Chinese Storyteller S Book

Imagine a universe constructed in layers: At the top is Heaven—where the gods live. Beneath is the Earth, where people dwell. And beneath the Earth lies a magical realm of witches, vampires, ghosts, and immortal foxes capable of assuming human form. This is the universe of Chinese folktale. The nine tales in The Chinese Storytellers Book show what happens when the worlds of Earth and the supernatural collide. The cast of characters, both humble and fantastic, includes: A young man willing to spend a night in a haunted mansion to prove that the spirit world does not exist Fox faeries wearying of their immortality and craving the uncertainty of human experiences A bored husband looking for excitement—but finding mortal danger instead Michael David Kwan first heard these tales told by street–corner storytellers during his childhood in China. He retells them through his own unique literary vision—through the lens of his own personality, experience, and imagination.

Chinese Storytellers takes us to the teahouses and hidden corners of Yangzhou to explore the ancient art of Chinese storytelling (shuoshu).

Chinese storytelling has survived through more than a millennium into our own time, while similar oral arts have fallen into oblivion in the West. Under the main heading of 'The Eternal Storyteller', in August 1996 the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies hosted an International Workshop on Oral Literature in Modern China. To this meeting, the first of its kind in Europe, five special guests were invited - master tellers from Yangzhou: Wang Xizotang, Li Xintang, Fei Zhengliang, Dai Buzhang and Hui Zhaolong. The volume derived from this meeting includes an introductory article written by John Miles Foley entitled 'A Comparative View on Oral Traditions'. Thereafter, a wide range of topics relating to Chinese oral literature is covered under the headings: 'Historical Lines', 'A Spectrium of Genres', 'Studies of Yangzhou and Suzhou Story- telling' and 'Performances of Yangzhou Storytelling'. However, the present volume does more than include papers derived from the meeting. It is also lavishly illustrated in word and picture from performances by the guest-storytellers. In so doing, the world of Chinese story telling is not just described and analysed - it is also brought to life.

A UNESCO collection of 17th century Chinese short stories.

Michael David Kwan's lyrical memoir of a privileged childhood in Beijing is a moving & enlightening book. His story is a window into the cataclysms that ravaged his native land in the mid-20th century, made all the more compelling by his child's-eye view & dramatist's gift for telling detail. This book has won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Prize in the nonfiction category, clinching Kwan's position as one of the most beribboned writers in Canada. A mesmerizing read.Ó

Everything was about to change. In less than forty-eight hours guy'd be taking the stage in Vancouver, owning an audience meant for some all-hype-no-talent young-money rapper, spitting next-level truths that'd have A&Rs scrapping for him coast to coast. He'd ink some paper and drop an album on the world it didn't even know it had been waiting for. All with game and swag to spare. This was the edge, the almost there, and we knew it. Chinksta rap is all the rage in small-town Alberta. And the king of Chinksta is King Kwong, high-schooler Run's older brother. Run isn't a fan of Kwong's music—or personality, really. But when Kwong goes missing the night before his crowning performance and his mom gets wounded in crossfire, Run finds himself, with his sidekick, Ali, in the middle of a violent battle between rival Chinese rap gangs, on the run from his crush's behemoth brother, and rethinking his feelings about his family and their history, his hatred of "rice-rap," and what it means to be Asian. With imaginAsian and a flair for the rap lyric, Jon Chan Simpson mashes up the (graphicless) graphic novel and the second-generation-immigrant narrative to forge a bold new vision of what the novel can be. Jonathan Chan Simpson grew up in Red Deer, Alberta, and lives in Toronto, Ontario. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto's MA creative writing program, and his work has been featured in Ricepaper magazine.