Chinese Literature - Li-hua Ying 2010

BI FEIYU (1964— )
The Dictionary

BI FEIYU (1964— ). A Jiangsu native, Bi Feiyu graduated from Yangzhou Teachers’ College in 1987. For his depiction of Chinese country life and his examination of the psyche of the Chinese peasants, Bi is considered an important newcomer in the root-seeking movement, although he started his career as an experimental writer. His novella “Gu dao” (The Solitary Island), in which a family legend intersects with national history, shows a writer more interested in narrative technique than plot and story. His later works, including award-winning stories “Buru qi de nüren” (Women in Lactation) and “Qingyi” (The Opera Singer), depart from experimentalism and embrace a realist style. Bi’s novels include Yumi (Yumi), a trilogy about three sisters forced to quickly learn to fend for themselves when their village party secretary father falls from power as a result of sex scandals; Pingyuan (The Plain), which explores the mind-set of the peasants and their hard life in the 1970s, focusing on the vulnerability and despair of young people; Tuina (Massage), an account of the ordinary life led by a group of blind masseuses.