chinadaily.com.cn
    left corner left corner
    China Daily Website

    Shanghai today

    Updated: 2012-10-08 14:37
    ( chinaculture.org)

    Shanghai today

    Awash in a neon blue glow, even Shanghai's pedestrian overpasses symbolize modernity in the booming metropolis. Jonah M. Kessel / China Daily

    While this city's early 20th-century romance still excites the imagination of writers, contemporary life in the rapidly changing port town is also inspiring authors, Chitralekha Basu reports

    Many writers, from Wang Anyi, a highly prolific chronicler of Shanghai's lightning-paced evolution, to the intense and powerful explorer of women's psyche, Hong Ying, and international heavyweights such as JG Ballard and Kazuo Ishiguro, are still fascinated by 1930s Shanghai.

    Its inclusive, cosmopolitan ambience, its air of intrigue and cultural flowering, the juxtaposition of grand colonial architecture and the shadow of poverty and displacement looming in modest shikumen houses are apparently an enduring and unbeatable combination.

    But there is also a new breed of writers living and working in the city who are chronicling modern life in Shanghai.

    "There is a huge body of literature delineating contemporary Shanghai," says Zhao Lihong, vice-president of the 1,260 member-strong Shanghai Writers' Association. It's just that they lack the kind of visibility and demand from the market enjoyed by the books set in the past, he says. He receives a panoply of stories set in modern Shanghai every month for Shanghai Literature, a magazine of short stories and novellas, which he edits.

    Zhao cites Wang Anyi's Song of Everlasting Sorrow (1995) and Wang Xiaoying's Song of a Long Street (2010) as two of the most thorough works on contemporary Shanghai. In the former, "although it's about four decades of Chinese history, beginning in 1945, the writer is reflecting on present-day Shanghai". Similarly, spanning 50 years of life on a Shanghai street, Wang Xiaoying's book is, "ultimately about the present".

    Zhao himself has written several narrative poems (The City Through the Ages) and articles (In the Footsteps of Shanghai), tracing the city's eventful journey into the present. His current writings are personal, impressionistic views of Shanghai - its architecture, history, changing lifestyles and the deep and dynamic changes his own relationship with the city has been through.

    Writing about Shanghai has been a perennial engagement for Wang Xiaoying. "But then Shanghai is like an ocean, to depict a complete picture is well nigh impossible," she says. "As one born, raised and living in Shanghai I feel a responsibility to depict the images of real Shanghai."

    Previous Page 1 2 Next Page

    8.03K
     
    Hot Topics
    Photos that capture the beauty of China.
    ...
    ...
    ...
    欧美日韩亚洲中文字幕二区| 蜜桃成人无码区免费视频网站| 日韩精品无码一区二区三区不卡| 亚洲一区无码中文字幕| 久久午夜伦鲁片免费无码| 最近最新中文字幕视频| 亚洲中文字幕无码一久久区| 变态SM天堂无码专区| 亚洲精品无码不卡在线播放HE| 一本大道香蕉中文日本不卡高清二区 | 久久无码国产| 波多野结AV衣东京热无码专区| 中文字幕人成乱码在线观看| 被夫の上司に犯中文字幕| 国产午夜片无码区在线播放| 亚洲中文字幕不卡无码| 亚洲一区日韩高清中文字幕亚洲 | 国产精品一级毛片无码视频 | 久久亚洲AV无码西西人体| 久久综合精品国产二区无码| 亚洲综合无码AV一区二区| 久久午夜福利无码1000合集| 欧美中文字幕一区二区三区| 亚洲中文字幕无码久久综合网| 亚洲美日韩Av中文字幕无码久久久妻妇 | 色综合天天综合中文网| 亚洲成a人在线看天堂无码| 精品久久久久久无码人妻蜜桃| 99久久无码一区人妻a黑| 久久久久久亚洲AV无码专区| 精品无码日韩一区二区三区不卡| 无码国产精品一区二区免费vr | 国产做无码视频在线观看浪潮| 无码国内精品久久人妻蜜桃| 日韩av无码中文字幕| 国产在线精品无码二区| 东京热加勒比无码少妇| 日韩精品无码永久免费网站| 日韩人妻无码精品无码中文字幕| 中文字幕av高清片| 久久久网中文字幕|