The classic story of a woman in post-World War II China. "[A] complex and penetrating portrayal . . . that best displays [Anyi's] gifts as a novelist."— The New York TimesInfatuated with the glitz and glamour of 1940s Hollywood, Wang Qiyao—a girl born of the longtang, the crowded, labyrinthine alleys of Shanghai's working-class neighborhoods—seeks fame in the Miss Shanghai beauty pageant. This fleeting moment of...

As the end of the world arrives in downtown Shanghai, one man’s only wish is to return a library book...When a publisher agrees to let a star author use his company’s attic to write in, little does he suspect this will become the author’s permanent residence...As Shanghai succumbs to a seemingly apocalyptic deluge, a man takes refuge in his bathtub, only to find himself, moments later, floating through the city's streets...The characters in this literary exploration...

The first English-language anthology of its kind, Red Is Not the Only Color offers a window into the uncharted terrain of intimate relations between Chinese women. As urban China has undergone rapid transformation, same-sex relations have emerged as a significant, if previously neglected, touchstone for the exploration of the meaning of social change. The short fiction in this volume highlights tensions between tradition and modernization, family and state, art and commerce, love ...

I Love Bill and Other Stories showcases the work of Wang Anyi, one of China's most prolific and highly regarded writers, in two novellas and three short stories.A young artist's life spirals out of control when she drops out of school to pursue a series of unfulfilling relationships with foreign men. A performance troupe struggles to adapt to a changing China at the end of the Cultural Revolution. The head of an isolated village arranges a...

Nainai has lived in Shanghai for many years, and the time has come to find a wife for her adopted grandson. But when the bride she has chosen arrives from the countryside, it soon becomes clear that the orphaned girl has ideas of her own. Her name is Fu Ping, and the more she explores the residential lanes and courtyards behind Shanghai’s busy shopping streets, the less she wants to return to the country as a dutiful wife. As Fu Ping wavers over her future, she learns the city through the ...

Nainai has lived in Shanghai for many years, and the time has come to find a wife for her adopted grandson. But when the bride she has chosen arrives from the countryside, it soon becomes clear that the orphaned girl has ideas of her own. Her name is Fu Ping, and the more she explores the residential lanes and courtyards behind Shanghai’s busy shopping streets, the less she wants to return to the country as a dutiful wife. As Fu Ping wavers over her future, she learns the city through the ...