Alai (; ; born 1959 in

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

Province) is a Chinese-language poet and novelist of

Rgyalrong Gyalrong or rGyalrong (), also rendered Jiarong (), or sometimes Gyarung, is a subbranch of the Gyalrongic languages spoken by the Gyalrong people in Western Sichuan, China. Lai et al. (2020) refer to this group of languages as East Gyalrongic. ...

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

descent. He is also a former editor of ''

Science Fiction World ''Science Fiction World (Sci-Fi World; SFW)'' (, Kehuan Shijie), began in 1979, is a monthly science fiction magazine published in the People's Republic of China, headquartered in Chengdu, Sichuan. It dominates the Chinese science fiction magazi ...

''.

Works

Alai's notable novel '' Red Poppies'', published in 1998, follows a family of Tibetan chieftains, the Maichi, during the decade or so before the “liberation” of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

by the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

in 1951. Their

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

life in the Tibetan borderlands, narrated by the youngest "idiot" son, is described as cruel, romantic, and full of intrigue (with the

Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China Tibet came under the control of People's Republic of China (PRC) after the Government of Tibet signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which the 14th Dalai Lama ratified on 24 October 1951, but later repudiated on the grounds that he rendered his ...

presented as a great advance for the Tibetan peasantry). ''Red Poppies'' won the 5th Mao Dun Literary Prize in 2000 and was selected as a finalist for the

Kiriyama Prize The Kiriyama Prize was an international literary award awarded to books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia. Its goal was to encourage greater understanding among the peoples and nations of the region. Established in 1996, the prize was last awar ...

in 2002. In 2013, Alai participated in the International Writing Program's Fall Residency at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA.

Bibliography

* * *

Filmography

*'' The Climbers'' (2019)

References

External links

''Red Poppies: A Novel of Tibet'' review by Gang Yue from University of North Carolina
1959 births Living people People's Republic of China poets Writers from Ngawa Poets from Sichuan Tibetan poets International Writing Program alumni Mao Dun Literature Prize laureates Chinese male novelists People's Republic of China novelists 20th-century Chinese novelists 21st-century Chinese novelists 20th-century Chinese male writers 21st-century male writers {{China-writer-stub