Synopsis:

An unprecedented historical novel, Purple Mountain presents a riveting, profoundly intimate portrait of Nanjing and its people during the first six days after its fall to the Japanese army in 1937. Three editions of the novel, one English and two Chinese, were published in 2005. A screenplay Qi wrote based on the novel has been optioned for production. This English Chinese bilingual edition is newly prepared for those who feel morally and intellectually compelled to revisit the ancient city of Nanjing during the reign of terror, where, within its walls, men and women, young and old, soldiers and civilians, Chinese and a dozen foreigners, are all caught up in the turbulent fires of history, where their very souls are being tested. Among them, Ning-ning, a twelve-year-old girl. A native of Nanjing, China, Shouhua Qi is Professor of English at Western Connecticut State University and the author of more than a dozen books.

Book Excerpt:

1. She looked outside the main room window again from her home on the second floor of a small, old building in a narrow alley. Looking through clusters of tiny, reddish plum blossom buds from the prune tree which stood in the yard, she could see a section of Sun Yat-sen Boulevard North in the distance. The view would have been blocked if it had not been for an opening between two crumbled buildings, like a gap between two front teeth.She had been standing by the window for hours on end during the last several days, watching flames going up the Purple Mountain, watching streams of rickshaws, squeaky donkey-drawn carts, overloaded automobiles honking incessantly, men dragging oversized trunks and suitcases behind them, porters burdened with huge bundles bobbing from carrying poles, mothers with crying babies, small children leading half-blind grandparents, soldiers in dirty, ragged uniforms, their mangled faces or arms in blood-stained bandages—a roiling human torrent of uncertainty and fear.

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Topics/Categories:

Genocide, Holocaust, Nanjing Massacre, Rape of Nanking, war and peace, war atrocities, World War II

Genre:

Asian Cultural Studies, Asian-American Studies - Interest, Chinese - Chinese-American Literature, Fiction, Historical Fiction, War Novel

Type of Work:

Book

Purchase From:

amazon.com

Original Publish Date:

July 24, 2009

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