Jiangnan Trilogy Series by Ge Fei, 格非

Peach Blossom Beauty won the 9th Mao Dun Literary Prize in 2015. This is the first of the "Face and Peach Blossom" trilogy. It is about a legend life of a village girl called Xiu Mi. It is an immediate hit after publishment. It combines the modern spirits with the traditional culture. 《人面桃花》是2015年第九届茅盾文学奖获奖作品--格非“江南三部曲”的开卷之作，讲述国民革命早期一个乡村女子秀米的传奇人生。当时出版后即引起文学界和评论界极大震动。这部小说的写作坚韧、优雅而纯粹，既有鲜明的现代精神，又承续着古典小说传统中的灿烂和斑斓。

An enthralling story of revolution, idealism, and a savage struggle for utopia by one of China's greatest living novelistsIn 1898 reformist intellectuals in China persuaded the young emperor that it was time to transform his sclerotic empire into a prosperous modern state. The Hundred Days' Reform that followed was a moment of unprecedented change and extraordinary hope--brought to an abrupt end by a bloody military coup... moreAn enthralling story of revolution, idealism, and a savage struggle for utopia by one of China's greatest living novelistsIn 1898 reformist intellectuals in China persuaded the young emperor that it was time to transform his sclerotic empire into a prosperous modern state. The Hundred Days' Reform that followed was a moment of unprecedented change and extraordinary hope--brought to an abrupt end by a bloody military coup. Dashed expectations would contribute to the revolutionary turn that Chinese history would soon take, leading in time to the deaths of millions.Peach Blossom Paradise, set at the time of the reform, is the story of Xiumi, the daughter of a wealthy landowner and former government official who falls prey to insanity and disappears. Days later, a man with a gold cicada in his pocket turns up at their family estate and is inexplicably welcomed as a relative. This mysterious man has a great vision of reforging China as an egalitarian utopia, and he will stop at nothing to make it real. It is his own plans, however, which come to nothing, and his little sister Xiumi is left to take up arms against a Confucian world in which women are chattel. Her campaign for change and her struggle to seize control over her own body are continually threatened by the violent whims of men who claim to be building paradise. less