Books

China's first AIDS novel

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From the Naked Gaze blog:

This year, on the 25th anniversary of the first published report of AIDS, the 20th anniversary of China’s recognition of its own emerging AIDS crisis (i.e., China’s Heath Ministry’s announcement of the creation of China’s first AIDS prevention team ), the 10th anniversary of China’s implementation of new regulations governing its blood supply (reflecting the growing awareness of the role played by blood donations in HIV transmission), and the 5th anniversary of the Chinese government’s first official acknowledgement that tainted blood collection made up a “significant percentage of infections” (estimated at the time to be more than half a million) — native Henan author Yan Lianke (阎连科) has published Ding Village Dream (丁庄梦), billed as “China’s first full-length novel describing matters related to AIDS.”

That's the first paragraph of a lengthy examination of the novel, which you can find here: AIDS in China.

UPDATE: Prince Roy points out in the comments:

I recently picked up another novel of his here in Taipei: Serve the People (为人民服务), which is a supposed semi-autobiographical account of his Cultural Revolution years. It borders on the pornographic, all the while using graphic sex as a kind of metaphor, and as I understand it, the Chinese authorities promptly banned it.

There's more about this on ESWN, including translations: Serve the People, and a mention on Danwei: Nanny strikes back: squeezed BBS and banned books

 
There are currently 2 Comments for China's first AIDS novel.

Comments on China's first AIDS novel

Interesting. I recently picked up another novel of his here in Taipei: 为人民服务, which is a supposed semi-autobiographical account of his GPCR years. It borders on the pornographic, all the while using graphic sex as a kind of metaphor, and as I understand it, the Chinese authorities promptly banned it.

We covered 'Serve the People' a while back, actually. I don't know if I'd say it merely borders on the pornographic, though then again it's certainly no 金瓶梅. Have they got unexpurgated editions of that on your side of the Straits?

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