Xu Zechen

Chinese literature published in the United States has tended to focus on politics -- think the Cultural Revolution and dissidents -- but there's a whole other world of writing out there. It's punk, dealing with the harsh realities lived by the millions of city-dwellers struggling to get by in the grey economy. Dunhuahg, recently out of prison for selling fake IDs, has just enough money for a couple of meals. He also has no place to stay and no prospects for earning more yuan. When he happens to meet a pretty woman selling pirated DVDs, he falls into both an unexpected romance and a new business venture. But when her on-and-off boyfriend steps back into the picture, Dunhuahg is forced to make some tough decisions. Running Through Beijing explores an underworld of constant thievery, hardcore porn, cops (both real and impostors), prison bribery, rampant drinking, and the smothering, bone-dry dust storms that blanket one of the world's largest cities. Like a literary Run Lola Run, it follows a hustling hero rushing at breakneck speed to stay just one step ahead. Full of well-drawn, authentic characters, Running Through Beijing is a masterful performance from a fresh Chinese voice.

Running Through Beijing

لقاء في بكين

Zhu Wen

Han Dong

Jie Chen

Diao Dou

Cao Kou

Ding Liying

Ho Sin Tung

Yi Sha

Zhang Zhihao

**Selected as one of the Financial Times Best Books of 2012** 'Shi Cheng is a sort of mind map of both modern China, and also of what it’s like to be human.' - Asian Books Blog To the West, China may appear an unstoppable economic unity, a single high-performing whole, but for the inhabitants of this vast, complex and contradictory nation, it is the cities that hold the secret to such economic success. From the affluent, Westernised Hong Kong to the ice-cold Harbin in the north, from the Islamic quarters of Xi’an to the manufacturing powerhouse of Guangzhou - China’s cities thrum with promise and aspiration, playing host to the myriad hopes, frustrations and tensions that define China today. The stories in this anthology offer snapshots of ten such cities, taking in as many different types of inhabitant. Here we meet the lowly Beijing mechanic lovingly piecing together his first car from scrap metal, somnambulant commuters at a Nanjing bus-stop refusing to acknowledge the presence of a dead body just metres away, or Shenyang intellectuals conducting a letter-writing campaign on the moral welfare of their city. The challenges depicted in these stories are uniquely Chinese, but the energy and ingenuity with which their authors approach them is something readers everywhere can marvel at.

Short Stories from Urban China

Shi Cheng

La nuova Pechino, e i sogni che faticano a realizzarsi. Unnoirurbano che racconta con ironia le storie di ragazzi e ragazze che cercano di inventarsi una vita. «Una potente riflessione sul commercio a mano armata e sull’ingiustizia economica della Cina contemporanea» (The Financial Times).

Correndo attraverso Pechino

Xu Zechen

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