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]
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
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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 (ISBN978-2-86746-665-6).
^(in French), Qiu Xiaolong, Cité de la poussière rouge, translated from English by Fanchita Gonzalez Batlle, éditions Liana Levi, 2008 (ISBN978-2-86746-665-6).
^Astrid Hygen Meyer, "Historiene om Kina fortalt gjennom nabolaget Rødt Støv, vil fortsette å komme, sier forfatteren", Klassekampen, 3 September 2011, page 3.
^Astrid Hygen Meyer, "Historie i boka ... innledes med et ekte utdrag fra en kinesisk veggavis.", Klassekampen, 3 September 2011, page 3.
^Hanchoa Lu. 2018. "Shanghai flora: the politics of urban greening in Maoist China" Urban History, Volume 45, Issue 4, November 2018, pp. 660-68.
^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.
^ abAstrid Hygen Meyer, Klassekampen, 3 September 2011, page 3.
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