About the story
About the story
In their homes and businesses lining the alleys of a present-day Beijing hutong, most people live with the implanted tree-like organism twined around their bones without issue, 没问题。Xiao Li has abided by the tree’s rules, limiting his words and actions to avoid the tree’s punishments. But when Xiao Li’s father begins to, twig by twig, remove the tree from within his own body, and Xiao Li meets a woman at work whose entire tree has been removed, he faces a life-changing dilemma. Shall he live as he always has, following the tree’s dictates? And what about his young son, Xiaoxiao Li?
枝丫 is a work of fiction set in a contemporary, alternate universe in an unnamed Běijīng 胡同 hútòng. (Modern hútòngs are communities of residences and businesses lining alleys formed by 四合院 sìhéyuàn, courtyard residences.)
小李, his wife, and co-worker 刘依诺 Liú Yīnuò (Liú, surname, 依 yī to depend on; 诺 nuò promise) all work at 安全新能源公司 Safe New Energy Company, located in a high-rise building near the hutong. In the company’s name, 新能源车 xīn néngyuán chē, means “new energy vehicle” and usually refers to electric cars. For more electric vehicle-related vocabulary, see Andrew Methven’s In the Driver's Seat: China's EV brands overtake international competitors.
Table of contents includes links to chapters, audio recordings, and PPT slides.
Just text is for people who want to read the whole story in Simplified Characters - no English, no pinyin, no word lists, just text. The Just text page also includes all current updates to the content.
A Google Translate English version of the first few chapters is here.
Note: If you would like to read the story in your native language, you can copy and paste the content from the Just text page into Google Translate or into the translating software of your choice. Using Google Translate, paste the text into the left-hand text box. Google Translate usually detects the language accurately. If it doesn’t, you can select “Chinese (Simplified” from the dropdown menu at the top of the left-hand text box. Translated text will appear in the right-hand text box. To view the story in the language of your choice, choose your preferred language from the dropdown menu at the top of the right-hand text box.
An imagined Wikipedia entry might look something like this:
Twig (Chinese: 枝丫; pinyin: zhīyā) is a fantasy novel written for intermediate level readers of Mandarin Chinese in Simplified Characters by American writer Anne Giles, edited by Chinese instructor and translator Hou Huiying (Chinese: 侯慧颖; pinyin: Hóu Huìyǐng).
The story is set in an unnamed Beijing hutong (Chinese: 胡同; pinyin: hútòng, alleys formed by lines of courtyard residences Chinese: 四合院; pinyin: sìhéyuàn) in a fictional present where, beginning in a forgotten past, a tree-like organism of unknown origin began to be implanted in all human infants. To maintain order in human affairs, the tree directs words and actions and creates an inner sense of terror when disobeyed, but does not affect feelings, awareness, or consciousness. The main character, Xiao Li (Chinese: 小李; pinyin: Xiǎo Lǐ) becomes reluctantly aware of his growing ambivalence about the presence of the tree, and about the costs of both living with it and attempting to be free of of it, including for both himself and his small son Xiaoxiao Li (Chinese: 小小李; pinyin: Xiǎoxiǎo Lǐ).
A primary theme of 枝丫 is disambiguating one's individual human values and priorities from those taught by family, community, and culture. The story line has a single element of fantasy in a human world and would probably be considered in the subgenre of "light fantasy."
Drafts of the first three chapters of 枝丫 were written in mid-August, 2022. The story was left to simmer in November, 2022, and restarted in early March, 2024.
枝丫 began publication as a podcast on April 25, 2024, and as a serialized novel on April 26, 2024. 枝丫 is the first installment in a planned series that follows the stories of other characters introduced in the first novel.
All errors are mine. Although many people help me, I am responsible for the content of the final draft.
This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental
.Illustration by Derek Zheng for Chapter 8.