Book cover of Midnight

Book description

A novel about the violence and corruption in Nationalist China in the 1930s by Shen Yanbing, better known by the pen name Mao Tun.

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Why read it?

1 author picked Midnight as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Published in 1933 Mao Dun’s Midnight is the Chinese novel that most accurately shows the harsh effects of the freewheeling capitalism that characterised old Shanghai in its international treaty port days. The city’s great wealth is built on low wages, awful conditions, and exploitation. This is Shanghai as a powder keg about to explode.

From Paul's list on old Shanghai.

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