Chinese Women Writers on the Environment

The stories, prose and poems in this anthology offer readers a unique and generous array of women’s experiences in China. In a world that is rapidly modernizing, these writings attempt to reconcile with the ever-changing people, plants, beasts and environment. After five years of painstaking collection and translation, the authors present these stories of strength and sadness, defiance and resilience, urban and village life, from the days of the cultural revolution to the present. Whether a house full of hawks and eagles, a stubborn cow, or a defiant elderly couple sabotaging a lumber operation, these stories express powerful visions of the earth interwoven with human memory.

Dong Isbister is associate professor of women’s and gender studies at University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

Xiumei Pu is an assistant professor of environmental studies at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. She has published essays on ecospirituality and gender-environment connections from a cross-cultural lens.

Stephen D. Rachman teaches in the department of English at Michigan State University.

Edited by Dong Isbister, Xiumei Pu and Stephen D. Rachman

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 245
Bibliographic Info: notes, index
Copyright Date: 2020
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6698-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4013-6
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii
Introduction—Ecomemories: The Tasks of the Translators 1
Notes on Style 7
1. From Nomad Songs  Ayinuer Maowuliti 9
2. Patterns of the Sun  Bamo Qubumo 11
3. Four Generations of Va Women  Burao Yilu 13
4. Eternal Spirits  Cen Xianqing 26
5. Herbs Living in the Body  Chen Danling 29
6. Kangnalikan the Little Reindeer  Dekeli 33
7. Eji’s Buckwheat Field  Han Jinghui 38
8. Cat Tragedies  Lei Zhifen 49
9. Bitter Greens  Ma Jinlian 56
10. Wild Horses  Maidina Seyiti 74
11. Snow Lotus  Mao Mei 75
12. Qinghai  Naye 80
13. A Houseful of Birds  Nuryla Qiziqan 81
14. We Have Surpassed the Bears  Nuryla Qiziqan 84
15. Daliangpo: Egg, Water and Milk  Patigül 87
16. Dalema’s Sacred Tree  Sana 95
17. Mokuqin the Cow  Su Hua 121
18. Shujuan the Black Bear  Ye Guangcen 134
19. In Love with the Gen River  Ye Mei 188
20. From Huorili River, Huorili Mountain  Yilan 196
21. When Petals Fall Off Flowers  Zhao Yan 215
22. From Womanly Crops  Zuo Zhongmei 224
About the Authors 227
About the Translators 231
Index 235