Huang, Beijia
Seidenraupen für Jin Ling
A novel from China
Translated from Chinese by Barbara Wang and Hwang Yi-Chun
NordSüd Verlag, Zürich, 2008
192 pages, CHF 26.80 / EUR 14,80
ISBN 978-3-314-01568-7
ages 13 and up

Jin Ling should be studying seriously, but she has problems with arithmetic. This does not please her mother who wants her only child to work hard so that she can enter the best school, and to do that Jin Ling has to be good in math. Her father refuses to get involved, while her grandmother consoles her with snacks. And so Jin Ling flees into her own world, where, with dedication, she cares for her silk moths, a popular pastime in China. In her search for mulberry leaves to feed her silkworms, Jin Ling gets to know an old woman who can, perhaps, help her …

Original: »Wo Yao Zuo Hao Hai Zi« © 1996 by Huang Beijia

Translation granted by The Society for the Promotion of African, Asian and Latin American Literature and Pro Helvetia

The author

Huang Beijia was born in 1955 in the province of Jiangsu in China. After finishing her schooling, she worked in an agricultural collective. Between 1977 and 1982 she studied Chinese at Peking University. Since 1973 she has been writing books for both adults and children, for which she has been awarded many prizes. Several of her books have been translated into other languages and some of them have been turned into films.