Red Poppies
1998 novel by Alai
Red Poppies (Chinese: 尘埃落定) is a 1998 Chinese-language novel by the Tibetan Chinese writer Alai, whose theme is based on the Tibetan custom and traditions. The novel consists of 12 chapters with a total of 481,000 Chinese characters. It won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2000.[1]
Summary
Set in Ngawa, Sichuan, the novel chronicles the stories of a Tibetan Tusi and his family from the 1920s to 1949, which gives a general introduction to the economic development in Ngawa, the territorial disputes among Tibetan chieftains, and the fights for throne succession.
Main characters
Family of Tusi Maiqi
- The first-person narrator: considered as an 'idiot', the second son of Tusi Maiqi, mother is a Han Chinese
- Tusi Maiqi: father of the first-person narrator
- Mother: the second wife of Tusi Maiqi, a Han Chinese woman as a gift given to Maiqi by a merchant trading furs and herbs
- Brother: the eldest son of Tusi Maiqi, son of Maiqi's first wife, considered as the successor of Tusi Maiqi
- Sangji Zhuoma: maid of the first-person narrator
- The lame butler
- Weng Bo Yi Xi: Lama of Gelug
- Suo Lang Ze Lang: attendant of the first-person narrator
- Yang Zong: used to be the woman of the chieftain Zhazha, belongs to Tusi Maiqi after Zhazha's death
- Lama Menba
- Sister: half-blooded, shares the same father with the narrator, lives in London
- Uncle: Tusi Maiqi's younger brother, trades in India
- The silversmith: later marries Sangji Zhuoma
Other characters
- Special commissioner Huang: an official of the national government
- Tusi Ronggong: a female Tusi
- Tana: the beautiful daughter of Tusi Ronggong
- Tusi Laxueba
- Tusi Wangbo
Reception
Comments by the selection committee of the Mao Dun Literature Prize: "The novel narrates from a unique viewpoint, with a rich connotation of Tibetan culture. A slight of fantasy enhances the artistic expression. The writing style is light, charming and poetic".[2]
Adaptations
- TV series: a television adaptation of Red Poppies was first shown in 2003.
- Dance drama: Red Poppies was adapted into a dance drama by Hong Kong Dance Company in 2006.
References
External links
- 在线阅读 (Online Reading)
- Douban
- v
- t
- e
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- Wei Wei – Orient
- Mo Yingfeng – General's Chant
- Yao Xueyin – Li Zicheng
- Gu Hua – A Small Town Called Hibiscus
- Li Guowen – Spring in Winter
- Li Zhun – The Yellow River Flows to the East
- Zhang Jie – Leaden Wings
- Liu Xinwu – The Wedding Party
- Wang Huo – War and People
- Chen Zhongshi – White Deer Field
- Liu Sifen – White Gate Willow
- Liu Yumin – Unsettled Autumn
- Zhang Ping – Decision
- Alai – Red Poppies
- Wang Anyi – The Song of Everlasting Sorrow
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- Chu Chunqiu – Sky of History
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- Yang Zhijun [zh] - The Snow Mountain and the Homeland
- Qiao Ye [zh] - Baoshui Village
- Liu Liangcheng [zh] - Bomba
- Sun Ganlu [zh] - A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains
- Dong Xi - Resonance
