By Xi Xi, part of the first generation of writers raised in Hong Kong, a wise and amiably written book of autobiographical fiction on the author's experience with breast cancer--from diagnosis to treatment to recovery--and her passage from a life lived through the mind into a life lived through the body. In 1989, the acclaimed Hong Kong writer Xi Xi was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her semi-autobiographical novel Mourning a Breast is a disarmingly honest and inventive account of the author's experience of a mastectomy and of her subsequent recovery. The book opens with her putting away a bathing suit. As the routine pleasure of swimming is revoked, the small loss stands in for the greater one. But Xi Xi's mourning begins to take shape as a form of activism. Addressing her reader as frankly and unashamedly as an old friend, she describes what she is going through; finds consolation in art, literature, and cinema; and advocates for a universal literacy of the body. Mourning a Breast was heralded as one of the first Chinese-language books to cast off the stigma of writing about illness and to expose the myths associated with breast cancer. It is a radical novel about creating in the midst of mourning.

Mourning a Breast (New York Review Classics)

Literature & Fiction

Xi, Xi

Genre Fiction

NYRB Classics

Xi Xi's work details the constantly shifting urban space of Hong Kong—between tradition and modernity—as well as the multilingual zones created by its Mandarin and Cantonese speakers. Best known for her short stories, essays, and screenplays, this is the first major collection of Xi Xi's poetry in English translation. Her writing displays a childlike wonder and keen ear for the constantly evolving space of Hong Kong and southern China. The haunting, often morbid lyricism that marks her work has won her many awards, a devoted following in Hong Kong and Taiwan and a growing audience across the globe. The book is bilingual (facing pages).

Not Written Words (Hong Kong Atlas)

Poetry

Zephyr Press

Shenzhen is not Canary called [Paperback]

Guangxi People s Publishing House; 1 (May 1. 2009)

Same, Not Same (Chinese Edition)

Jinghua Publishing House

A Woman Like Me [Paperback](Chinese Edition)

Guangxi Normal University Press; 1 (May 2010 1)

A Girl Like Me, and Other Stories (Renditions Paperbacks)

Cheng Tsui Co.

Hong Kong in the 1970s- a time of rapid economic growth, and more significantly, of growth in self-confidence and the forging of a national identity. In a disarming style uniquely her own, Xi Xi weaves a deceptively child-like narrative against a background of the political and social problems of this complex society. Seldom has a writer captured the spirit of a generation with such apparent simplicity and ease.

My City : A Hong Kong Story (Renditions Paperbacks)

Hsi, Hsi

Contemporary

Small Pr Distribution

Xi Xi eloquently conveys the mood of the city during the 1980s in this collection of stories. In the first half of the decade, the Chinese and British governments negotiated Hong Kong's fate, occasioning intense soul-searching and close scrutiny of their society among the general population. The old and the new, the real and the fantastic, Western culture and local perception are skillfully woven together here to create narratives of the hopes, anger and fears that gripped the people of Hong Kong in this crucial period of their history.

Marvels of a Floating City

Research Centre for Translation, Chinese University of Hong Kong

A Girl Like Me and Other Stories

Short Stories & Anthologies

Renditions

This is a most unusual book. For several decades Xi Xi has been widely known for her award-winning poetry and fiction. This time, she has chosen to write about the teddy bears she began making in 2005, after treatment for cancer, in order to improve the mobility of her right hand. She made the bears herself from scratch, choosing some of her favourite characters from history and legend such as the Taoist philosopher Master Zhuang, the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, and Beauty and the Beast. She also created exquisite items of clothing for them and wove a series of delightfully witty essays around them, giving her readers fascinating insights into Chinese culture, and into the ways in which Chinese clothing and fashion have evolved through the ages. This is a book for all who love literature and teddy bears.

The Teddy Bear Chronicles (Hong Kong Literature)

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Crafts & Hobbies

The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press

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Books by Xi, Xi