Novel
Rickshaw Boy
駱駝祥子
Lao She · 1937
Synopsis
An orphan from the countryside, Xiangzi pulls a rented rickshaw in Beijing. He lives on very little, denies himself everything and takes three years to save enough to buy his own rickshaw. Soldiers seize him and take it from him; escaping them, he leads off some camels that he sells at a low price, which earns him the nickname Camel. Back at Liu's, the rickshaw owner, he starts saving again. Huniu, the owner's daughter, older than he is, seduces him and wants to marry him, while a former officer, Sun, extorts his savings from him.
Context
Lao She began the book in the spring of 1936. It appeared as a serial in the magazine Yuzhou feng, from January 1937 (from September 1936 according to Chinawriter), and was completed in October 1937 according to the latter. Britannica sees in it the tragic story of a man who pulls a rickshaw in the capital. In 1945, an unauthorised American version, signed Evan King, gave it a happy ending and was a great success in the United States. Jean James and Shi Xiaojing later produced faithful English translations. In French, François Cheng translated it in 1973 under the title Le Pousse-pousse, then revised it with Anne Cheng for Philippe Picquier in 1990.
Who it is for
The story of a life of toil in prewar Beijing; two French versions by François Cheng, the second revised with Anne Cheng.
Prizes and reception
According to Britannica, the 1945 American version, unfaithful to the text, was among the best sellers across the Atlantic.
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