Product Description

In 1983, Ma Jian turned 30 and was overwhelmed by the desire to escape the confines of his life in Beijing. All aroun him, china was changing. Deng Xiaoping was introducing economic reform but clamping down on "spiritual pollution"; young people were rebelling. With his long hair, denim jeans and artistic friends, Ma Jian was under surveillance from his work unit and the police. His ex-wife was seeking custody of their daughter; his girlfriend was sleeping with another man; and he could no longer find the inspiration to write or paint. One day he bought a train ticket to the westernmost border of China and set of in search of himself. Ma Jian's journey would last three years and take him to deserts and overpopulated cities, from scenes of barbarity to havens of tranquility and beauty. The result is an insight into the teeming contradictions of China that only a man who was both an insider and an outsider in his own country could have written.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73888 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-02
• Original language: Mandarin Chinese
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
On very rare occasions, a book can be so fresh, vivid and sincere that its integrity will be apparent almost before you have begun reading it. This brilliant account of a three-year exploration of China during the first wave of economic liberalisation following the death of Mao Zedong is one such book.

In Red Dust, Ma Jian tells the story of how, on his 30th birthday, facing arrest for spiritual pollution in his journalistic job in Beijing, he fakes an attack of hepatitis and flees into the Chinese hinterland. Uprooting himself from a bohemian lifestyle and his estranged wife and child, Jian walks vast distances and immerses himself in the remotest parts of China. Travelling clandestinely, and with little or no money, Jian survives by doing odd jobs and publishing poetry and short stories through his network of literary friends. At the same time, he has amazing adventures: on one occasion he finds himself lost in the desert with no water for three days; later on he has to scale a huge cliff with no equipment.

There is nothing emasculated or sanitised about this genuine adventure. Jian is forced to live from his wits. At one time he has to mug his own muggers back to rescue his camera; then he scrapes a living by selling scouring powder as toothpaste. These escapades, beautifully translated from the Chinese by Flora Drew, are told in an understated and elegant style, and, with Jian's status as both an insider and outsider, provide a complete portrait of what life is like for ordinary Chinese people in a way that no foreign writer could ever emulate. By turns poetic, wise and brave, Red Dust is worthy of a place alongside other great books of Chinese literature, such as The Mountain Village and Wild Swans, as both a classic work of travel writing and a compelling meditation on the spiritual bankruptcy of an age when all humanity's Gods have been shattered. --Toby Green

Review
Beijing, 1983. Even as he introduces much-needed economic reform Deng Xiaoping is clamping down on student rebellion and so-called 'spiritual pollution'. Ma Jian, a talented artist and reluctant propagandist for the state, has just turned 30. His ex-wife is seeking custody of their daughter, and his girlfriend is sleeping with another man. He can no longer find the inspiration to write or paint. His employers find his photographs insufficiently proletarian. To make matters worse, his long hair, jeans and bohemian friends have attracted the attention of the police. The poetry-loving Ma Jian is overwhelmed by the desire to flee, to live in a country where, like his heroes Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg, 'we can sing out of our windows in despair'. Buying a ticket to China's westernmost border and using a forged letter of introduction to pose (and sometimes work) as a journalist, he begins a journey of self-discovery that will last three years, taking him from the overpopulated cities of the east to the deserts of the west and back again. It is a journey peppered with wild and sometimes disturbing experiences, amusing anecdotes (such as the friend who, on hearing that a group of foreigners plan to walk the Great Wall , determines to beat them to it because otherwise 'it would bring disgrace on China') and endless encounters with Chinese of all ages, all walks of life. Like all great angst-ridden figures of the alienated intelligentsia, Ma Jian reserves a special place in his heart for the opposite sex - there is a sorrowful, yearning quality to his relationships (even those that take place in the bushes, under the glare of policemen's torches). The state is omnipresent, and Ma Jian reads of his executed friends in the paper. But his anger is tempered by the lightness of touch and by a poetic concision quite unlike most Western travel writers. (Kirkus UK)

Synopsis
In 1983, Ma Jian turned 30 and was overwhelmed by the desire to escape the confines of his life in Beijing. All aroun him, china was changing. Deng Xiaoping was introducing economic reform but clamping down on "spiritual pollution"; young people were rebelling. With his long hair, denim jeans and artistic friends, Ma Jian was under surveillance from his work unit and the police. His ex-wife was seeking custody of their daughter; his girlfriend was sleeping with another man; and he could no longer find the inspiration to write or paint. One day he bought a train ticket to the westernmost border of China and set of in search of himself. Ma Jian's journey would last three years and take him to deserts and overpopulated cities, from scenes of barbarity to havens of tranquility and beauty. The result is an insight into the teeming contradictions of China that only a man who was both an insider and an outsider in his own country could have written.

Customer Reviews

Insightful, funny, eye-opening.
Ma Jian's travels around China, coupled with a fascinating insight into the life of the author create an amazing combination.For me Ma Jian's character as a Chinese, intellectual, long-haired rebel is what makes this book so great. Whilst reading the book Ma Jian comes into many different situations that provide someone who has never been to China a strong insight into the diversity of life and customs throughout the 'giant chicken' (China). Ma Jian ends up in totally unique situations whilst trying to travel around a country which still has a strong dominating totalitarian governement. Whilst at the same time, it is the craziness of Ma Jian's character that puts him in other bizzare situations. It is just fascinating to see what he will do next. Whether it be a serious situation which Ma Jian reflects on in a deep and insightful way, or whether he finds himself in an amusing circumstance- the author covers it all. I loved reading this book- it completely captured my imagination and made me wish I could travel around China on foot!

China through the eyes of a Chinese
Red Dust is a fascinating insight not just because it reviews a country so enigmatic and distant to so many of us, but because it does so through the eyes of a Chinese traveller. Ma Jian gives us an insight into how a fellow Chinese is perceived through the eyes of Indigenous Chinese Tribes, local peasents and the intellectual circles he mixes with.
Not quite 'Wild Swans' but brilliant and intriging none the less which left me with a desire to read a lot more about 'The Motherland'

Valuable glimpse into 1980s China
I enjoyed this book because it offered a rare glimpse into 1980s China newly caught in the transition from a closed country to that of a fledgling economic giant cautiously opening its bamboo curtains to allow foreign culture and capitalist culture to seep in. It is written in quite a similar vein to that of Paul Theroux's "Riding the Iron Rooster" but Ma Jian offered a much more personal and insightful experience from his view as a local. Only drawback is the occasional revulsion at Ma Jian's distaste for bathing and his unhygenic habits.