呼蘭河傳河hé — 1. river (classifier: 條 (tiáo), 道 (dào)) 2. (bound form) the Yellow River 3. (bound form) the Milky Way 4. (bound form) (on restaurant menus) rice noodles 河粉 (hé fěn) (HSK 2)傳chuán — 1. to pass on 2. to spread 3. to transmit 4. to infect 5. to transfer 6. to circulate 7. to conduct (electricity) (HSK 3) · 呼兰河传

What’s in it

呼蘭河傳 (Tales of Hulan River) is Xiao Hong's last and most celebrated novel, a lightly fictionalized account of her childhood in the small town of Hulan in Heilongjiang, in China's far northeast. It is built less around plot than around a sequence of vivid set pieces — the town's mud pit that swallows carts and animals every rainy season and that nobody ever bothers to fill in, the burning of paper horses and paper houses for the dead, the elaborate rituals of a ghost marriage arranged for a boy who died before he could take a bride — rendered in a prose style that moves between a child's wonder and an adult narrator's sorrow at what she now understands those rituals cost the people living inside them.

The novel's most devastating thread follows a girl known only as the 'child bride,' married into a neighboring family at twelve and beaten and scalded by her mother-in-law under the town's collective indifference until she sickens and dies — a death the community responds to not with horror but with a kind of folk ritual designed to explain it away. Alongside this runs the gentler figure of Uncle You, the family's old gardener, and the narrator's own grandfather, the one adult in her childhood who seems to have loved her without condition. The novel has no real climax; it ends, like the town itself, simply continuing, which is part of what critics have found so quietly devastating about it.

Literary forms

• Chinese Memoir and Autobiographical Writing
• Classic and Modern Chinese Novels

Key words 关键字

• 她tāHSK 1她tā — she (HSK 1)
• 裡lǐHSK 1裡lǐ — lining · interior · inside · internal · also written 裏 (lǐ) (HSK 1)
• 馮píng馮píng — to gallop · to assist · to attack · to wade · great · old variant of 憑 (píng)
• 唸niànHSK 3唸niàn — variant of 念 (niàn), to read aloud (HSK 3)
• 媳xí媳xí — daughter-in-law
• 吧bāHSK 1吧bā — bar (loanword) (serving drinks, or providing Internet access etc) · to puff (on a pipe etc) · (onom.) bang · abbr. for 貼吧 (tiē bā) (HSK 1)
• 麼má麼má — exclamatory final particle
• 蘑mó蘑mó — mushroom
• 缸gāngHSK 7-9缸gāng — jar · vat · classifier for loads of laundry · classifier: 口 (kǒu) (HSK 7-9)
• 炕kàng炕kàng — kang (a heatable brick bed) · to bake · to dry by the heat of a fire
• 它tāHSK 2它tā — it (HSK 2)
• 伯bǎi伯bǎi — one hundred (old)
• 祖zǔ祖zǔ — ancestor · forefather · grandparents
• 韮jiǔ韮jiǔ — variant of 韭 (jiǔ)
• 菇gū菇gū — (bound form) mushroom
• 父fù父fù — (bound form) father · (bound form) male relative of father's generation (as in 伯父 (bó fù)) · (computing) (bound form) parent-
• 廟miàoHSK 7-9廟miào — temple · ancestral shrine · classifier: 座 (zuò) · temple fair · great imperial hall · imperial (HSK 7-9)
• 吊diàoHSK 6吊diào — to suspend · to hang up · to hang a person (HSK 6)
• 黏niánHSK 7-9黏nián — sticky; glutinous · (Tw) to adhere; to stick on; to glue (HSK 7-9)
• 啥shá啥shá — dialectal equivalent of 什麼 (shén me) · also pr. (shà)
• 盌wǎnHSK 2盌wǎn — variant of 碗 (wǎn) (HSK 2)
• 吃chīHSK 1吃chī — to eat; to consume · to eat at (a cafeteria etc) · to eradicate; to destroy · to absorb · to suffer (shock, injury, defeat etc) (HSK 1)
• 昴mǎo昴mǎo — the Pleiades
• 帖tiē帖tiē — fitting snugly · appropriate · suitable · variant of 貼 (tiē) · to paste · to obey

蕭紅 Xiao Hong

Xiao Hong (蕭紅, 1911–1942), born Zhang Naiying, fled an arranged marriage as a young woman and lived an unstable, often desperately poor life that took her through relationships with the writer Xiao Jun and later Duanmu Hongliang, and through Harbin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Wuhan, Chongqing and finally Hong Kong as the Second Sino-Japanese War pushed her further from home. She wrote 呼蘭河傳 in Hong Kong in 1940, not long before she died there in 1942 at thirty-one, following a botched surgery for what turned out to be a misdiagnosed illness, in a city under Japanese occupation. Lu Xun himself had championed her early career in Shanghai in the mid-1930s, and 呼蘭河傳 is now generally regarded as her masterpiece.

