MELANCHOLY BY NATURE
Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge; translated by Jeremy TiangTilted Axis PressNovember 2020Selected by Anthony Bird and Taylor Bradley
Yan Ge’s beautiful novel, elegantly translated by Jeremy Tiang, is structured as a series of investigations into the mythic beasts that live in an unnamed urban centre in China. All the beasts resemble humans, more or less, but have obvious distinctive features – red eyes and pale skin, or a small stature and claws, or fins behind their ears. The reader might be tempted to see each beast as an allegory. Perhaps the sacrificial beasts are the pop stars with which the public is obsessed? Or maybe the sorrowful beasts are meant to be farmers who moved to the city? In the end, the beasts resist being mapped onto any real-life group of people, leaving both the audience and the book’s narrator struggling over what to think of them. – Anthony Bird and Taylor Bradley
Sacrificial beasts are melancholy by nature, drawn to high places and low temperatures. In the distant past, they could be found on mountain peaks. They are tall and dark-skinned, with pale blue eyes and thin lips. Their earlobes hang low, and have a sawtoothed edge. In all other respects, they are like regular people.
The males of the species speak no human languages, and are prone to fighting. The females, for their part, are warm-natured and often multilingual. Their speaking voices are mellifluous, and their singing is like the music of the celestial spheres. Each female takes two or three mates, who fight each other for her amusement.
These beasts live in tribes. They are healthy, heal quickly, and do not injure easily. Yet they also love to destroy each other, over and over, until death. Hence their name, sacrificial.
The males die most frequently due to their pugnacious natures, the females less so. As a result, since ancient times, the numbers of sacrificial beasts have not stopped falling, and they have long since been endangered. Although humans have set up nature reserves and protection zones, these don’t prevent the beasts from destroying one another. There are also breeding programmes in place, but the newborns often refuse sustenance and die soon after.
In Cloudtop Towers, the tallest building in Yong’an, † the 50th to 60th floors were a sanctuary for these beasts, housing 56 of them. Yong’an was the world’s biggest centre for sacrificial beast research, and drew scholars from all over. Their annual conference alone did much for the city’s economy.
Sacrificial beasts were at one time considered the city’s mascots, until they were replaced for being too depressing. Even so, schoolchildren showed up at Cloudtop Towers every weekend to visit the beasts.
In order to keep them from killing one another, the beasts were housed in individual enclosures, each with the facilities of a luxury flat. And yet the carnage continued, particularly during the full moon. Scientists kept the beasts tied to their beds and blindfolded during this time, playing upbeat rock music or TV comedies to get them through the slump.
And still the population continued to dwindle. Exacerbating the situation, their libidos also declined, making breeding impossible. Scientists racked their brains for a solution, while the government launched a campaign to “Save the Final Beast” by any means possible, urging the public to give generously, organising for celebrities to perform and meet with them.
The death of each sacrificial beast was headline news, causing young women throughout the city to shed tears. Births were even more of an occasion. With each one, a holiday was proclaimed in Yong’an City to wish the young beast a long life of good fortune. The mother was feted too, with a banquet held in her honour. Like any heroine of the people, she was asked to give speeches and interviews.
Yesterday, another sacrificial beast died. ◉
† Yong’an, the fictional city where the book is set, literally means “eternal peace”.