Secretary Girl

Abstract

“Secretary Girl” is a piece that is featured in the short story collection Shenzheners, although it is one of the three titles that was not included in the English translation. As such, this is the first time it has appeared in English. It tells the story of a woman who grows up in a small town in China where she works as an English teacher before moving to a big southern city. A snapshot of modern China told through the experience of one woman, it touches upon many contrasts that characterize the country today, from the young protagonist’s fond memories of her father who was an active participant in Maoist China to the question of how the developing culture of the country’s new commercial cities affects arrivals from smaller interior towns. As with many of Xue Yiwei’s works, it is an eloquent and insightful account of both the personal and the historical, and moreover how they interact.