The way spring arrives and other stories

Book - 2022

"From an award-winning team of authors, editors, and translators comes a groundbreaking short story collection that explores the expanse of Chinese science fiction and fantasy. In The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories, you can dine at a restaurant at the end of the universe, cultivate to immortality in the high mountains, watch roses perform Shakespeare, or arrive at the island of the gods on the backs of giant fish to ensure that the world can bloom. Written, edited, and translated by a female and nonbinary team, these stories have never before been published in English and represent both the richly complicated past and the vivid future of Chinese science fiction and fantasy. Time travel to a winter's day on the West Lake, exp...lore the very boundaries of death itself, and meet old gods and new heroes in this stunning new collection"--

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1st Floor FICTION/Way Due Apr 11, 2024
Subjects
Genres
short stories
Science fiction
Fantasy fiction
Short stories
Published
New York, NY : Tom Doherty Associates 2022.
Language
English
Chinese
Edition
First edition
Item Description
Stories translated from the Chinese.
Physical Description
xiv, 385 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
ISBN
9781250768919
  • The stars we raised / Xiu Xinyu
  • The tale of Wude's heavenly tribulation / Count E
  • What does the fox say? / Xia Jia
  • Blackbird / Shen Dacheng
  • The restaurant at the end of the universe: Tai-Chi mashed taro / Anna Wu
  • Essay: The futures of genders in Chinese science fiction / Jing Tsu
  • Baby, I love you / Zhao Haihong
  • A saccharophilic earthworm / BaiFanRuShuang
  • The alchemist of Lantian / BaiFanRuShuang
  • The way spring arrives / Wang Nuonuo
  • Essay: Translation as retelling: An approach to translating Gu Shi's "To Procure Jade" and Ling Chen's "The Name of the Dragon" / Yilin Wang
  • The name of the dragon / Ling Chen
  • To procure jade / Gu Shi
  • A brief history of Beinakan disasters as told in a Sinitic language / Nian Yu
  • Essay: Is there such a thing as feminine quietness? A cognitive linguistics perspective / Emily Xueni Jin
  • Dragonslaying / Shen Yingying
  • New year painting, ink and color on rice paper, Zhaoqiao Village / Chen Qian
  • The portrait / Chu Xidao
  • The woman carrying a corpse / Chi Hui
  • The mountain and the secret of their names / Wang Nuonuo
  • Essay: Net novels and the "She Era": How internet novels opened the door for female readers and writers in China / Xueting Christine Ni
  • Essay: Writing and translation: A hundred technical tricks / Rebecca F. Kuang.
Review by Booklist Review

This anthology brings together a range of fantasy and science fiction by women and nonbinary writers from China. This strong collection breaks out of the high-concept trend set for Chinese genre fiction in translation by the wild popularity of Liu Cixin's work. The contents range from somewhat magical-realist stories like Shen Dacheng's "Blackbird," about one nursing-home resident who refuses to die, to parable-like stories like Chi Hui's "The Woman Carrying a Corpse," with most stories emphasizing style or theme over wide-scale, hard-sf devices. The essays provided in the collection also help give some context to some of the issues of translation of certain stories and to the place of women writers of genre fiction in the current Chinese-fiction landscape. The one omission is a discussion of trans women or LGBTQ women in China in general and their relationship to gender, genre fiction, or publishing as a whole, apart from a vague gesturing to "women and other marginalized genders" in an essay by Jing Tsu. Even with that caveat, this collection is essential reading for anyone interested in a fuller picture of Chinese genre fiction as a whole.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

With this impressive anthology, Yu and Wang bring together the first English translations of 17 Chinese-language stories by female and nonbinary writers. One can find refuge--and pay the tab with a story--at the eponymous eatery featured in "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Tai-Chi Mashed Taro" by Anna Wu, translated by Carmen Yiling Yan, and enjoy hassle-free child-rearing with digital children in "Baby, I Love You" by Zhao Haihong, translated by Elizabeth Hanlon. In the title story by Wang Nuonuo, translated by Rebecca F. Kuang, a young woman and her admirer travel the world, moving the ocean's currents to bring about spring. In "Dragonslaying" by Shen Yingying, translated by Emily Xueni Jin, half-fish beings are exploited for their beauty and coveted for their priceless eyes. And in "New Year Painting, Ink and Color on Rice Paper, Zhaoqiao Village" by Chen Qian, also translated by Jin, paintings by a talented child can cure terminal illness, but at a price. Five essays on the art and intricacies of translation add thought-provoking context, musing on how to represent a culture to an unfamiliar audience. This offers much to chew on. (Nov.)Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated the number of pieces that are included in the collection.

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Review by Library Journal Review

As more speculative short story collections arrive on shelves than ever before, this anthology of 17 Chinese-language stories by nonbinary and female authors shines a new light on the genre. Youths help stars grow while finding their own identities in Xiu Xinyu's "The Stars We Raised," translated by Judy Yi Zhou. A story can pay the price of a meal at "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Tai-Chi Mashed Taro," by Anna Wu, translated by Carmen Yiling Yan. The title story by Wang Nuonuo, "The Way Spring Arrives," translated by The Poppy War author Rebecca F. Kuang, tells of a young man who accompanies a woman from his village on her journey to bring spring to the world; along the way, he learns the cycles of ocean currents, myths, and love. Editors Yu and Wang also include five essays that explore not only the stories' themes but the art of translating such works. VERDICT An important anthology showcasing compelling voices and perspectives in science fiction and fantasy.--Kristi Chadwick

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