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← Back to all issuesGranta 169: China
Autumn 2024
At a time when China has become a unifying spectre of menace for Western governments, this issue of Granta seeks to bring the country’s literary culture into focus.
Featuring fiction by Yu Hua, Zou Jingzhi, Yan Lianke, Jianan Qian, Shuang Xuetao, Mo Yan, Zhang Yueran, Ban Yu, Yang Zhihan and Wang Zhanhei.
Essays by Xiao Hai and Han Zhang, as well as a conversation between Wu Qi and Granta.
Photography from Feng Li, Haohui Liu and collaborators Li Jie and Zhang Jungang.
And poetry from Huang Fan, Lan Lan, Hu Xudong and Zheng Xiaoqiong.
From this Issue
|Granta 169
The Excitements of Spring
Zou Jingzhi
‘As a young man, I wanted to learn how to love, but in the end, I did nothing. I wanted to torture myself, but didn’t know where to begin.’
Fiction by Zou Jingzhi, translated by Jeremy Tiang.
|Granta 169
The Piranhas
Jianan Qian
‘In the end, the real world always finds a way to live up to rumor.’
Fiction by Jianan Qian, translated by Jianan Qian and Alyssa Asquith.
|Granta 169
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Ban Yu
‘It was a special time in Shenyang’s history – everyone was enthusiastic about football, and every company had a football fan club.’
Fiction by Ban Yu, translated by Tony Hao.
|Granta 169
Hai Shan Swimming Pool
Yang Zhihan
‘As soon as I turned the corner, I saw her. She was swimming across the blue sea, the only person in the entire swimming pool.’
Fiction by Yang Zhihan, translated by Helen Wang.
|Granta 169
New Year’s By the Sea, Spinning Top and Cup
Huang Fan
‘A cup is an open mouth / You kiss each day’
Three poems by Huang Fan, translated by Margaret Ross.
|Granta 169
Goodbye, Bridge of the East
Wang Zhanhei
‘To make sure she was looking her best in the photos, Wu Jiayu avoided eating during our dates, and she didn’t order anything for me when we were done.’
A short story by Wang Zhanhei, translated by Dave Haysom.
|Granta 169
The Civilian Level
Lie Jie & Zhang Jungang
‘Photographs, they feel, lie in wait for them.’
Photography by Li Jie and Zhang Jungang introduced by Granta.
|Granta 169
Birds
Zheng Xiaoqiong
‘in the Huangma Mountains, everything rots readily’
A poem by Zheng Xiaoqiong, translated by Eleanor Goodman.
