 2001 Lu Xun Literary Prize for "Nian Yue Ri" (年月日).
• 2005 Yazhou Zhoukan, "The Best Ten Books Award" for Dream of Ding Village.[4]
• 2005 Lao She Literary Award for Enjoyment (《受活》)
• 2005 Asia Weekly 10 Best Novels award for Dream of Ding Village
• 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize, Dream of Ding Village, longlist.
• 2014 Franz Kafka Prize, winner.[5]
• 2016 Man Booker International Prize, The Four Books, shortlist.
• 2016 Dream of the Red Chamber Award, Death of the Sun, winner.
• 2017 Grand Prix of Literary Associations, The Explosion Chronicles, shortlisted in the Belles-Lettres Category.[6]
• 2017 Man Booker International Prize, Long listed The Explosion Chronicles [7]
• 2021 Newman Prize for Chinese Literature [8]

Bibliography

Novels

This is a partial list of Lianke's novels, especially those translated into English.

Original publication		English publication
Title[9]	Year	Title	Translator(s)	Year
日光流年 Riguang Liunian	2004	N/A	N/A	N/A
受活 Shou Huo	2004	Lenin's Kisses	Carlos Rojas	2012
为人民服务 Wei Renmin Fufu	2005	Serve the People!	Julia Lovell	2007
丁庄梦 Ding Zhuang Meng	2006	Dream of Ding Village	Cindy Carter	2011
坚硬如水 Jianying Ru Shui	2009	N/A	N/A	N/A
四书 Si Shu	2011	The Four Books	Carlos Rojas	2015
炸裂志 Zhalie Zhi	2013	The Explosion Chronicles	Carlos Rojas	2016[10]
日熄 Rixi	2015	The Day the Sun Died	Carlos Rojas	2018

See also

• Hu Jia
• Plasma Economy
• Weiquan movement

References

1. Toy, Mary-Anne (2007-07-28), "A pen for the people", The Age, retrieved 2010-04-28
2. Cody, Edward (2007-07-09), "Persistent Censorship In China Produces Art of Compromise", Washington Post, retrieved 2010-04-28
3. GPLA 2017 Finals: Camer.be
4. "2005亞洲週刊十大好書揭曉　．章海陵". Retrieved 2008-09-24.
5. ČTK (2014-05-26). "Cenu Franze Kafky letos dostane čínský prozaik Jen Lien-kche". České noviny (in Czech). Retrieved May 27, 2014.
6. Agravox.fr
8. https://u.osu.edu/mclc/2020/10/31/yan-lianke-wins-newman-prize-2021/
9. "Yan Lianke". Paper Republic. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
10. "The Explosion Chronicles". Grove Atlantic. Retrieved 16 June 2016.

Further reading

• Jiayang Fan, "The Great Awakening", The New Yorker, October 15, 2018, pp. 30–36.

External links

• Yan Lianke at The Susijn Agency
• Yan Lianke at Paper Republic
• Discussion of Two Novels about Blood Selling
• Being Alive is Not Just an Instinct. An interview with Yan Lianke about "Dream of Ding Village"
• The Four Books by Yan Lianke cover art and synopsis at Upcoming4.me
• Chinese novelist Yan Lianke describes quarantine in Beijing written by Riccardo Moratto
• An Interview with Yan Lianke by Riccardo Moratto