By Night: Review Edition

Author: Jia Pingwa
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: This is a work that is very close to reality, depicting the real-life scenes of Xi Jing in the 1990s. The characters in the book come from various social strata, including high-ranking administrative leaders of the city, other administrative officials who are either successful or disillusioned; long-time residents who rise and fall in the business world based on real estate conditions; migrant workers and vegetable vendors who have come from the countryside to seek their fortunes; archaeologists, police officers, actors, paper-cutting artists, fashion models; nouveau riche, old-timers, and descendants of aristocrats, and so on. This is a work that is very close to reality, depicting the real-life scenes of Xi Jing in the 1990s. The characters in the book come from various social strata, including high-ranking administrative leaders of the city, other administrative officials who are either successful or disillusioned; long-time residents who rise and fall in the business world based on real estate conditions; migrant workers and vegetable vendors who have come from the countryside to seek their fortunes; archaeologists, police officers, actors, paper-cutting artists, fashion models; nouveau riche, old-timers, and descendants of aristocrats, and so on. The novel uses simple yet vivid language to weave through the various scenes and corners of life in Xi Jing,ing the survival states and desires of the aforementioned characters, as well as their mutual hatred, love, betrayal, and assistance. There is the tragic love between a roamer and a noble, the wandering activities of a ghost opera troupe, the machinations in the official circles, the gambling and humor in the slums. White Night may primarily use realistic brushwork, but it is also heavily tinged with elements of the supernatural, such as the rebirth of the resurrected, the peculiar premonitions of the elderly paper-cutting artist, a ghostly key that causes an incurable night-walking syndrome, and the feminization and silkworm transformation of a disgraced official after a stroke. Especially the mysterious and enigmatic performance of the ghost opera, which blurs the lines between humans and deities, casts a thick, pervasive sense of mystery over real life, and also evokes metaphysical reflections on the yin and yang of the universe. The title of this book itself reveals the author's intention to bridge the yin and yang worlds. The staging of the ghost opera and the lively drama of human life make one feel the vivid worldly human nature of the ghost world, as well as the treacherous and ghostly characteristics of human society. The things and activities that take place in the dark can be seen as clearly as in the daytime; yet some actions that occur in broad daylight can be as unrestrained as in the dark.