Yan Lianke’s fantastical satire about a culture so obsessed with an ever-expanding lust for power and money that it has forgotten its soul. Translated by Carlos Rojas.

With the Yi River on one side and the Balou Mountains on the other, the village of Explosion was founded a thousand years ago by refugees fleeing a volcanic eruption. But in the post-Mao era, the name takes on a new significance as the rural community grows explosively from a small village to a vast megalopolis. Behind this rapid expansion are three rival clans linked together by a web of ambition, madness, dishonesty and greed as they seek to create an unrivalled urban superpower.

Longlisted
The Man Booker International Prize 2017
Published by
Chatto & Windus
Publication date

Buy the book

We benefit financially from any purchases you make when using the ‘Buy the book’ links.

Yan Lianke

Yan Lianke

About the Author

Prolific author Yan Lianke was born in 1958 in Henan Province, China.
More about Yan Lianke
Carlos Rojas

Carlos Rojas

About the Translator

Carlos Rojas is an author and translator. He also teaches on a variety of topics - ranging from prostitutes and vampires to cities, migration and disease.
More about Carlos Rojas

Other nominated books by Yan Lianke

The Four Books

Other nominated books by Carlos Rojas

The Four Books