Shanghai Express: A Thirties Novel (Fiction from Modern China): 7 - Softcover

Henshui, Zhang

Softcover

ISBN 10: 082481830X ISBN 13: 9780824818302

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press, 1997

Synopsis

In this suspenseful tale of seduction and deception, a wealthy banker is smitten by an alluring young woman while traveling aboard the express train from Beijing to Shanghai. A consummate storyteller and one of the most popular novelists of his day, Zhang Henshui sweeps us on board with them and takes us through train stations and back and forth between first-, second-, and third-class cars, evoking the sights and sounds and smells of this microcosm of the urban world. Here is popular Chinese fiction at its best. This socially and psychologically incisive portrait of modern China can be read with great return against issues of gender, class, and modernity. And if this is not enough, it is also a travelogue, providing a delightful read for anyone who has traveled or is simply curious about traveling by train in China. First serialized in Shanghai in 1935, Shanghai Express appears now in English for the first time.

About this title

Review:

In Shanghai Express Zhang Henshui used a recurring theme in traditional Chinese literature: love between an honest, credulous man and a sly woman.... [But] he replaced the moral message of the traditional story--that young men should not fall in love with amoral women--with another message more suitable for modern times: do not fall in love with someone who might bring about financial and social ruin.-- "China Review International"

Lyell's translation captures and conveys Zhang's Chinese literary style with admirable skill and sensibility.-- "CHOICE"

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 082481830X
• ISBN 13: 9780824818302
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272