On the right bank of the Erguna River

Author: Chi Zijian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: Since this novel was published in the Harvest magazine, it has received keen attention from readers and critics, being hailed by the media as one of the "books worth anticipating." It is the first long novel in China to describe the living conditions and a century of vicissitudes of the Ewenki ethnic minority in Northeast China. The female author, Chi Zijian, narrates the story in the first-person voice of the last Ewenki tribal chief woman in her nineties, telling us about the resilient struggles and beautiful love of this marginalized ethnic group. The novel features exquisite language, vividly bringing to life a group of little-known, flesh-and-blood Ewenki people through minimalist beauty. The story, which uses the small to illustrate the large, presents an elegy for the marginalized, revealing the sorrow in the course of human history. Its literary theme possesses epic qualities and global significance.