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: #22522 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

Gao Xingjian, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature
'one of the most important and courageous voices in Chinese literature.'

From the Publisher
One of the nine titles in the Vintage East promotion.

Customer Reviews

An honest look at China, without the rhetoric.
I hugely enjoyed this very honest perspective of China, without the usual political rhetoric, or the "I lived through it all, and I'm still alive - amn't I wonderful". This is the China of work units, documentation, guanxi, open plains, minimal accomodation, lethargy, enterprise ... a land of contrasts with a culture of social control that has existed for thousands of years longer than the Communist Party.

I recommend this book in particular, for those (like myself) who have travelled to China, but feel they will never experience what it is like to be Chinese. Brillianty written, honest, interesting, and thought provoking, and at times an inspiring account of a man just trying to be a man.

great exposure to China
This is a great book that is thoroughly enjoyable to read. It's nice to read a travelogue-style book written by a Chinese author, and the details of his perspective paint a picture that would not have been possible for an outsider. As much an inward soul-searching as long distance wandering, this book works on several levels. I really hope to see more from this author.

Bizarre..quirky...excellent.
Red Dust is not an easy book to describe, better to just experience it for yourself. Ma Jian is eloquent, funny, incredibly observant, honest. His quest to find himself is one that anyone can relate to who has ever felt the absurdity of the society surrounding him. I would immediately order anything else I found from this author.