WILD GRASS REISSUED IN CHINESE
Thanks to Apple Daily for a new review of my first book, Wild Grass, now reissued in a much more attractive format.
The translation first came out in 2012 by 八旗文化(Gusa Publishing), a Taiwanese publisher that often handles books about mainland China. I thought it did an excellent job translating the text and was grateful that the book was available in Chinese.
From my perspective, the only problem was it had the very long title in Chinese of Overtaxation, Hutongs, and Falun Gong: Grassroots China’s Slow-Motion Revolution. The reprint comes out with the same subtitle (“Grassroots China’s Slow-Motion Revolution”), which is fine, but the much shorter main title of Ye Cao, 野草, or Wild Grass.
This makes a lot more sense to me because Wild Grass was always meant to be an homage to the Chinese writer Lu Xun. His 1927 book Wild Grass referred to the downtrodden in society who stayed alive and survive despite difficult times. In fact, my book opens with a quote from Lu Xun’s prose poem “Wild Grass:”
Wild Grass strikes no deep roots, has no beautiful flowers and leaves, yet it imbibes dew, water and the blood and flesh of the dead, although all try to rob it of life.
I wasn’t sure that western readers would get the reference, but I thought that Chinese readers would–because Lu Xun was probably the most famous Chinese author of the 20th century.
So I’m really excited not only to see the book reissued, but with the proper title.
To top it off, Apple Daily has just done a nice review of it. You can read the review in Chinese here.
IN CHINA, THE ULTIMATE TABOO: LAND OWNERSHIP
RELIGION AND THE ENVIRONMENT
