#( emily && yingying )

[irresistiibles]

@shctshow / emily & yingying

"it's not fair." yingying groaned, looking down at the textbook in front of her. taking a few classes had sounded interesting and fun, and most of them were, but despite that she was also having some serious regrets. "i didn't have anything like this math back home, and now the teacher wants me to catch up so fast." she sighed. resisting the urge to slam the book shut. "how bad would it be if i just dropped out?"

[hunxi-after-hours]

i read the way spring arrives on ur rec, and loved it so much!! i ended up rly appreciating the nonfiction essays the most, they provide such valuable context for the genre (xueting christine ni's essay abt female web novel authorship was incredible!) highly agree with ur point abt it being essential reading for danmei (esp western) readers. so thank u for making me aware of it!

oh oh oh!!! so glad that I could bring this book to your attention and that you got so much out of it!

I feel like I should clarify that The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories doesn't contain danmei, nor is it about danmei; rather, I think it is important and necessary reading because it provides a great deal of the context for the literary and cultural environment that danmei is contained within. through the translated short stories, you can experience such a wide range of literary imagination, from Xia Jia's experimentation co-writing with an AI to the haunting, fable-like atmosphere of "The Woman Carrying a Corpse" by Chi Hui to vicious devastation of "Dragonslaying" by Shen Yingying to the fantastic, dreamscape world of "The Way Spring Arrives" by Wang Nuonuo... and the essays examine translation from various perspectives (Emily Xueni Jin's "Is There Such a Thing as Feminine Quietness? A Cognitive Linguistics Perspective" and Yilin Wang's "Translation as Retelling..." and R. F. Kuang's "Writing and Translation: A Hundred Technical Tricks") while incorporating theory and context into discussions of speculative literature written by women and nonbinary authors in China

the increasing international attention paid to danmei over the past few years often operates in a vacuum: beyond the language itself, most international readers have no concept of the history, the culture, the literal context of the literary landscape. what is internet literature, and how does it differ from traditional publishing? what are the dynamics of social expectations, gender, and tradition that influence and inform what authors write about? what are the wounds and fears, exploration and experimentation, heartbreak and history woman writers (and beyond) engage with in contemporary Chinese literature, and how are they mediated through genre?

all of which is to say, The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories is a great place to start learning more

[quirkycatsfatstacks]

Review: The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories Anthology

Review: The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories Anthology

The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories: A Collection of Chinese Science Fiction and Fantasy in Translation from a Visionary Tea of Female and Nonbinary CreatorsAuthors: Xiu Xinyu, Count E., Xia Jia, Shen Dacheng, Anna Wu, Jing Tsu, Zhao Haihong, Wang Nuonuo, R.F.Kuang, BaiFanRuShang, Yilin Wang, Ling Chen, Gu Shi, Nian Yu, Emily Xueni Jin, Shen Yingying, Chen Qian, Chu Xidao, Gigi Chang, Chi…

[godzilla-reads]

June 15, 2022

I just finished reading the short story Dragonslaying by Shen Yingying (trans. Emily Xueni Jin) from this collection of Chinese SFF by female and nonbinary authors. The story Dragonslaying is about a female doctor witnessing the “surgery” of turning a jiaoren’s tail into a set of legs. Jiaoren are beautiful merfolk found in Chinese folklore, and in this story are being sold to the rich and powerful as concubines or entertainers.

Shen Yingying writes a thought-provoking and sometimes horrifying story on humanity and exploitation.

📖 The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories edited by Yu Chen and Regina Kanyu Wang

[criminol]

The Murder of Yingying Zhang

Yingying Zhang (章莹颖) was a 26-year-old woman from Fujian Province, China. She was an intelligent and motivated woman who had graduated from Peking University with honours. In 2017, Zhang arrived in the USA to carry out research in Illinois and had ambitions to eventually become a professor. She was due to marry her boyfriend, Xiaolin Hou, in October 2017.

On 9th June 2017, Zhang was travelling on a bus to an apartment complex where she was due to sign a new apartment lease, along the journey she got off at the wrong stop and walked a few blocks to another bus stop. CCTV footage shows a black car passing her at 2pm while she waited at the bus stop, the car then circled back at 2.03pm, Zhang spoke to the driver for around a minute before entering the car.

And 2.38pm, the leasing agent sent a text message to Zhang but received no reply. Zhang's friends also became increasingly worried when she did not return from her trip. She was reported missing and a huge search began, Zhang's family flew from China to the USA to join the search for her.

The car Zhang was recorded getting into eventually traced to Brendt Allen Christensen a former student of the University of Illinois. He was interviewed and his car was inspected. He initially claimed he did not remember what he was doing at the time of Zhang's disappearance before later claiming he may have been sleeping or playing video games. His car had been extensively cleaned, particularly the passenger side door in an attempt to conceal evidence. During questioning, Christensen admitted to giving Zhang a ride but claimed to have dropped her off after only a few blocks. Christensen's girlfriend was approached by FBI agents and agreed to wear a wire, while being secretly recorded Christensen told his girlfriend he had taken Zhang to his apartment and killed her. He also bragged he was a serial killer and said Zhang had been his 13th victim, no evidence of other victims could be found and officials doubt this claim was true. It was also discovered Christensen had recently accessed a forum on a fetish website called 'Abduction 101.' Additionally, he had previously posed as an undercover police officer before in an attempt to abduct student Emily Hogan, Hogan had refused to get in the car and reported the incident to police.

Christensen was arrested and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Zhang's body has still not been recovered.

[aseriesofvariousevents]

The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories

With this being such a diverse set of stories covering science fiction in a million different ways, it was bound to be a bit of a mixed bag, but, after finishing this, I came away with some new favorites and a newfound appreciation for the art of translation. To highlight a few standouts, “A Brief History of Beinakan Disasters as Told in Sinitic Language”, “Dragonslaying”, “New Year Painting, Ink and Color on Rice Paper, Zhaoqiao”, and “The Woman Carrying a Corpse” were by far my favorite stories of the collection. I also really enjoyed the five essays throughout and felt I had learned something new from each one. I loved having this opportunity to read more sci-fi from Chinese authors and even though I couldn’t necessarily “relate” (though I loathe the use of that term in this context) I felt like reading this had been a treat in its own right.

Favorite Quote: Most prefer to ignore the truth. The elites create a context. The masses accept it. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Editors: Yu Chen and Regina Kanyu Wang

Contributors: Anna Wu, BaiFanRuShuang, Cara Healey, Carmen Yiling Yan, Chen Qian, Chi Hui, Chu Xidao, Count E, Elizabeth Hanlon, Emily Xueni Jin, Mel “etvolare” Lee, Gigi Chang, Gu Shi, Jing Tsu, Judith Huang, Judy Yi Zhou, Ling Chen, Nian Yu, Rebecca F. Kuang, Ru-Ping Chen, Shen Dacheng, Shen Yingying, Wang Nuonuo, Xia Jia, Xiu Xinyu, Xueting Christine Ni, Yiling Wang, Zhao Haihong