Dragging the Idol/ – Paperback

Description

Author(s):
Publisher: China National Publications Import & Export C
Publisher Imprint: China National Publications Import & Export C
BISAC: World Literature – China – General

Through the multiple perspectives of humans, gods, and ghosts, the novel explores the spiritual homeland of the Teochew people and even the ultimate spiritual aspiration of the Chinese nation. This is an artistic long scroll that presents the modern historical changes and spiritual evolution of the Chaoshan Plain. Spanning more than sixty years against the backdrop of the two Opium Wars, the work, through the multiple perspectives of humans, gods, and ghosts, explores the spiritual homeland of the Teochew people and even the ultimate spiritual aspiration of the Chinese nation. The novel takes the rise and fall of Zhangshu Port as its main thread, focusing on the fate and legend of the Teochew merchants and merchant gangs, represented by the protagonist Chen Heshou. During his flight, the protagonist abducts his “cousin,” peddles “ghost-fire lanterns,” and works as a traveling medicine peddler. He experiences the difficult journey of the three ethnic groups-the Tanka (boat-dwelling people), the She people, and the Chaozhou people-moving from conflict to integration. Building giant boats, encountering storms, boarding flower boats (pleasure boats), going down to Nanyang (Southeast Asia), rescuing pirates, founding a shipping company, engaging in a battle with the gods, suffering from the squeeze of fellow merchants, and seeing port authority change hands… The Taiping Heavenly Movement surges like wind and clouds, the Opium War breaks out once more, Shantou opens as a treaty port, steamships monopolize the dumping of foreign goods, fathers and sons turn against each other and brothers break away, national and family hatreds intertwine with old debts of gratitude and resentment. The older generation of Teochew merchants quietly fades away, while a new generation of Teochew merchants lives by the sea-tides rise in the southeast, and dragons roam the world. “”””……