旅美華裔作傢李翊雲，1991年鼕入學北京大學，為北大生物係學生。於96年前往美國求學，98年開始以英文寫作。距今已九載，期間榮獲多項榮譽，包括Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award和Whiting Writers Award。書中作者的幾篇經典短故事都已發錶於各書刊(Paris Review，New Yorker和Glimmer Train)。作者善於利用短故事來刻畫一種在國際化趨勢下社會的演進而産生的矛盾。把故事的背景和文脈設置在龐大且復雜的空間與時間軸上，用小人物的形象，心理變化和遭遇來暗示生活在社會過渡期裏的一種尷尬和不安。

Daily Mail

'These mesmerising stories present a glimpse of modern China more

nuanced than any reporter could ever hop to gleam.'

Melanie McGrath, Evening Standard

'a wonderfully well-written, fascinating and affecting collection

of stories.'

The Observer

'Li's moving, engrossing stories are particular in their

place...but universal in their themes and their relevance.'

Impac News

'If you have ever wondered what life is like in modern China...you

should read this book...'

Sunday Times

'Readers should pray that Yiyun’s memorable collection is the first of many.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Synopsis

Brilliant and original, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers introduces a remarkable first collection of stories about China from an author set to become a major literary talent. In this extraordinary first collection, Yiyun Li brings us a modern China facing up to a complex history of repression and guilt. In Immortality, winner of the Paris Review prize, a young man bears a striking resemblance to the dictator, and so finds a strange kind of calling. In Extra, first published in the New Yorker, a Chinese woman, alone in middle age, befriends a young boy who has become an outcast in a remote country school. In their friendship, we see how love can begin to overcome the strictures that dominate their lives. In turn horrifying and breathtakingly lyrical, Yiyun Li, a new and talented young Chinese writer, confronts the silence that dominated the history of her country, and illuminates how mythology, politics, history and culture intersect with personality. She leaves us with an enduring vision of a country undergoing tremendous change.