Li Qiao 1934-

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LI Qiao 1934-

PERSONAL: Born 1934. Ethnicity: Asian.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Columbia University Press, 61 West 62nd St., New York, NY 10023.

CAREER: Author.

WRITINGS:

Han ye, Yuan jing chu ban shi ye gong si (Taibei City, Taiwan), 1980.

Xin suan ji, Dong da tu shu gong si (Taibei City, Taiwan), 1980.

Huang cun, Yuan jing chu ban shi ye gong si (Taibei City, Taiwan), 1981.

Qing tian wu hen: Bai she xin zhuan, Qian wei chu ban she (Taibei City, Taiwan), 1983.

Taiwan zheng zhi xiao shuo xuan, Taiwan wen yi za zhi she (Taibei City, Taiwan), 1983.

Gong wu, Xue ying wen hau shi ye you xian gong si (Taibei City, Taiwan), 1985.

Lan Caixia di chun tian: Taiwan di yi bu "ji nü," Wu qian nian chu ban she (Xin Dian, Taiwan), 1985.

Gu deng, Zhongguo guang bo dian shi chu ban she (Peking, China), 1986.

Xiao shuo ru men, Shi bao chu ban gong si (Taibei City, Taiwan), 1986.

Zhong zhan di pei chang, Ming liu chu bas She (Taibei City, Taiwan), 1986.

Taiwan ren di chou lou mian, Qian wei chu ban she (Taibei City, Taiwan), 1988.

Taiwan yun dong di wen hua kun ju yu zhuan ji, Qian wei chu ban she (Taibei City, Taiwan), 1989.

Taiwan wen hua zao xing, Qian wei chu ban she (Taibei City, Taiwan), 1992.

Taiwan wen xue zao xing, Pai se wen hua chu ban she (Gaoxiong Ckity, Taiwan), 1992.

Wintry Night, translation by Taotao Liu and John Balcom, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Originally written and published in Taiwan between 1975 and 1980, Li Qiao's Wintry Night saga was finally published in the United States in 2001. A prolific writer, Li is famous in Taiwan for his personal visions of Taiwanese history.

Wintry Night's story was originally published in Taiwan as a trilogy of novellas—Wintry Night, Deserted Village, and Lone Lamp. However, upon its abridged publication in the U.S., the middle novella has been left out. The epic follows, through three generations, a family of Chinese settlers arriving in Taiwan in the late nineteenth century. In the process, Li paints a historical portrait of the colonization of Taiwan up through World War II.

Faced with an intended sprawling epic that's lost it's middle third, many reviewers mourned the missing novella. Shirley N. Quan of the Library Journal wondered "whether this work would have been strong had it been translated in its entirety," and Kirkus Reviews felt, thanks to the omission, that "one misses the epic sweep Li Qiao obviously aims for." Publishers Weekly also noticed that the missing book makes some passages confusing, but added, "the story illuminates and personalizes a neglected historical epoch."