Raise the Red Lantern

Read a Chinese movie about concubines and the changing of the guard in Chinese history. It's a novella collection by Su Tong. Su Tong is known for his magic realism style of writing and these three novellas are filled with magic realism and historical motifs. The three novellas are Raise the Red Lantern, 1934 Escapes, Opium Family.

Raise the Red Lantern

Raise the Red Lantern is the only story that has been turned into a movie. It follows a young girl that was taken as a concubine by a rich man. The story shows the deterioration of the man's household and the deterioration of the last concubines' mind. There is deceit and gossip and murder and planning among the women.

I like the way Su Tong weaves history with his story. The changes that China is undergoing and wher eChina is headed. Although there are things lost in translation the heart of the story still reveals itself in the prose. The two other stories revolve around a village and what transpires inside the minds of its characters. It shows the transformation of China.

Chinese literature has a deep history maybe it's about time the rest of the world saw through Chinese eyes.