Love in the Times of Mao Zedong

"Incredibly strong and emotional" — Radio Bremen 

Liao Yiwu triumphed with his documentary novel Wuhan. Following that success, he now writes impressively about the Chinese Cultural Revolution

Secretly, while imprisoned in Sichuan, Liao Yiwu began writing a great book. It was smuggled out of prison, page by page, and first came together during Liao's exile in Berlin. The result was a novel which outlines China's contradictions through a single life and four love stories. The turning point for the hero and entire generations is the Cultural Revolution. In its mercilessness this period figures among the darkest of the dismal 20th century. Children betrayed their parents. Couples denounced one another.

As in his celebrated documentary novel Wuhan, Liao Yiwu portrays his hero's back story with unrestrained empathy, grotesque humour, and distraught derision. A song to the great decline and "engaged literature in the best sense of the word" (taz).

"As usual, when I get a book by Liao Yiwu, I read it all in a row, without interruptions. Love in the Times of Mao Zedong took my breath away, and I inevitably dwelled in bygone days once again. [...] Liao Yiwu's plotting and writing techniques are unparalleled among Chinese writers at home and abroad. His bizarre thinking, explicit metaphors, implicit metaphors and combinations of imagery are breathtaking." - 中国人权双周刊 Chinese Human Rights Biweekly