Searching for Memories of Colonial Literature in Modern History

Abstract

Mei Niang (1916-2013) enjoyed the longest career amongst those in Manchukuo’s “Manchurian writer group.” The century spanning Mei Niang's life witnessed dramatic, transformative change for both China and the world, and her experiences evoke a richly colourful, complex, and confusing history marked by political tensions. This chapter analyses important elements of the woman writer's professional career – from her use of local Northeastern words, Chinese translations of Japanese literature, and her award-winning novel Crabs. It argue that her fictional production during imperial Japan's occupation was not colonial per se but, rather, should be considered within the context of an extraordinary young woman’s experience of surviving colonialism and her perceptions of it.