Full name: The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up

Author: Liao Yiwu Year: 2003 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Non Fiction, History, Short Stories, Biographies Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780375425424 9780307388377 037542542X 0307388379

The Corpse Walker introduces us to regular men and women at the bottom of Chinese society, most of whom have been battered by life but have managed to retain their dignity: a professional mourner, a human trafficker, a public toilet manager, a leper, a grave robber, and a Falung Gong practitioner, among others. By asking challenging questions with respect and empathy, Liao Yiwu managed to get his subjects to talk openly and sometimes hilariously about their lives, desires, and vulnerabilities, creating a book that is an instance par excellence of what was once upon a time called "The New Journalism." The Corpse Walker reveals a fascinating aspect of modern China, describing the lives of normal Chinese citizens in ways that constantly provoke and surprise. From the Trade Paperback edition. Similar books: China Wakes by Nicholas D. Kristof China in Ten Words by Yu Hua Age of Ambition by Evan Osnos Wild Grass by Ian Johnson Out of Mao's Shadow by Philip P. Pan Will the Boat Sink the Water? by Chen Guidi Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler Chinese Lessons by John Pomfret The Last Days of Old Beijing by Michael Meyer Postcards from Tomorrow Square by James Fallows Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang Bad Elements by Ian Buruma Behind the forbidden door by Tiziano Terzani The Tiananmen Papers by Liang Zhang The Death of Mao by James Palmer The Wright Brothers by David McCullough Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester Zeitoun by Dave Eggers Mobituaries by Mo Rocca