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Registration and Other Stories by Contemporary Chinese Writers
Registration and Other Stories by Contemporary Chinese Writers | Foreign Languages Press
3 posts | 1 read
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Bookwomble
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Was this 1954 collection of short stories by ideologically faithful cadres of the Chinese Communist Party full-on Maoist propaganda? Yes. Was it an interesting insight into the historical processes and concerns of the early Chinese Revolution? Also yes.
It doesn't seem any more jingoistic to me than many western movies of the post WWII period, and probably less so than, say, the Top Gun films.
The stories focus on the shift from traditional 👇

Bookwomble ... customs, such as forced marriage, and always end with the vindication of the new regime and the grateful acceptance by the older generation of CCP ideology. The ideal of free choice and gender equality is inspiring in principle, even if we now know that the practice was far from ideal.
There is also an ethnic inclusivity in several of the stories, which focus on Mongolian and Kazakh people and how their cultures are to be respected whilst 👇
2d
Bookwomble ... transformed on Maoist principles, again sadly betrayed in the present as in the case of the Uighur people.
While a couple of the stories are nothing more than propaganda, mostly they do have human stories to tell and I'm glad to have read them. 3.5 ⭐
2d
kspenmoll Happy Litsyversary!!!‘ 7h
32 likes3 comments
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Bookwomble
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"The evening sun was being swallowed up by the far horizon. A northwest wind was stealthily ruffling the grass till the plain looked like a racing sea, while the dark clouds gathering overhead resembled the calfskin roof of a tent. Everybody knew the autumn rain was at hand."
- On the Kholchin Grasslands, by Malchinku

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Bookwomble
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I'm making good progress with The One Who Did Not Ask, enjoying it and it's possible I'll finish it today, despite needing a little break from it.

Rather than picking up one of the other books I'm currently reading, I've picked up a "new" one. It's a short story collection published in 1954 by the People's Republic of China's state publisher, the Foreign Languages Press, so all the stories will be "ideologically sound", but I'm hoping that ?

Bookwomble ... the inevitable propaganda will not distract from the stories themselves. Perhaps, actually, it will be an interesting part of the cultural setting. 1w
sarahbarnes Wow, that sounds like it will be an interesting reading experience. 1w
Bookwomble @sarahbarnes I've read three stories, and they are full-on propaganda for the Bright Communist Future of Mao's China. They're interesting so as historical artefacts, and they're definitely an insight into the time and place, but I'm hoping there will be some stories with greater literary merit. 1w
Bookwomble @sarahbarnes That hope was quickly answered! The fourth story keeps it's propaganda message to the last page, and delivered an interesting, characterful story 😊 1w
sarahbarnes Fascinating. I‘m glad at least one story has felt worth the read from a literary standpoint! 1w
42 likes5 comments