More by Xiao Hong 同作者

• 生死場 · 生死场The Field of Life and Death

Key vocabulary 词汇

• 咓
• 咔咔kǎ — (used as phonetic "ka")
• 啪啪pā — (onom.) bang · pop · pow
• 喒喒zán — variant of 咱 (zán) (HSK 2)
• 嗃嗃hè — scold with severity
• 嗯嗯ēn — (a groaning sound)
• 嘭嘭pēng — (onom.) bang
• 壠壠lǒng — old variant of 壟 (lǒng)
• 揹揹bēi — variant of 背 (bēi) (HSK 2)
• 擗擗pǐ — (literary) to beat the breast · to break off; to snap off (a branch, an ear of corn etc)
• 柁柁tuó — main beam of roof
• 榫榫sǔn — (cabinetmaking) tenon
• 櫈櫈dèng — variant of 凳 (dèng)
• 櫬櫬chèn — Sterculia plantanifolia · coffin
• 毡毡zhān — felt (fabric)
• 汾汾fén — name of a river
• 瀙
• 煊煊xuān — variant of 暄 (xuān)
• 瘤瘤liú — tumor
• 硾硾zhuì — iodide · to weight
• 磉磉sǎng — stone plinth
• 秫秫shú — glutinous sorghum
• 紓紓shū — abundant · ample · at ease · relaxed · to free from · to relieve
• 繐繐suì — fine and loose cloth · tassel
• 蟑蟑zhāng — used in 蟑螂 (zhāng láng)
• 闆闆bǎn — used in 老闆 (lǎo bǎn) (HSK 3)
• 韮韮jiǔ — variant of 韭 (jiǔ)
• 鬈鬈quán — to curl · curled
• 鸝鸝lí — Chinese oriole
• 儲儲chǔ — (bound form) to store up; to keep in reserve · heir to the throne · Taiwan pr. (chú)
• 呱呱gū — used in 呱呱 (gū gū) · Taiwan pr. (wā)
• 售售shòu — (bound form) to sell; to retail · (literary) to carry out (a plan or intrigue etc)
• 啥啥shá — dialectal equivalent of 什麼 (shén me) · also pr. (shà)
• 嗦嗦suō — to suck · used in 囉嗦 (luō suo) · used in 哆嗦 (duō suo)
• 嗶嗶bì — (phonetic)
• 嘁嘁qī — whispering sound
• 嘟嘟dū — (onom.) toot; honk; beep (sound of a horn etc) · (coll.) to pout
• 噢噢ō — oh; ah (used to indicate realization) · also pr. (òu)
• 妯妯zhóu — used in 妯娌 (zhóu li)
• 姥姥lǎo — grandma (maternal)
• 娃娃wá — baby · doll
• 娌娌lǐ — used in 妯娌 (zhóu li)
• 媾媾gòu — to marry · to copulate
• 嬉嬉xī — (literary) to amuse oneself; to play; to have fun
• 帘帘lián — flag used as a shop sign · variant of 簾 (lián)
• 惻惻cè — sorrowful
• 慇慇yīn — solicitous
• 拯拯zhěng — to raise · to aid · to support · to save · to rescue
• 攫攫jué — to seize · to snatch · to grab
• 无无mó — used in 南無 (nā mó) (HSK 4)
• 昴昴mǎo — the Pleiades
• 曚曚méng — twilight before dawn
• 框框kuàng — frame (e.g. door frame) · casing · fig. framework · template · to circle (i.e. draw a circle around sth) · to frame · to restrict · Taiwan pr. (kuāng) (HSK 7-9)
• 榛榛zhēn — (bound form) hazelnut tree (Corylus heterophylla)
• 氓氓máng — used in 流氓 (liú máng)
• 渲渲xuàn — wash (color)
• 焙焙bèi — to dry over a fire · to bake
• 疔疔dīng — boil · carbuncle
• 癤癤jiē — pimple · sore · boil · Taiwan pr. (jié)
• 盅盅zhōng — handleless cup · goblet
• 盌盌wǎn — variant of 碗 (wǎn) (HSK 2)
• 矜矜jīn — to boast · to esteem · to sympathize
• 稈稈gǎn — stalks of grain
• 粧粧zhuāng — variant of 妝 (zhuāng)
• 罈罈tán — earthen jar (HSK 7-9)
• 罎罎tán — variant of 罈 (tán)
• 葱葱cōng — scallion · green onion (HSK 7-9)
• 蔫蔫niān — to fade · to wither · to wilt · listless
• 蕎蕎qiáo — used in 蕎麥 (qiáo mài)
• 薯薯shǔ — potato · yam
• 螂螂láng — used in 螞螂 (mā láng) · used in 蜣螂 (qiāng láng) and 虼螂 (gè láng) · used in 螳螂 (táng láng) · used in 蟑螂 (zhāng láng)
• 褊褊biǎn — narrow · urgent
• 踩踩cǎi — to step on · to tread · to stamp · to press a pedal · to pedal (a bike) · (online) to downvote (HSK 6)
• 蹦蹦bèng — to jump; to bounce; to hop (HSK 7-9)
• 醃醃yān — to salt · to pickle · to cure (meat) · to marinate
• 阱阱jǐng — pitfall · trap
• 颳颳guā — to blow (of the wind) (HSK 6)
