Publication Series

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Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan

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Masters of Chinese Studies

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Global Chinese Culture

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Other Publication Projects

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The Great Flowing River
A Memoir of China, from Manchuria to Taiwan
Chi Pang-yuan, Translated by John Balcom

Heralded as a literary masterpiece and a best-seller in the Chinese-speaking world, The Great Flowing River is a personal account of the history of modern China and Taiwan unlike any other. In this eloquent autobiography, the noted scholar, writer, and teacher Chi Pang-yuan recounts her youth in mainland China and adulthood in Taiwan. Chi’s remarkable life, told in rich and striking detail, humanizes the eventful and turbulent times in which she lived.

The Great Flowing River begins as a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of China’s war with Japan. Chi depicts her childhood in pre-occupation Manchuria and gives an eyewitness account of life in China during the war with Japan. She tells the tale of her youthful romance with a dashing pilot that ends tragically when he is shot down in the last days of the war. The book describes the deepening political divide in China and her choice to take a job in Taiwan, where she would remain after the Communist victory. Chi details her growth as an educator, scholar, and promoter of Chinese literature in translation and her realization that despite her roots in China, she has found a home in Taiwan, giving an immersive account of the postwar history of Taiwan from a mainlander’s perspective. A novelistic, epoch-defining narrative, The Great Flowing River unites the personal and intimate with the grand sweep of history.

Kyoryū-Ga: The two-volume Japanese translation of Ch'i Pang-yuan's Juliuhe 巨流河
Kyoryū-Ga (Sakuhinsha, 2011) is the Japanese translation of Professor Ch’i Pang-yuan’s monumental memoir Juliuhe 巨流河 (published by Tianxia yuanjian in 1999). The book narrates the author’s upbringing in Liaoning Province in China, her migration to Taiwan in 1947, and her journey to the United States and her return to Taiwan. Professor Ch’i began teaching at National Taiwan University in 1970, and, following her retirement in 1988, took the position of editor-in-chief of Taipei Chinese PEN journal. In addition, Professor Ch’i sits on the editorial board for the CCK-sponsored Columbia University Press series, “Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan.” Professor Ch’i’s devotion to the translation and promotion of literature from Taiwan has left a deep imprint on Taiwan’s literary history. CCK-IUC helped sponsor the translation of her acclaimed memoir into Japanese.

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