Years of Red Dust

Years of Red Dust is a collection of short stories by Qiu Xiaolong. The book in English was published in 2010;[1] but the stories were originally published in Le Monde[1] and a book in French was published in 2008.[2]

Years of Red Dust
First edition (French)
AuthorQiu Xiaolong
Original titleCité de la Poussière rouge
LanguageEnglish
GenreShort stories
PublishedFrench translation in 2008
English book in 2010
Pages240
ISBN9781429942614

It is a story about China between 1949 and 2005, told through changes experienced by people living in the Red Dust neighbourhood in Shanghai.[3]

Plot

Each chapter tells a story from a different year, consisting of two strands, slice-of-life personal histories of ordinary people living in Red Dust Lane, mixed with the ever-changing narrative of China’s socialist history.[4] Most of the stories begin with non-fiction excerpts from wall newspapers of China's past.[5] Incidents involve neighbors who are academics, those who own businesses, those who join the military, as well as manual laborers. One chapter includes a fictionalized account, based on a real life event, of preparations for the day U.S. President Richard Nixon visited Shanghai.[6]

The setting is in Shanghai where "the flow of the green slime of corruption, pollution and greed (for money), races with the flow of blood and champagne", according to Aftenposten.[7]

Sales

The book has been on best-seller lists in France and Germany.[8]

Translations

The book has been translated to other languages, including:

  • French: Cité de la poussière rouge, translated from English by Fanchita Gonzalez Batlle, éditions Liana Levi, 2008 (ISBN 978-2-86746-665-6).
  • German: Das Tor zur Roten Gasse.
  • Norwegian: År i rødt støv (2011).[8]

References
  1. http://us.macmillan.com/yearsofreddust/QiuXiaolong (page visited on 4 February 2014).
  2. (in French), Qiu Xiaolong, Cité de la poussière rouge, translated from English by Fanchita Gonzalez Batlle, éditions Liana Levi, 2008 (ISBN 978-2-86746-665-6).
  3. Astrid Hygen Meyer, "Historiene om Kina fortalt gjennom nabolaget Rødt Støv, vil fortsette å komme, sier forfatteren", Klassekampen, 3 September 2011, page 3.
  4. Daisy Yan Du, 2011. University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln The China Beat Blog Archive 2008-2012. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1924&context=chinabeatarchive
  5. Astrid Hygen Meyer, "Historie i boka ... innledes med et ekte utdrag fra en kinesisk veggavis.", Klassekampen, 3 September 2011, page 3.
  6. Hanchoa Lu. 2018. "Shanghai flora: the politics of urban greening in Maoist China" Urban History, Volume 45, Issue 4, November 2018, pp. 660-68.
  7. Bodil Fuhr, "Shanghai. Der beskriver han korrupsjon, forurensning, og pengegriskhet så det grønne slimet renner om kapp med blod og champagne", Aftenposten, 3 September 2011, page 3.
  8. Astrid Hygen Meyer, Klassekampen, 3 September 2011, page 3.

Further reading


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