View source for Years of Red Dust

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox book
<!-- |italic title  = (see above) -->
| name              = Years of Red Dust
| image             = Years of Red Dust.jpg
| caption           = First edition (French)
| alt               = 
| author            = [[Qiu Xiaolong]]
| title_orig        = Cité de la Poussière rouge
| orig_lang_code    = 
| title_working     = 
| translator        = 
| illustrator       = 
| cover_artist      = 
| country           = 
| language          = English
| series            = 
| subject           = 
| genre             = [[Short story|Short stories]]
| published         = [[French language|French]] translation in 2008<br/>English book in 2010
| media_type        = 
| pages             = 240
| awards            = 
| isbn              = 9781429942614
| oclc              = 
| dewey             = 
| congress          = 
| preceded_by       = 
| followed_by       = 
| wikisource        = 
}}

'''''Years of Red Dust''''' is a collection of [[Short story|short stories]] by [[Qiu Xiaolong]]. The book in English was published in 2010;<ref name=macmillan>http://us.macmillan.com/yearsofreddust/QiuXiaolong (page visited on 4 February 2014).</ref> but the stories were originally published in ''[[Le Monde]]''<ref name=macmillan/> and a book in [[French language|French]] was published in 2008.<ref>{{in lang|fr}}, [[Qiu Xiaolong]], ''Cité de la poussière rouge'', translated from English by Fanchita Gonzalez Batlle, éditions Liana Levi, 2008 ({{ISBN|978-2-86746-665-6}}).</ref>

It is a story about [[China]] between 1949 and 2005, told through changes experienced by people living in the Red Dust neighbourhood in [[Shanghai]].<ref>Astrid Hygen Meyer, "Historiene om Kina fortalt gjennom nabolaget Rødt Støv, vil fortsette å komme, sier forfatteren", ''[[Klassekampen]]'', 3 September 2011, page 3.</ref>

==Plot==
Each chapter tells a story from a different year, consisting of two strands, slice-of-life personal histories of ordinary people living in Red Dust Lane, mixed with the ever-changing narrative of China’s socialist history.<ref>Daisy Yan Du, 2011. University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln ''The China Beat Blog Archive'' 2008-2012. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1924&context=chinabeatarchive</ref> Most of the stories begin with non-fiction excerpts from [[wall newspaper]]s of China's past.<ref>Astrid Hygen Meyer, "Historie i boka ... innledes med et ekte utdrag fra en kinesisk veggavis.", ''[[Klassekampen]]'', 3 September 2011, page 3.</ref> Incidents involve neighbors who are academics, those who own businesses, those who join the military, as well as manual laborers. One chapter includes a fictionalized account, based on a real life event, of preparations for the day U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]] visited Shanghai.<ref>Hanchoa Lu. 2018. "Shanghai flora: the politics of [[urban green space|urban greening]] in Maoist China" ''Urban History,'' Volume 45, Issue 4, November 2018, pp. 660-68.</ref>

The setting is in [[Shanghai]] where "the flow of the green slime of corruption, pollution and greed (for money), races with the flow of blood and champagne", according to ''[[Aftenposten]]''.<ref>Bodil Fuhr, "Shanghai. Der beskriver han korrupsjon, forurensning, og pengegriskhet så det grønne slimet renner om kapp med blod og champagne", ''[[Aftenposten]]'', 3 September 2011, page 3.</ref>

==Sales==
The book has been on best-seller lists in France and Germany.<ref name="Astrid Hygen Meyer 2011, page 3">Astrid Hygen Meyer, ''[[Klassekampen]]'', 3 September 2011, page 3.</ref>

==Translations==
{{Expand section|date=February 2014}}

The book has been translated to other languages, including:
* French: ''Cité de la poussière rouge'', translated from English by Fanchita Gonzalez Batlle, éditions Liana Levi, 2008 ({{ISBN|978-2-86746-665-6}}).
* German: ''Das Tor zur Roten Gasse''.
* Norwegian: ''År i rødt støv'' (2011).<ref name="Astrid Hygen Meyer 2011, page 3"/>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* Jess Row, "The News From Shanghai", ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'', 17 October 2010, Arts and Entertainment, p.&nbsp;21. Available on [[Academic OneFile]].

{{Portal bar|Novels|China}}

[[Category:American short story collections]]
[[Category:2008 short story collections]]
[[Category:Works by Qiu Xiaolong]]
[[Category:Short stories set in Shanghai]]
[[Category:Books about Shanghai]]
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