Description:
An epic spanning more than half a century of Taiwan's history, this breathtaking historical novel traces the fortunes of the Pengs, a family of Hakka Chinese settlers, across three generations from the 1890s, just before Taiwan was ceded to Japan as a result of the Sino-Japanese war, through World War II. Li Qiao brilliantly re-creates the dramatic world of these pioneers--and the colonization of Taiwan itself--exploring their relationships with the aboriginal peoples of Taiwan and their struggle to establish their own ethnic and political identities. This edition is an abridgement for English-speaking readers and marks the work's first appearance in the English-speaking world. An introduction explaining the cultural and historical background of the novel is included to help orient the reader to this amazingly rich cultural context.
Brief description: John Balcom is professor of Chinese-English translation at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He has translated a number of books, including Wintry Night by Li Qiao, The City Trilogy by Chang His-kuo, and Taiwan's Indigenous Writers: An Anthology of Stories, Essays, and Poems.
Review Quotes: This novel is classic historical fiction presented in a very real and intriguingly perceptive style. A masterpiece!--Viviane Crystal "The Historical Novels Review"