• 餃餃jiǎo — dumplings with meat filling
• 駒駒jū — colt
• 乩乩jī — to divine
• 俊俊jùn — smart · eminent · handsome · talented (HSK 7-9)
• 倭倭wō — dwarf · Japanese (derog.) (old)
• 儉儉jiǎn — (bound form) frugal; thrifty
• 刁刁diāo — artful · wicked
• 刎刎wěn — cut across (throat)
• 勺勺sháo — spoon · ladle · classifier: 把 (bǎ) · abbr. for 公勺 (gōng sháo), centiliter (unit of volume) (HSK 6)
• 匡匡kuāng — (literary) to rectify · (literary) to assist · (coll.) to calculate roughly; to estimate
• 咚咚dōng — (onom.) boom (of a drum) · knock (on the door)
• 哆哆duō — used in 哆嗦 (duō suo)
• 哽哽gěng — to choke with emotion · to choke on a piece of food
• 唬唬hǔ — a tiger's roar · to scare · to intimidate · (coll.) to fool · to bluff
• 唸唸niàn — variant of 念 (niàn), to read aloud (HSK 3)
• 喲喲yō — Oh! (interjection indicating slight surprise) · also pr. (yāo)
• 堡堡bǎo — (bound form) fortress; stronghold · (often used to transliterate -berg, -burg etc in place names) · (bound form) burger (abbr. for 漢堡 (hàn bǎo))
• 塋塋yíng — (literary) a grave
• 奩奩lián — bridal trousseau
• 帚帚zhǒu — broom
• 惘惘wǎng — disappointed · perplexed
• 捎捎shāo — to bring sth to sb · to deliver (HSK 7-9)
• 晰晰xī — clear · distinct
• 朮朮shù — variant of 術 (shù)
• 梆梆bāng — watchman's rattle
• 棧棧zhàn — a wooden or bamboo pen for sheep or cattle · wood or bamboo trestlework · a warehouse · (computing) stack
• 楷楷jiē — Chinese pistachio tree (Pistacia chinensis)
• 檜檜guì — Chinese juniper (Juniperus chinensis) · (old) coffin lid decoration · Taiwan pr. (kuài)
• 櫺櫺líng — (bound form) a (window) lattice; latticework
• 殯殯bìn — a funeral · to encoffin a corpse · to carry to burial
• 汙汙wū — variant of 污 (wū)
• 湛湛zhàn — deep · clear (water)
• 溯溯sù — to go upstream · to trace the source
• 潢潢huáng — dye paper · lake · pond · mount scroll
• 犁犁lí — plow
• 玷玷diàn — blemish · disgrace · flaw in jade
• 瑣瑣suǒ — fragmentary · trifling
• 甥甥shēng — (bound form) sister's son; nephew
• 甩甩shuǎi — to throw · to fling · to swing · to leave behind · to throw off · to dump (sb) (HSK 7-9)
• 瘴瘴zhàng — malaria · miasma
• 瘸瘸qué — lame
• 眨眨zhǎ — to blink · to wink
• 睏睏kùn — sleepy · tired (HSK 3)
• 瞄瞄miáo — to take aim · (fig.) to aim one's looks at; to glance at
• 硝硝xiāo — saltpeter · to tan (leather)
• 禦禦yù — (bound form) to defend; to resist
• 竈竈zào — variant of 灶 (zào)
• 箕箕jī — winnow basket
• 簍簍lǒu — basket
• 簸簸bǒ — to winnow; to toss up and down
• 絆絆bàn — to trip · to stumble · to hinder
• 綾綾líng — damask · thin silk
• 胳胳gā — used in 胳肢窩 (gā zhi wō)
• 芹芹qín — Chinese celery
• 苞苞bāo — bud · flower calyx · luxuriant · profuse
• 菊菊jú — (bound form) chrysanthemum
• 蓆蓆xí — woven mat (variant of 席 (xí)) (HSK 7-9)
• 蓼蓼liǎo — polygonum · smartweed
• 蘑蘑mó — mushroom
• 虔虔qián — to act with reverence · reverent
• 蜘蜘zhī — used in 蜘蛛 (zhī zhū)
• 蝙蝙biān — used in 蝙蝠 (biān fú)
• 蝠蝠fú — (bound form) bat
• 褶褶xí — (arch.) court dress
• 謅謅zhōu — to make up (a story) · Taiwan pr. (zōu)
• 貳貳èr — two (banker's anti-fraud numeral) · to betray
• 蹋蹋tà — to step on
• 轍轍zhé — rut; track of a wheel (Taiwan pr. (chè)) · (coll.) the direction of traffic · a rhyme (of a song, poem etc) · (dialect) (usu. after 有 (yǒu) or 沒 (méi)) way; idea
• 錐錐zhuī — cone · awl · to bore
• 鍊鍊liàn — variant of 鏈 (liàn), chain · variant of 煉 (liàn) (HSK 7-9)
• 鍬鍬qiāo — shovel · spade
• 鏽鏽xiù — to rust (HSK 7-9)
• 鑰鑰yuè — key · also pr. (yào)