White Flower in the Plain--Winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize

Author: Chen Zhiheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-12-01
Features: Ba Village, on the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi, China, is an ancient and honorable village known for its benevolence and propriety. The Bai and Lu clans have lived and thrived there for generations. With the changes of the times, the two clans and the various people around them have been entangled in endless calculations and struggles for survival, face, ancestral honor, and even (competing for auspicious Feng Shui)... Generations of ancestors have been entangled in the ceaseless pursuit of wealth, power, profit, and desire. The author uses a delicate and profound brushstroke to depict the tragic comedies of the fates of a group of typical protagonists, vividly and richly reflecting a corner of the nation's tragic and mysterious history. Later, Bai Jiaxuan was proud of having married seven wives in his lifetime. When he married his first wife, he had just turned sixteen. She was the eldest daughter of the wealthy Geng Zengrong family in Gengjiacun on the Western Plain, two years older than him. He spent his wedding night completely ignorant and panicked, leaving behind an embarrassing and foolish image he could never bring himself to tell anyone, yet the experience would remain etched in his memory forever. A year later, this woman died in childbirth. His second wife was the adopted daughter of the well-to-do Pang Xiurui family in Pangjiacun on the Southern Plain. This woman happened to be two years younger than him, with a beautiful appearance and quick eyes. She had no idea what marrying a person meant, while he had already mastered all the secrets of love and passion. Watching her shy and flustered, he thought back to his own foolish behavior during his first marriage and found it even more stimulating.