Think of Liuzhou and the first thing that doesn’t come to mind is beat poets or writers. Jack Kerouac. Alan Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, or William Burroughs. The second thing not to come to mind are earlier writers such as Samuel Beckett or Jean Genet, and I’m fairly sure no one made a connection between Liuzhou [...]
This is a shameless plug – nothing to do with China, Liuzhou or anything else. My dear friend, Anna has her first novel – Falling Through Clouds – published tomorrow (9th January). I am really proud of her as are her husband Johnny, children, friends and family. She talked about this years ago when [...]
It took them two years to build then it lay deserted for another two, but it seems the new Xinhua Bookstore on Liuzhou Square is finally going to open tomorrow, June 1st. Xinhua Bookstore is one branch of the huge state owned chain. It was formed way back on April 24, 1937 by the communists [...]
“Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls deified among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging [...]
A few weeks ago, the locals erected this obelisk in the least visited part of Liuzhou’s pedestrian street. It depicts various scenes from what is meant to be the city’s history. Included is Liuzhou’s most significant historical character, writer and statesman, Liu Zongyuan. As part of the Chinese New Year celebrations a bunch of the [...]
Well, as I mentioned before, I took a trip north to my old stalking grounds in West Hunan. I lived there ten years ago and this was my first trip back. My ultimate destination was the remote town of Yuanling. Getting there involves an 8 hour overnight train journey followed by a three hour bus [...]
“Marriage is like a fortress besieged: those who are outside want to get in, and those who are inside want to get out.” I am happy to inform my friends in the UK that my favourite Chinese novel, Fortress Besieged, is about to be published for the first time in Britain. 围城 wéi chéng by [...]
Here is a poem (translation below) by the Tang Dynasty poet, Liu Zongyuan (773 – 819). Back in those days, to be in the ruling elite, you had to be a dab hand at scribbling down a verse or two. Liu Zongyuan screwed up at some point by backing the wrong coup and was shipped [...]
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