Customer Reviews

Taipei People

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This is a fine collection of Modern Chinese short stories about a highly specific group of people residing in Taipei roughly from 1949 to the 1980s. Some of these famous tales have been retold and filmed onto the silver screen. Though it is titled "Taipei People," the stories details lives of the upper class Chinese that fled the Mainland Chinese Communists in 1949. Thus the readers get a cut of the rich and powerful (generals and their families) but the full scope of Taipei citizens (ie. Taiwanese peasants) is not represented.
I was pleasantly surprised that many of the stories were told from the point of view of women with voices ranging from upper class wives to prostitutes.
If you're purchasing the English version, be forewarned, the translator does take liberties with the translation. Some of the meaning is sacrificed for smoothness and flow in the English language.