Wintry Night: (Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan)

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 carefully researched work of fiction draws upon Li's own experiences and family history, as well as oral and written histories of the era. Originally published in Chinese as a trilogy, this newly translated edition is an abridgement for English-speaking readers and marks the work's first appearance in the English-speaking world. It was well-received in Taiwan as an honest-and influential-recreation of Taiwan's history before the relocation of the Republic of China from the mainland to Taiwan.

Because Li's saga is so deeply imbued with the unique culture and complex history of Taiwan, an introduction explaining the cultural and historical background of the novel is included to help orient the reader to this amazingly rich cultural context. This informative introduction and the sweeping saga of the novel itself together provide an important view of Taiwan's little known colonial experience.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Translator's Introduction Part 1. Wintry Night 1. The Peng Family Make Their Way to Fanzai Wood 2. Days on Guard 3. Planting Potatoes, Making Potash, Death 4. The Unexpected 5. Love 6. Death and Disaster 7. Change 8. The Japanese Arrive 9. Endless Wintry Night Part 2. The Lone Lamp 1. The Sound of Weeping 2. Good-bye 3. Ten Thousand Miles of Sea and Sky 4. The Clouds and the Moon 5. Misfortune 6. Good-byes on the Grass 7. Misty Spring Days 8. Sacrificial Rites 9. Women of the Mountains 10. The Journey of the Salmon 11. The Eternal Lamp

About the Author :
Li Qiao has been one of Taiwan's most famous and prolific writers for the past forty years. He wrote his monumental saga, Wintry Night, over five years from 1975 to 1980.

Review :
"A work of epic proportions... carefully researched yet accessible to readers unfamiliar with Taiwanese history." - Howard Goldblatt, award-winning translator of Chu T'ien-wen's Notes of a Desolate Man "One of the most influential classics in Taiwan's contemporary fictional world. The complicated Taiwanese consciousness is laid out before us in this rich historical record." - Liu Jianmei, University of Maryland