Red Poppies

Red Poppies is a 1998 Chinese-language novel by the Tibetan Chinese writer Alai, whose theme is based on the Tibetan custom and traditions. The novel consists of 12 chapters with a total of 481,000 Chinese characters. It won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2000. Summary Set in Ngawa, Sichuan, the novel chronicles the stories of a Tibetan Tusi and his family from the 1920s to 1949, which gives a general introduction to the economic development in Ngawa, the territorial disputes among Tibetan chieftains, and the fights for throne succession. Main characters Family of Tusi Maiqi The first-person narrator: considered as an 'idiot', the second son of Tusi Maiqi, mother is a Han Chinese Tusi Maiqi: father of the first-person narrator Mother: the second wife of Tusi Maiqi, a Han Chinese woman as a gift given to Maiqi by a merchant trading furs and herbs Brother: the eldest son of Tusi Maiqi, son of Maiqi's first wife, considered as the successor of Tusi Maiqi Sangji Zhuoma: maid of the first-person narrator The lame butler Weng Bo Yi Xi: Lama of Gelug Suo Lang Ze Lang: attendant of the first-person narrator Yang Zong: used to be the woman of the chieftain Zhazha, belongs to Tusi Maiqi after Zhazha's death Lama Menba Sister: half-blooded, shares the same father with the narrator, lives in London Uncle: Tusi Maiqi's younger brother, trades in India The silversmith: later marries Sangji Zhuoma