The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories

October 1, 2021

Roses enacting Shakespeare. Giant fish carrying travelers to the island of the gods. Restaurants perched at the edge of the universe. Written, edited, and translated by a female and nonbinary team, the short stories here aim to encompass the best of past and present Chinese sf and fantasy while pointing toward what's to come. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

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December 6, 2021
With this impressive anthology, Yu and Wang bring together the first English translations of 17 Chinese-language stories by female and nonbinary writers. One can find refuge—and pay the tab with a story—at the eponymous eatery featured in “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Tai-Chi Mashed Taro” by Anna Wu, translated by Carmen Yiling Yan, and enjoy hassle-free child-rearing with digital children in “Baby, I Love You” by Zhao Haihong, translated by Elizabeth Hanlon. In the title story by Wang Nuonuo, translated by Rebecca F. Kuang, a young woman and her admirer travel the world, moving the ocean’s currents to bring about spring. In “Dragonslaying” by Shen Yingying, translated by Emily Xueni Jin, half-fish beings are exploited for their beauty and coveted for their priceless eyes. And in “New Year Painting, Ink and Color on Rice Paper, Zhaoqiao Village” by Chen Qian, also translated by Jin, paintings by a talented child can cure terminal illness, but at a price. Five essays on the art and intricacies of translation add thought-provoking context, musing on how to represent a culture to an unfamiliar audience. This offers much to chew on. (Nov.)Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated the number of pieces that are included in the collection.

March 1, 2022

As more speculative short story collections arrive on shelves than ever before, this anthology of 17 Chinese-language stories by nonbinary and female authors shines a new light on the genre. Youths help stars grow while finding their own identities in Xiu Xinyu's "The Stars We Raised," translated by Judy Yi Zhou. A story can pay the price of a meal at "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Tai-Chi Mashed Taro," by Anna Wu, translated by Carmen Yiling Yan. The title story by Wang Nuonuo, "The Way Spring Arrives," translated by The Poppy War author Rebecca F. Kuang, tells of a young man who accompanies a woman from his village on her journey to bring spring to the world; along the way, he learns the cycles of ocean currents, myths, and love. Editors Yu and Wang also include five essays that explore not only the stories' themes but the art of translating such works. VERDICT An important anthology showcasing compelling voices and perspectives in science fiction and fantasy.--Kristi Chadwick

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Starred review from February 1, 2022
This anthology brings together a range of fantasy and science fiction by women and nonbinary writers from China. This strong collection breaks out of the high-concept trend set for Chinese genre fiction in translation by the wild popularity of Liu Cixin's work. The contents range from somewhat magical-realist stories like Shen Dacheng's ""Blackbird,"" about one nursing-home resident who refuses to die, to parable-like stories like Chi Hui's ""The Woman Carrying a Corpse,"" with most stories emphasizing style or theme over wide-scale, hard-sf devices. The essays provided in the collection also help give some context to some of the issues of translation of certain stories and to the place of women writers of genre fiction in the current Chinese-fiction landscape. The one omission is a discussion of trans women or LGBTQ women in China in general and their relationship to gender, genre fiction, or publishing as a whole, apart from a vague gesturing to ""women and other marginalized genders"" in an essay by Jing Tsu. Even with that caveat, this collection is essential reading for anyone interested in a fuller picture of Chinese genre fiction as a whole.

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