Short stories
哦,香雪
Not translated into English
Tie Ning · 1982
Synopsis
In a mountain village through which a railway line has recently begun to pass, the train stops every evening for one minute at the entrance to the hamlet. The young girls wash their faces and put on new shoes to go and see it, and offer eggs to the travellers. One of them, Xiangxue, notices a plastic pencil case belonging to a passenger from the city, an object that seems to her to open onto another world, and decides to obtain it in exchange for her basket of eggs.
Context
The text appeared in the fifth issue of 1982 of the journal Qingnian wenxue; it received the first national prize for the short story and was reprinted by Xiaoshuo xuankan and Xiaoshuo yuebao, according to Chinawriter. It is read as showing the girl's simplicity and her desire for a modern life, the pencil box opening a window for her onto the outside world. The author herself drew a film from it, which was honoured at the 41st Berlin festival. No French or English translation of the text has been found, although several of the author's books exist in those two languages.
Who it is for
A very short story of great simplicity; it has not been translated, but the author has been translated into French and English.
Prizes and reception
The film based on the text was also honoured in China with the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers awards, according to Paper Republic.
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