Shanghai Baby - Hardcover

HUI, WEI

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743421566 ISBN 13: 9780743421560

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2001

Synopsis

Banned and burned in China, this incendiary novel about a taboo-busting young woman in contemporary Shanghai has become a worldwide phenomenon.

About this title

Review:

"The Times (London) A steamy Chinese novel in the Western style about life in contemporary China, condemned for exposing subjects that are completely taboo in modern Chinese literature.

From the Publisher:

Further information about 'Shanghai Baby'
First championed by the Chinese state media as a rising star of her generation, Wei Hui is now dubbed 'decadent, debauched and a slave of foreign culture. 'Shanghai Baby' was banned by the Chinese authorities in April 2000 and 40, 000 copies were publicly burned.

'Shanghai Baby' deals honestly with areas that are conventionally taboo, especially in its portrayal of the new woman in contemporary China. The novel arrives at a time when China's urban youth challenges her historic and traditional mores and very sense of self. The gap between the old and the new is typified by the wealthier, better-educated and mature one-child-family generation that is now impatient for recognition, empowerment and self expression.

Here is a beautifully written novel that champions female sexuality, dares to transgress convention and describes China on the brink of her own social and sexual revolution.

There has be early press interest in the translation of 'Shanghai Baby'in to English. The Times ran a piece in October 2000 describing it as: "a steamy Chinese novel in the Western style about life in contemporary China". In April 2001 The Economist wrote: "A semi-autobiographical novel, which explores the sexual awakening of a beautiful 26-year-old writer in China's livelist port city...a runaway bestseller despite ...its banning by the authorities."

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0743421566
• ISBN 13: 9780743421560
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 263