Lenin's Kisses
2004 novel by Yan Lianke
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Lenin's Kisses (Chinese: 受活; pinyin: Shòu huó) is a novel by the Chinese writer Yan Lianke, published in 2004.[1]
Plot
The story is set in an isolated village where the economy failed to improve during either the Mao-era or after Reform and Opening Up.[2]: 517
A freak mid-summer blizzard that begins the novel sets into motion initiatives to improve the village's economic development.[3]: 300–301 Inspired by the trend of red tourism, a local cadre develops a plan to buy the preserved corpse of Vladimir Lenin to build a memorial hall and make the village a tourist destination (in the novel, the post-USSR Russian state has cut off financial support for Lenin's Mausoleum).[2]: 517–518 The village collects funds for buying the preserved corpse and to build a monument around it.[4] To do so, the village organizes a touring performing troupe of an all-handicapped ensemble.[5]: 193 The profits of the project consumes the village and the solidarity of its citizens.[6] The chief of the district is able to make grand constructions, until his superiors find out what is happening.[7]
Themes
"That the dead body of socialism's most important role model is being commercialized, can serve as an illustration of the hypercapitalism of contemporary China", according to Klassekampen.[8] Academic Hang Tu writes that the novel illustrates the desacralizing effect of market logic in China.[2]: 517
Translated publications
- English: Lenin's Kisses (2013, by Carlos Rojas)
- French: Bons baisers de Lénine (2009, by Sylvie Gentil)
- Norwegian: Lenins kyss (2011 - from French, by Tom Lotherington)
- Swedish: Lenins kyssar (2015, by Anna Gustafsson Chen)[9]