From the Guardian:
Millions of pints of blood are pumped through underground pipelines from a big developing country to wealthy consumers in the United States and elsewhere. The blood trade has produced the most spectacular boom in human history. In just five years, the formerly dirt-poor state at the heart of the haemo-business has become the richest nation on earth.
Such is the scenario of the novel that Yan Lianke – one of China’s greatest living authors and fiercest satirists – was planning to write until the censors intervened. Based on a three-year study of the blood-selling scandal in his native Henan province, The Dream of Ding Village was to be the defining work of his career; not just an elegantly crafted piece of literature but a devastating critique of China’s runaway development.
But it has turned out to be one of the most traumatic experiences of his artistic life. [Full text]
Read a short story by Yan.
