ABSTRACT
In 1997, Mei Niang was named one of “Modern China’s 100 Writers”. When Mei Niang was two years old, her mother took her to the Sun household in Changchun, and she was soon hounded to death by Sun’s formal wife; the young girl never developed a close relationship with that stepmother. On 18 September 1931, the Japanese Kwantung army instigated an invasion of Manchuria and Mei Niang immediately returned to her home in Changchun. Mei Niang’s studies in Japan were interrupted by her love affair with Liu Longguang. Mei Niang’s writing career began to flourish as officials increased efforts to structure Chinese cultural production in Manchukuo and other occupied territories. In Japan, Mei Niang worked at the Chinese Osaka Daily, especially within a group that translated European and Japanese writings into Chinese; in total, they published in four media outlets. Mei Niang’s trilogy “Clam,” “Fish,” and Crabs provides a woman-centered critique of a patriarchal, materialistic society.
