Maciao Dictionary

"Maciao Dictionary" (1996) is the most significant work of the author, marked by the Shanghai Literary Prize. The novel is included in the list of the "100 Best Works of 20th Century Chinese Literature" by Asia Weekly.
Some critics have compared "Maciao Dictionary" to Milorad Pavic's "Dictionary of the Khazars": both texts are presented in the form of dictionaries. However, Han Shaogun also introduces a series of vignettes disguised as articles, placing a young man at the center of the plot, 'transferred' to a village in rural China in the 1960s.
Based on bold inventions, it is an exciting, comical, and deeply moving journey through the dark heart of the Cultural Revolution.
The entries trace the wisdom and absurdity of Maciao: petty quarrels, family grievances, poverty, infidelity, fantasies, madmen, bullies, superstitions, and especially the strange logic in the use of language.