Red Poppies - An Epic Saga of Old Tibet

Author: AlaiTranslator: Howard Goldblatt / Sylvia Li-chun LinPublisher: PenguinYear: 2002Language: EnglishPages: 416ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143028499 DescriptionWritten and translated in shimmering, youthful prose, this novel explodes the myth of Tibet as a land of pious austerity. A riveting tale of a culture and era long gone and destined never to return.Set in 1930s' Tibet, this extraordinary novel is narrated by the 'idiot' second son of powerful Chieftain Maichi. From a seven storey mountaintop fortress, this chieftain and his sons survey their estate and divert themselves with comely women and blood feuds.One day a Han Chinese official appears with lavish gifts and a promise: plant these seeds and watch your earth multiply. Chieftain Maichi carpets his valley with opium, and the poppies squeeze out their white sap as if the earth were crying. When rival chieftains seize the seeds, poppies are frantically grown at the expense of grain, and serfs begin to starve. While our n