In one-child China, when a mother runs from home because of her illegal pregnancy, it’s Kong Fanhua’s problem.
She’s the only female village chief in Xiushui County, and her day-to-day tasks range from the mundane to the near-impossible: tracking down this runaway who left her twins behind, keeping rumours of a vengeful ghost at bay while trying to convince some rich American to invest in the local paper plant. Not to mention looking after her own farm and family. After all, the crops aren’t going to plant themselves.
While the incompetent men in local government fail to get much done, Fanhua picks up the slack. But when higher-ups start investigating her hometown’s birth quotas just as she’s up for re-election, the squeeze is on. Can she keep all the plates spinning? Or will she resort to villainous tactics to preserve the peace? And why won’t her lazy husband shut up about camels?
In one-child China, when a mother runs from home because of her illegal pregnancy, it’s Kong Fanhua’s problem.
She’s the only female village chief in Xiushui County, and her day-to-day tasks range from the mundane to the near-impossible: tracking down this runaway who left her twins behind, keeping rumours of a vengeful ghost at bay while trying to convince some rich American to invest in the local paper plant. Not to mention looking after her own farm and family. After all, the crops aren’t going to plant themselves.
While the incompetent men in local government fail to get much done, Fanhua picks up the slack. But when higher-ups start investigating her hometown’s birth quotas just as she’s up for re-election, the squeeze is on. Can she keep all the plates spinning? Or will she resort to villainous tactics to preserve the peace? And why won’t her lazy husband shut up about camels?
Li Er, despite his modest claim to be a "not very prolific" author, has published five story collections, two novels and approximately 50 novellas and short stories. His work appears regularly in a variety of Chinese mainland literary journals, and he has also attracted a great deal of attention among literary critics and academics for his stylistically innovative prose. Dave Haysom has been translating, editing, and writing about contemporary Chinese literature since 2012. Joint managing editor of Pathlight magazine from 2014 to 2018, he has recently translated novels by Feng Tang, Li Er, and Xu Zechen, in addition to My Tenantless Body, a collection of poetry by Yu Yoyo (in collaboration with A.K. Blakemore). In 2015 he became editor-in-chief of the Read Paper Republic project, a year-long initiative to release a weekly translation online, and he has organised literary events with organisations including the Southbank Centre, the Free Word Centre, Leeds University Centre for New Chinese Writing, the Poetry Translation Centre, and Beijing Literary Festival. His essays and reviews have appeared in Granta, Words Without Borders, The Millions, China Channel, and SUPChina, and his full portfolio is online at spittingdog.net.
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