Old Land, New Tales: Twenty Short Stories by Writers of the Shaanxi Region in China by Chen Zhongshi, Jia Pingwa Read Free Book Online
Authors: Chen Zhongshi, Jia Pingwa
performed by Hunan Opera or Peking Opera. I believe it would have given him the courage to facedown the threats of Emperor Jiaqing, not to mention redeeming all his labors both in writing the plays and pushing that heavy millstone.
When he was frightened enough to spit blood at the grinding work, and then again before dying on the dusty road of the Weibei Plateau, Li Shisan never knew that, 150 years later, his play
Wanfu Lian
would be adapted into the opera
Nuxun An
and become an immediate success.
Later, the well-known playwright Tian Han (1898–1968) adapted
Nuxun An
into
Xie Yaohuan
, which created a great stir. Its success lasted for a while, and then suddenly
Xie Yaohuan
was met with a severe attack from almost every corner of the country. But time has marched on, and the past is history; in this case, Tian Han had the courage and safety to confront the attack and did not have to spit blood.
When I first read the details of Li Shisan’s life in an article by Chen Yan, I was too excited to fall asleep. I felt a bit pleased with myself, for his tale corroborated what I had believed about Li: that literary merit was determined by a writer’s artistry with words—not by what the writer lived on (steamed buns or stale bread), where he slept (Simmons or adobe kang), or what was hung on his wall (paintings or hoes). The tale of Li Shisan and his millstone convinced me that it was his sensitivity to words that compelled him in his art, despite his miseries and hardships. Even reduced to working his old legs at the millstone at the age of sixty-two merely for a bowl of noodles, Li Shisan still enchanted us with his creations. Grinding the wheat, putting aside the rod, and then creeping into a humble little room, furnished with only a square table, a chair, and a bench, he held his writing brush, opened the inkstone, and became absorbed in his writing.
In his lifetime, the only material benefits Li received for his writing were those two buckets of wheat from Tian Shewa.
Still, it was that exquisite sensitivity to words that frightened and enraged Li Shisan to death at hearing Emperor Jiaqing’s menacing threats. Thus his writing brush was stilled forever. That is why I chose to bring Li Shisan to life in my story.
Translated by Nan Jianchong
----
Jia Pingwa
Jia Pingwa, a prominent and celebrated writer and essayist, was born in 1952 into a farming family in Danfeng County, Shaanxi Province. He began to write while studying in the Chinese department of Northwest University in Xi’an. Jia Pingwa first achieved fame in the 1970s and 1980s with his award-winning short stories and novellas, the majority of which are set in Jia’s rural homeland in Shangzhou Prefecture.
Jia is known for his realistic depiction of the culture and life of Shaanxi Province. His writing often focuses on peasant life during China’s reforms and urbanization since 1978. His works include
Shang Zhou, White Nights, Earth Gate, Old Gao Village, Remembering Wolves, Happy
, and the autobiographical novel
I Am a Farmer
.
He has won many prizes for his work, including the Third National Novellas Award, the National Short Story Award, the Prix Femina (for
Abandoned Capital
), the Pegasus Prize for Literature, and the French Arts and Literature Prize conferred by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. In November 2008, Jia Pingwa won the seventh Mao Dun Literary Prize for his twelfth novel
Shaanxi Opera
.
----
3
J IA P INGWA
The Country Wife
1
Darky was older than her husband. She did all the work at home. She fed the pigs, rounded up the sheep, and went to the Black Cliffs to cut and collect firewood. When evening came, her small husband would pester her. He was a short, monkeylike man, but well read. He would use all the tricks he had learned from books to fuck with her. It made Darky angry. She came to hate him. At night she was tempted to push him off of her.
“You’re my land,” he would say, claiming the right to plow
When he was frightened enough to spit blood at the grinding work, and then again before dying on the dusty road of the Weibei Plateau, Li Shisan never knew that, 150 years later, his play
Wanfu Lian
would be adapted into the opera
Nuxun An
and become an immediate success.
Later, the well-known playwright Tian Han (1898–1968) adapted
Nuxun An
into
Xie Yaohuan
, which created a great stir. Its success lasted for a while, and then suddenly
Xie Yaohuan
was met with a severe attack from almost every corner of the country. But time has marched on, and the past is history; in this case, Tian Han had the courage and safety to confront the attack and did not have to spit blood.
When I first read the details of Li Shisan’s life in an article by Chen Yan, I was too excited to fall asleep. I felt a bit pleased with myself, for his tale corroborated what I had believed about Li: that literary merit was determined by a writer’s artistry with words—not by what the writer lived on (steamed buns or stale bread), where he slept (Simmons or adobe kang), or what was hung on his wall (paintings or hoes). The tale of Li Shisan and his millstone convinced me that it was his sensitivity to words that compelled him in his art, despite his miseries and hardships. Even reduced to working his old legs at the millstone at the age of sixty-two merely for a bowl of noodles, Li Shisan still enchanted us with his creations. Grinding the wheat, putting aside the rod, and then creeping into a humble little room, furnished with only a square table, a chair, and a bench, he held his writing brush, opened the inkstone, and became absorbed in his writing.
In his lifetime, the only material benefits Li received for his writing were those two buckets of wheat from Tian Shewa.
Still, it was that exquisite sensitivity to words that frightened and enraged Li Shisan to death at hearing Emperor Jiaqing’s menacing threats. Thus his writing brush was stilled forever. That is why I chose to bring Li Shisan to life in my story.
Translated by Nan Jianchong
----
Jia Pingwa
Jia Pingwa, a prominent and celebrated writer and essayist, was born in 1952 into a farming family in Danfeng County, Shaanxi Province. He began to write while studying in the Chinese department of Northwest University in Xi’an. Jia Pingwa first achieved fame in the 1970s and 1980s with his award-winning short stories and novellas, the majority of which are set in Jia’s rural homeland in Shangzhou Prefecture.
Jia is known for his realistic depiction of the culture and life of Shaanxi Province. His writing often focuses on peasant life during China’s reforms and urbanization since 1978. His works include
Shang Zhou, White Nights, Earth Gate, Old Gao Village, Remembering Wolves, Happy
, and the autobiographical novel
I Am a Farmer
.
He has won many prizes for his work, including the Third National Novellas Award, the National Short Story Award, the Prix Femina (for
Abandoned Capital
), the Pegasus Prize for Literature, and the French Arts and Literature Prize conferred by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. In November 2008, Jia Pingwa won the seventh Mao Dun Literary Prize for his twelfth novel
Shaanxi Opera
.
----
3
J IA P INGWA
The Country Wife
1
Darky was older than her husband. She did all the work at home. She fed the pigs, rounded up the sheep, and went to the Black Cliffs to cut and collect firewood. When evening came, her small husband would pester her. He was a short, monkeylike man, but well read. He would use all the tricks he had learned from books to fuck with her. It made Darky angry. She came to hate him. At night she was tempted to push him off of her.
“You’re my land,” he would say, claiming the right to plow
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