SDF

Yu Hua

Yu Hua, Narrating ‘Relationships’

A father who sells his blood for his family; a newly dead soul revisiting his life and people around him; a spoiled son who falls so low as to become an impoverished peasant amid social turmoil; and two step-brothers whose tumultuous lives get intertwined. All these characters from Yu Hua’s novels have something in common – they offer us trenchant yet witty illustrations of human ‘relationships’. Masterfully narrating subject matters such as families facing the harshest conditions and structural violence from which the working classes suffer, he challenges us to think about what really matters in life and ways to make our interactions more human. In this special conversation, we explore possibilities for more inclusive communities in these fickle times with Yu Hua, one of Korea’s most-beloved Chinese authors.