Comments on: Interview with China Novelist Fan Wen: A Century of Cultural Collisions in Shangri-la

By: Anna GC

Anna GC — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:58:27 +0000

Good! Then I know. I tried to buy Shuiru dadi from Dangdang, but it was out of stock, so now I’ve ordered the Taiwanese version instead, of both novels.

By: brucehumes

brucehumes — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:25:59 +0000

The trilogy consists of 《水乳大地》(available nationwide in the PRC), 《悲悯大地》(published in 2006 by 北京人民文学出版), and the last part, 《大地雅歌》, which should be out within 2009.

I had no idea 《水乳大地》 had been published in Taiwan and what, if any, changes have been made to it.

By: Anna GC

Anna GC — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:10:45 +0000

Hi Bruce!

I saw a sequel to this novel in a Taiwanese bookstore, 藏三宝 (Zang san bao) I think it was called. Have you read it? Shuiru dadi sounds like a good book, but difficult to get hold of (except from Taiwan where its called 藏巴拉 (Zangbala). And do you know if there is a third novel out? As I understood it, it’s supposed to be a triology.

By: Michael Woodhead

Michael Woodhead — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 07:34:33 +0000

I was at the Catholic Tibetan church at Baihanluo (Nujiang) recently and Fan Wen’s claims about the French missionaries being arrogant and resorting to arms do not sound true to me. There certainly was violence in this area but the missionaries were mostly the victims, not perpetrators. When the French priests were murdered and their heads displayed in public in Atuntze (Deqin) it was the Chinese (Qing) soldiers who took retaliatory action, not the French missionaries.
Pere Annet Genestier was a gentle man in the literal sense of the word, and was admired and loved then and now by the Nu, Lisu and Tibetan people.
You can see my pictures of the churches and modern day Catholics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10816453@N00/sets/72157612620811609/

By: Anna Chen

Anna Chen — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:42:21 +0000

Sounds like a really interesting novel! Thanks for the review and the interview!