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After her celebrated The Teddy Bear Chronicles, Xi Xi turns her creative vision towards the world of the primate kingdom. At the age of 73, Xi Xi traveled extensively across Asia, from tropical forests to conservation centers, immersing herself in the natural world of apes and monkeys.
Xi Xi then documented 51 endearing ape and monkey puppets that she had sewn, weaving them into a series of insightful dialogues with her friend, the Hong Kong writer Ho Fuk Yan. These discussions cover the depiction of apes and monkeys in Chinese and Western literature, painting, drama, and film, as well as the close relationship between humans and their primate relatives. Xi Xi’s own words, imbued with a profound empathy, reveal the heart of her work: “If there is a common theme to our conversation, it is to respect life and speak for those lives that have been discriminated against in the history of human development, and apes are the starting point for this.”
Xi Xi (1937–2022), pseudonym of Cheung Yin, was born in Shanghai and moved to Hong Kong with her family in 1950. In 1957, she graduated from the Grantham College of Education and became a teacher at a government primary school.
She increasingly focused on her writing career, and her fiction and poetry earned her numerous literary prizes, including the 1983 United Daily Award in Taiwan for her short story ‘A Girl Like Me,’ the 2019 Newman Prize for Chinese literature at the University of Oklahoma, and the Cikada Prize awarded by the Swedish Institute in the same year.
Her literary works spanned across novels, essays, modern poetry, and literary criticism. She published over 45 books, including My City, Not Written Words, The Teddy Bear Chronicles, Carnival of Animals: Xi Xi's Animal Poems, and many more.
John Minford is Emeritus Professor of Chinese at The Australian National University and Sin Wai Kin Professor of Chinese Culture and Translation at the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong.
Jasmine Tong Man is a senior lecturer teaching translation at Lingnan University.
David Morgan has translated various Spanish works into English. Studied Chinese in Hong Kong, Buenos Aires and Granada.
Series Editor’s Preface
Acknowledgements
Preface
The Naming, Classification and Distribution of Apes and Monkeys—A Conversation Between Xixi and Ho Fuk Yan
The Strepsirrhihi:
The Tarsier
The Slow Loris
The Bushbaby
The Ring-tailed Lemur
The Crowned Lemur
The Indri Lemur
The Aye-Aye
Images of Apes and Monkeys in the West—A Conversation Between Xi Xi and Ho Fuk Yan
Tales of Apes and Monkeys from Chinese Literature—A Conversation Between Xi Xi and Ho Fuk Yan
The New World Monkeys:
The White Uakari/ Bald uakari
White-faced Saki
The Capuchin Monkey
The Spider Monkey
The Night Monkey
The Golden White Tassel-eared Marmoset
The Emperor Tamarin
On Zoos and Conservation Centers—A Conversation Between Xi Xi and Ho Fuk Yan
Old World Monkeys:
The Japanese Snow Macaque
The Crested Black Macaque
The Francois' Langur and the White-headed Leaf Monkey
The Proboscis Monkey
The Red-shanked Douc Langur
The Spectacled Langur
The Golden Monkey
The Hamadryas Baboon
The Mandrill
Questions On Evolution: Are Apes and Monkeys Our Ancestors?—A Conversation Between Xi Xi and Ho Fuk Yan
Apes:
The Gibbon
The Siamangs
The Orangutans
The Gorillas
The Bonobos
The Chimpanzees
Some Names and Some Books—A Conversation Between Xi Xi and Ho Fuk Yan
Primates on the Brink of Extinction