Red Poppies Explained

Red Poppies is a 1998 Chinese-language novel by the Tibetan Chinese writer Alai, whose theme is based on the Tibetan custom and traditions. The novel consists of 12 chapters with a total of 481,000 Chinese characters. It won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2000.^[1]

Summary

Set in Ngawa, Sichuan, the novel chronicles the stories of a Tibetan Tusi and his family from the 1920s to 1949, which gives a general introduction to the economic development in Ngawa, the territorial disputes among Tibetan chieftains, and the fights for throne succession.

Main characters

Family of Tusi Maiqi

• The first-person narrator: considered as an 'idiot', the second son of Tusi Maiqi, mother is a Han Chinese
• Tusi Maiqi: father of the first-person narrator
• Mother: the second wife of Tusi Maiqi, a Han Chinese woman as a gift given to Maiqi by a merchant trading furs and herbs
• Brother: the eldest son of Tusi Maiqi, son of Maiqi's first wife, considered as the successor of Tusi Maiqi
• Sangji Zhuoma: maid of the first-person narrator
• The lame butler
• Weng Bo Yi Xi: Lama of Gelug
• Suo Lang Ze Lang: attendant of the first-person narrator
• Yang Zong: used to be the woman of the chieftain Zhazha, belongs to Tusi Maiqi after Zhazha's death
• Lama Menba
• Sister: half-blooded, shares the same father with the narrator, lives in London
• Uncle: Tusi Maiqi's younger brother, trades in India
• The silversmith: later marries Sangji Zhuoma

Other characters

• Special commissioner Huang: an official of the national government
• Tusi Ronggong: a female Tusi
• Tana: the beautiful daughter of Tusi Ronggong
• Tusi Laxueba
• Tusi Wangbo

Reception

Comments by the selection committee of the Mao Dun Literature Prize: "The novel narrates from a unique viewpoint, with a rich connotation of Tibetan culture. A slight of fantasy enhances the artistic expression. The writing style is light, charming and poetic".^[2]

Adaptations

• TV series: a television adaptation of Red Poppies was first shown in 2003.^[3]
• Dance drama: Red Poppies was adapted into a dance drama by Hong Kong Dance Company in 2006.

Further reading

• Li. Huimin. 《狼圖騰》、《塵埃落定》英譯研究: 從互文性角度分析兩部以中國少數民族邊地為背景的中文小說英譯. A Study of Wolf Totem and Red Poppies: An Intertextual Analysis of English Translations of Two Chinese Novels Set in China’s Ethnic Minority Regions. Hong Kong Baptist University. 2016-03-23. zh-hant. - Abstract in English

External links

• 在线阅读 (Online Reading)
• Douban

Notes and References

1. Web site: 茅盾文学奖"尘埃落定"(Red Poppies won the Mao Dun Literature Prize). china.com.cn.
2. Web site: 论《尘埃落定》的象征意蕴 (The symbolical implication of Red Poppies). 11 May 2012. www.xzbu.com. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20170322203701/http://www.xzbu.com/5/view-2127893.htm. 22 March 2017.
3. Web site: 成都电视台拿到《尘埃落定》全国首播权 . 2010-04-23 . 2005-11-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20051107034602/http://sichuan.scol.com.cn/cdxw/20030103/20031314955.htm .