The Field of Life and Death & Tales of Hulan River

Xiao Hong is considered by many to be China's first feminist novelist. Originally published in Chinese in 1936, The Field of Life and Death is an unflinching collection of vignettes set in the rural China in which Xiao Hong grew up. Though it was initially seen as an attack on Japanese imperialism, the primary concern of this novel is the objective portrayal of the lives of rural people brutalized by poverty and war. Also included in this collection is Tales of Hulan River (1940), Xiao Hong's famous wryly humorous and bleakly poignant account of another village and the always difficult, sometimes brief lives of its citizens. These reminiscences deftly convey the deep and pervasive misogyny of Chinese society at the time. This revised version of the notable translations by Howard Goldblatt features Lu Xun's original preface (in translation), a new translator's preface, and a revised introduction by Goldblatt.