> Veg Sebastian, Courret Laure. Yan Lianke, Le Rêve du Village des Ding, trad. Claude Payen.
In: Perspectives chinoises, n°106, 2009. pp. 124-128… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://www.persee.fr/doc/perch_1021-9013_2009_num_106_1_3824_t13_0124_0000_4

Great Novel About Economic Upheaval in Rural China

"Dream of Ding Village" by Yan Lianke is a very well-written and well-translated book. The prose is easy to read and comprehend, despite the heavy subject matter.

The book is about a rural village suffering from the AIDS epidemic. The epidemic was brought to the villagers by unregulated entrepreneurs who bought blood from almost everyone in the village. There was an economic "boom" in the village that led to a major disruption in their farming lives. The father of the narrator was one of the most prolific and dangerous blood buyers. The book follows the reaction of villagers as he rises through party ranks to become a major corrupt politician in the county. His own father, the narrator's grandfather, struggles with his son's rise because he knows it was at the cost of the AIDS epidemic. The grandfather attempted a relief effort for the villagers, but otherwise, there was very little help from the government. Nearly every character in "Dream of Ding Village" is tragic in one way or another. Some of the descriptions are heartbreaking.

The author and the translator create wonderful images. Reading the book, it was easy to imagine the village's courtyards, threshing grounds, and the dusty paths leading to and from. The book is full of tragedies both great and small. It is certainly not for the faint of heart. Some reviewers have compared Yan Lianke to Camus or Kafka. Unfortunately, this book is neither absurdest nor allegorical. It is based on true, tragic events. ( )

'You would hear them calling "Blood collector! Anyone selling blood?" like pedlars hawking their wares'
By sally tarbox on 12 Mar. 2014
Format: Paperback
Based on the true story of China's villagers who were encouraged to sell blood to make money; a few years after the initial prosperity, the unsanitary methods of blood collecting led to widespread AIDS.
Narrated by the dead son of one of the 'bloodheads', the novel exposes the utter corruption that permeated this activity. From the individuals setting up their own 'clinics' - and making a vast profit by re-using needles and taking more blood than they should, to later crooked dealings in coffin selling...
This was an interesting and indeed horrifying expose of these events, but I felt quite detatched from the people who make up the story. ( )

This is a fictionalized account of a blood-selling scandal that occurred in a small rural community in China. As the government issued calls for blood, a number of blood collection points were set up by unscrupulous people. No sanitary precautions were taken, and people were allowed to sell their blood as frequently as they wished. The villagers were happy because they received small payments which allowed them to better their lives in small ways. The owners of the collection sites grew fabulously wealthy. Everyone was happy for a few years, until a huge percentage of the villagers found themselves infected with AIDS. At first the government downplayed their plight, promising cures and so forth. Ultimately the villagers are betrayed by the government as well.

This was an interesting glimpse into the perils of the rapid development of China. ( )

Despite the tragic nature of its subject matter, this is a funny and engaging book. The story of a village devastated by AIDS, it explores human relationships and how people react when something as final as an incurable illness affects an entire community. Inhibitions are lost and social contracts are ripped up. In a strange way, though, the illness ceases to matter. It is a background detail. At the centre of the story is one family - the cause of the AIDS epidemic, the exploiters of it, and the source of tension between neighbours and within its own structure. The use of dream sequences to move the story along reminded me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's writing, and I enjoyed the dispassionate narration of the tale. ( )