Historical Dictionary of Modern Chinese Literature 4 presents a broad perspective on the development and history of literature in modern China. This book offers a chronology, introduction, bibliography, and over 300 cross-referenced dictionary entries on authors, literary and historical developments, trends, genres, and concepts that played a central role in the evolution of modern Chinese literature. | 2 AH LAI . ALAI cultural identity with Tibetans of Kham Amdo and U-Tsang. Due to their geographic location and agrarian lifestyle the Gyarong Tibetans who live in a region situated at the crossroads between the Chinese and Tibetan spheres of influences are arguably the most sinicized Tibetans. Ah Lai learned Chinese at school while speaking the Gyarong dialect in his home village. He graduated from a teachers training college and taught in a rural school for five years before his publications landed him a job at the Aba Cultural Bureau as an editor for a local literary journal. He later moved to Chengdu the provincial capital of Sichuan to edit a science fiction journal. Ah Lai began his literary career writing poetry later collected in Lengmo he The Lengmo River but it is his fiction that earned him his fame. His first and most famous novel Chen ai luoding Red Poppies a winner of the prestigious Mao Dun Literature Prize tells an apocalyptic tale about the final years in the history of the Gyarong-Tibetan chieftain system covering the period from the end of the 19th century to the mid-20th century. Told by a chieftain s mentally retarded son a man with supernatural foresights who has witnessed the rise and fall of his family and other chieftains the novel opens a window to a geographically isolated area whose traditional way of life and sociopolitical system were affected by the outside world as China moved into the turbulent 20th century. The novel unfolds a rich tapestry of conspiracies shifting loyalty revenge and romances. Following the success of Chen ai luoding Ah Lai published Kong shan 1 The Empty Mountain Part 1 the first of a trilogy about a small Tibetan village named Jicun. Kong shan 1 consists of two novellas Suifeng piaosan Gone with the Wind a tragic tale about the friendship between two boys and Tian huo A Natural Fire which tells how political and human intervention causes an environmental disaster. Kong shan 2 The Empty Mountain Part 2 .
