CHEN CUN ("Footsteps on the Roof") was born in Shanghai in 1954. Having worked as a peasant, a laborer, and a teacher, he is now a professional writer.
CHEN RAN ("Sunshine Between the Lips") was born in 1962 in Beijing and studied music in her childhood. She turned to literature when she was eighteen and published her first works when she was twenty. She is now an editor for the Writers Publishing House.
CHI LI ("Willow Waist"), born in Hubei province in 1957, was sent to the countryside in her teens. Afterward she worked as a primary school teacher, a doctor, and an editor. She is now a professional writer.
DUO DUO ("The Day I Got to Xi'an "), born in 1951, is known for both his stories and his poetry. He was a journalist before leaving China for the West, where he now resides.
GE FEI ("Remembering Mr. Wu You"), born in 1964 in Jiangsu province, studied Chinese literature at East China Normal University in Shanghai and taught there after graduation. The story included here, his first work, was published in 1986.
HONG YING ("The Field") was born in 1962 in Chongqing. She began writing poetry in 1981 and fiction in 1988. She now lives in London.
KONG JIESHENG ("The Sleeping Lion"), born in Guangzhou in 1952, worked in a steel mill for two years before being sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. He was one of the earliest writers to emerge in the post-Mao period.
LI RUI ("Sham Marriage") was born in 1950 in Beijing. Sent to a village in Shanxi province, where he spent several years, he later worked in a steel mill and began publishing fiction in the 1970s. He has been an editor for Shanxi Literature since 1977.
LI XIAO ("Grass on the Rooftop"), the son of Ba Jin, the celebrated novelist of the 1930s, was born in 1950 and now works in a government office in Shanghai.
MO YAN ("The Cure"), born in 1956 in Shangdong province into a peasant family, joined the army in 1976 and later taught in a cultural unit of the People's Liberation Army in Beijing. In 1981 he started his career as a writer; he is the author of Red Sorghum.
SHI TIESHENG ("First Person") was born in Beijing in 1951. Crippled during the Cultural Revolution, he began publishing in 1979, frequently writing about the lives of handicapped people in China.
SU TONG ("The Brothers Shu"), a native of Jiangsu province, was born in 1963. He studied Chinese literature at Beijing Normal University and was an editor for Zhongshan, a literary magazine. The author of Raise the Red Lantern, he is currently a professional writer.
WANG MENG ("A String of Choices"), was born in Beijing in 1934. A member of the Communist Party, he served as Minister of Culture but was dismissed after the June Fourth Movement in 1989. He began writing in his twenties.
WANG XIANGFU ("Fritter Hollow Chronicles") was born in 1958 in Shanxi province. After graduating from college, he worked as a photographer for six years and a teacher for nearly ten.
YANG ZHENGGUANG ("Moonlight over the Field of Ghosts"), a native of Shanxi province, was born in 1957. Besides fiction, he also writes film scripts.
YU HUA ("The Past and the Punishments"), born in Hangzhou in 1960, works in a cultural center in Haiyan county, Zhejiang province. He started publishing fiction in 1983.
Acknowledgments
"First Person" was first published as "Diyi rencheng" in Zhongshan (1992): 2. Copyright © 1992 by Shi Tiesheng. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Thomas Moran.
"The Field" was first published as "Neinian de tianye" in Zhongshan (1994): 1. Copyright © 1994 by Hong Ying. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Susan McFadden.
"The Brothers Shu" was first published as "Shu Nong" in 1988. Anthologized as "Shujia xiongdi" in Shaonian xue, Nanjing, 1993. Copyright © 1993 by Su Tong. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Howard Goldblatt.
"A String of Choices" was first published as "Xuanze de li-cheng" in 1987. Anthologized in Qiuxing qiyu ji, Beijing, 1990. Copyright © 1990 by Wang Meng. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1993 by Zhu Hong. English translation reprinted by permission of Chicago Review.
"Sham Marriage" was first published as "Jia hun" in 1986. Anthologized in Hou tu: Lüliangshan yinxiang, Taipei, 1988. Copyright © 1988 by Li Rui. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by William Schaefer and Fenghua Wang.
"The Day I Got to Xi'an " was first published as "Wo daoda Xi'an neitian" in Beijing wenxue (1987): 2. Copyright © 1987 by Duo Duo. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by John A. Crespi.
"Sunshine Between the Lips" was first published as "Zuichun li de yangguang" in Zuichun li de yangguang, Wuhan, 1992. Copyright © 1992 by Chen Ran. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Shelley Wing Chan.
"Grass on the Rooftop" was first published as "Wuding shang de qingcao" in Zhongguo (1986): 6. Copyright © 1986 by Li Xiao. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1989 by Madeline K. Spring. English translation reprinted by permission of Manoa.
"The Past and the Punishments" was first published as "Wang-shi yu xingfa" in 1989. Anthologized in Xiaji taifeng, Taipei, 1993. Copyright © 1993 by Yu Hua. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Andrew F. Jones.
"The Cure" was first published as "Ling yao " in Shen liao, Beijing, 1993. Copyright © 1993 by Mo Yan. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Howard Goldblatt.
"Green Earth Mother" was first published as "Lii du mu" in 1988. Anthologized in Nü lao, Taipei, 1990. Copyright © 1990 by Ai Bei. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1990 by Howard Goldblatt. English translation reprinted from Red Ivy Green Earth Mother by permission of Gibbs Smith.
"When I Think of You Late at Night, There's Nothing I Can Do" was first published as "Dao heiye wo xiang ni meibanfa" in Zhongguo xiaoshuo: 1988, Hong Kong, 1989. Copyright © 1988 by Cao Naiqian. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Howard Goldblatt.
"The Summons" was first published as "Buxiang de huhan-sheng" in Qingxiang (1993): 1. Copyright © 1993 by Can Xue. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Jian Zhang and Ronald R. Janssen.
"The Ancestor" was first published as "Zuzong" in Zhongshan (1993): 6. Copyright © 1993 by Bi Feiyu. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by John Balcom.
"Moonlight over the Field of Ghosts" was first published as "Guidi shang de yueguang" in Zhongguo (1986): 9. Copyright © 1986 by Yang Zhengguang. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1989 by Ellen Lai-Shan Yeung. English translation reprinted by permission of Manoa.
"Remembering Mr. Wu You" was first published as "Zhuiyi Wu You xiansheng" in Mi zhou, Beijing, 1989. Copyright © 1989 by Ge Fei. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Howard Goldblatt.
"Footsteps on the Roof" was first published as "Wuding shang de jiaobu" in 1989. Anthologized in Wuding shang de jiaobu, Wuhan, 1992. Copyright © 1992 by Chen Cun. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Hu Ying.
"Willow Waist" was first published as "Xi yao " in Taiyang chu-shi, Wuhan, 1992. Copyright © 1992 by Chi Li. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Scott W. Galer.
"The Sleeping Lion" was first published as "Shui shi" in Zuo-pin, 1985. Copyright © 1985 by Kong Jiesheng. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Susan McFadden.
"Fritter Hollow Chronicles" was first published as "You-bingwa jishi" in Huacheng (1993): 6. Copyright © 1993 by Wang Xiangfu. Printed by permission of the author. Translation copyright © 1995 by Howard Goldblatt.
