Balzac and the Little Chinese SeamstressBalzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is an enchanting tale that captures the magic of reading and the wonder of romantic awakening. An immediate international bestseller, it tells the story of two hapless city boys exiled to a remote mountain village for re-education during China’s infamous Cultural Revolution. There the two friends meet the daughter of the local tailor and discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation. As they flirt with the seamstress and secretly devour these banned works, the two friends find transit from their grim surroundings to worlds they never imagined. |
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Common terms and phrases
asked Luo auto-da-fé Balzac bamboo hod blood buffalo butterfly stroke cauldron centimetres Chengdu cigarette clock dark dentist door dream eyes face feet fell felt film fingers foot Four-Eyes Four-Eyes's Fu Lei girl ground hair hands head hear heard hospital house on stilts inside jacket key ring leaves Little Seamstress look Luo's father maize Mao jacket Mao's metres morning mother mouth needle never night oil lamp old miller old tailor once path peasants Phoenix mountain poetess re-education Red Guards red-beaked raven replied rice ridge rock Romain Rolland romantic realism secret agent seemed sewing machine shoes shouted silence smell smoke songs sorceresses sound stone story Suddenly suitcase sweet potato tell thought told took tooth treadle tree trousers turned village headman violin voice waiting woman word Yong Jing young