The Explosion Chronicles - Softcover

"Charting the transformation of a rural village into a 21st- century megalopolis, it is a boisterously inventive novel that conveys the everyday reality of modern China" (David Mills Sunday Times Books of the Year)

"As much a parody of communist rule in China as a devastating critique of capitalist excess, power, greed and self-destruction, Yan’s novel is nothing short of a masterpiece" (Claire Kohda Hazelton Observer)

"Extraordinary... A provocatively illuminating and perceptive insight into contemporary China" (David Mills The Sunday Times)

"A hyper-real tour de force, a blistering condemnation of political corruption and excess masquerading as absurdist saga" (Catherine Taylor Financial Times)

"A rip-roaring Swiftian satire from a contemporary Chinese master... Yan Lianke, one of China's most forthright and versatile novelists, enlists extravagant comedy and far-fetched fable to propel his critique of a society where "power and money have colluded to steal people's souls"" (The Economist)

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL 2017

With the Yi River on one side and the Balou Mountains on the other, the village of Explosion was founded a thousand years ago by refugees fleeing a volcanic eruption. But in the post-Mao era, the name takes on a new significance as the rural community grows explosively from a small village to a town to a city to a vast megalopolis.

Behind this rapid expansion are three rival clans linked together by a web of ambition, madness and greed. Together they transform their hometown into a Babylon of modern times -- an unrivalled urban superpower built on lies, sex and thievery.

'One of the masters of modern Chinese literature' Jung Chang