AHP 40: Review: THE UNBEARABLE DREAMWORLD OF CHAMPA THE DRIVER

Chan Koonchung's second novel, The Unbearable Dreamworld of Champa the Driver, like his first, The Fat Years (Chen and Duke 2011), is banned in mainland China for its dystopian and realist depiction of racial discrimination, economic inequality, government corruption, and public dis-ease in contemporary Chinese society. Tracing the adventures of the quintessential anti-hero in the form of Champa, a young Tibetan man from Lhasa on his way to Beijing, a city of wealth, adventure, and opportunity in his mind, Koonchung effectively constructs a depiction of modern youth and masculinity in an economically perilous period, as well as a broader narrative of the difficult relationship between Tibetan and Chinese identity. ...