{"product_id":"a-dictionary-of-maqiao-9780385339353","title":"A Dictionary of Maqiao","description":"From the daring imagination of one of China's greatest living novelists comes a work of startling power and originality-the story of a young man \"displaced\" to a small village in rural China during the 1960s. Told in the format of a dictionary, with a series of vignettes disguised as entries, \u003ci\u003eA Dictionary of Maqiao\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel of bold invention-and a fascinating, comic, deeply moving journey through the dark heart of the Cultural Revolution.\u003cbr\u003eEntries trace the wisdom and absurdities of Maqiao: the petty squabbles, family grudges, poverty, infidelities, fantasies, lunatics, bullies, superstitions, and especially the odd logic in their use of language-where the word for \"beginning\" is the same as the word for \"end\"; \"little big brother\" means older sister; to be \"scientific\" means to be lazy; and \"streetsickness\" is a disease afflicting villagers visiting urban areas. Filled with colorful characters-from a weeping ox to a man so poisonous that snakes die when they bite him-\u003ci\u003eA Dictionary of Maqiao\u003c\/i\u003e is both an important work of Chinese literature and a probing inquiry into the extraordinary power of language.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHan Shaogong is an award-winning novelist, essayist, and translator. He is also the former editor of the magazines Hainan Review and Frontiers and is the vice-chairman of the Hainan Writer's Association. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJulia Lovell is a translator of modern Chinese literature and a research fellow at Queen's College, Cambridge.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Random House Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50904307040530,"sku":"9780385339353","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_173c1df0-690f-4a53-a37e-768e7e4a4e19.jpg?v=1738513822","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-dictionary-of-maqiao-9780385339353","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}