Brothers

First published in Fiction Monthly (Xiaoshuo Yuebao) in 2018, “Brothers” is a story about the search for identity and kinship in a city working at breakneck speed to “clean up” and redevelop. Dai Shanchuan arrives in Beijing convinced that there is another “him” somewhere in the city—not a brother or a lookalike, but a long-lost version of himself. As he wanders the alleys looking for this other Dai Shanchuan, Beijing is being radically transformed around him: traditional courtyard houses are bulldozed and extreme restrictions placed on the activity of informal migrant workers. Unable to go about business as usual, and bored out of their minds, the workers have split into factions and engage in increasingly violent battles to pass the time.