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Shanghai Baby
Shanghai Baby | Wei Hui
3 posts | 6 read | 1 to read
First championed by the state media as a rising star of her generation, Wei Hui is now dubbed 'decadent, debauched and a slave of foreign culture'. Shanghai Baby was banned by the authorities in April 2000 and 40,000 copies were publicly burned, serving only to fan the flames of the author's cult status. Based on the author's own experience, Shanghai Baby is the story of Coco, a 25-year-old waitress who falls in love with a charismatic but opium-addicted young man, but then also embarks on a highly-charged affair with a married westerner. The book deals honestly with areas which are conventionally taboo, most especially in its feminist portrayal of the new woman in contemporary China. This audacious literary novel arrives at a time when China's contemporary fringe of urban youth challenges her historic and traditional mores and very sense of self. The gap between old and new is typified by the wealthier, better-educated and mature one-child-family generation that is now impatient for recognition, empowerment and self-expression. Here is a beautifully written novel that champions female sexuality, dares to transgress convention and describes China on the brink of her own social and sexual revolution. Wei Hui calls Shanghai Baby 'semi-autobiographical', an account of her spiritual and sexual awakening. "I grew up in a very strict family. My first year of college was spent in military training. What happened after that was natural. I rebelled. I went wild. That's what I wrote about." During spiritual father" and it was his writing that changed her way of looking at her own work. She sees herself as a new voice creating a new definition of what it means to be a Chinese woman.
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squirrelbrain
Shanghai baby | Zhou Weihui
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This #chinagirl was banned in China for its ‘sensual nature and irreverent style‘.

It‘s years since I read it and I don‘t remember it at all so it‘s maybe time for a re-read.

#wanderingjune

Ms_T I‘m intrigued! 5y
BarbaraBB Me too, I don‘t know this one. 5y
Cinfhen Count me in!!! 5y
squirrelbrain @Ms_T @BarbaraBB @Cinfhen I shall have to read it again and let you know if it‘s any good - I don‘t recall anything about it 🥴 5y
61 likes4 comments
review
Tonton
Shanghai Baby | Wei Hui
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Mehso-so

I must be getting old. I probably would have liked it when I was younger; this was just a bit too brat pack (yah, I've been there, done that) so didn't feel fresh.

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Weaponxgirl
Shanghai Baby | Wei Hui Zhou
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So a quick perusal of my bookcases easily found these books bu Chinese authors to add to my possible reading list for 2017. My kindle also has quite a few on it already including a few food memoirs. Any here that other littens have read and would recommend?

Laura317 Dadgummit! I forgot to look last night! I'm so sorry! 8y
Weaponxgirl @Laura317 no worries, life does that to us. Plus I got to go through my bookcases which is always fun! Any of these that you've read and recommend? Plus others are always good 8y
Laura317 @Weaponxgirl Here are four I found in Goodreads. Little White Duck by Liu Na. Murder in Dragon City by Qin Ming and Explosion Chronicles by Yan Lianke. I've read all of these. All were pretty good. (edited) 8y
See All 17 Comments
Weaponxgirl @Laura317 well my library is gonna be getting looked at hard when I've made headway through the books I've already borrowed ;) 8y
Laura317 @Weaponxgirl I'm going to add your stack to my tbr. My poor bank account!! 8y
Weaponxgirl @Laura317 I apologise to your finances, I'm having similar problems after only just having joined this site 8y
Weaponxgirl @MrBook I keep finding more, if I could work out how to do all the book covers photos everyone shows and included my kindle books it would be quite excessive ;) 8y
MrBook ☺️👍🏻 8y
EricQiao Hey, Chinese author here! Read me! Read me! 🤗🤗 8y
Weaponxgirl @EricQiao lol, added to my stack 😊 8y
EricQiao @Weaponxgirl Do you do reviews? If you're interested I'll send you a copy--free. 8y
Weaponxgirl @EricQiao only on here, I post star ratings on goodreads but never full reviews. I'm always interested in discovering new books 😀 8y
EricQiao @weaponxgirl How about Amazon? Well, shoot me an email if you're interested. Cheswick_lang@yahoo.com 8y
EricQiao @Weaponxgirl BTW Shanghai Baby is a terrible book. I was trying to search for my own book Shanghai Bandit and this post popped up. Glad it did though, lol. 8y
Weaponxgirl @EricQiao late on replying as had to run to work. I will do so when I wake up after a needed sleep. Thank you 😀 8y
27 likes17 comments