In this Issue
For a taste of what's in this issue, scroll down to visit Jeremy Tiang's Beijing Hospital, explore The Sinking City with Bill Tarrant and sample the poetry of Imtiaz Dharker and Song Lin.
Find out more about Issue 27 in From the Editors.
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Whether Sheep, Goat or Ram, it is that year. Because the yang in the Chinese zodiac could refer to any of these animals, precisely which of them is being represented is a topic of debate in the English-speaking world. In any event, those who follow the Chinese calendar consider a defining characteristic of the year to be mild manners – sheepishness, so to speak. It’s been widely reported that mothers across China chose to deliver their babies in the last days of the Year of the Horse, with all its auspicious associations, rather than risk giving birth to a meek and vulnerable lamb. More...
When Doctor’s words confound Sophia’s patchy Mandarin, she says, Pardon, but he just grows unhelpfully louder. Finally she begs, Wait, wait, and dials a number. As the phone rings, she imagines the aunt’s ungainly progress through the apartment’s camphor-scented air, catching her knee on the rosewood armchair, swearing in pungent bursts.
A click and muffled thud as the aunt pulls at the cord and demands, breathlessly, Yes?