Barefoot Doctor
Contents (26)
- CAN XUE
- Contents
- 1 The Barefoot Doctor in Yun Village
- 2 Uncle Ma
- 3 The Deceased Uncle Liang Shan
- 4 Something Unpleasant
- 5 Aunt Yossi and Her Eccentric Daughter-in-Law
- 6 Gray’s Abnormal Behavior
- 7 The Turning Point in Mia’s Life
- 8 Mia and Lohan Go into Action
- 9 Mrs. Yi’s Daily Work
- 10 Gray’s Adventure
- 11 Something That Mrs. Yi Can’t Forget
- 12 Mia Is Taking Off
- 13 Angelica Joins In
- 14 Kay Comes to Yun Village
- 15 Gray Is In
- 16 Mia and Her Patients
- 17 Spoon and Gray
- 18 Revival of the Director
- 19 The Cause Is Expanding
- 20 Footsteps of the Times
- 21 An Invisible Network
- 22 Gray
- Epilogue
- Translators’ Acknowledgments
Barefoot Doctor
Books by Can Xue in English Translation
Barefoot Doctor: A Novel
Purple Perilla
I Live in the Slums: Stories
Love in the New Millennium
Frontier
Vertical Motion: Stories
The Last Lover
Five Spice Street
Blue Light in the Sky and Other Stories
The Embroidered Shoes: Stories
Old Floating Cloud: Two Novellas
Dialogues in Paradise
CAN XUE
Barefoot Doctor
A NOVEL
Translated from the Chinese by Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping
The Margellos World Republic of Letters is dedicated to making literary works from around the globe available in English through translation. It brings to the English-speaking world the work of leading poets, novelists, essayists, philosophers, and playwrights from Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East to stimulate international discourse and creative exchange.
English translation copyright © 2022 by Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping.
Originally published as Yizhong kuaiyao xiaoshide zhiye [An Almost Vanishing Profession], Huacheng literary magazine, 2018. Copyright © 2018 by Can Xue. Republished as Chijiao yisheng [Barefoot Doctor], Hunan Literature Press, 2019. Copyright © 2019 by Can Xue.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
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Set in Source Serif type by Motto Publishing Services.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021950216
ISBN 978-0-300-25963-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
Contents
1. The Barefoot Doctor in Yun Village
2. Uncle Ma
3. The Deceased Uncle Liang Shan
4. Something Unpleasant
5. Aunt Yossi and Her Eccentric Daughter-in-Law
6. Gray’s Abnormal Behavior
7. The Turning Point in Mia’s Life
8. Mia and Lohan Go into Action
9. Mrs. Yi’s Daily Work
10. Gray’s Adventure
11. Something That Mrs. Yi Can’t Forget
12. Mia Is Taking Off
13. Angelica Joins In
14. Kay Comes to Yun Village
15. Gray Is In
16. Mia and Her Patients
17. Spoon and Gray
18. Revival of the Director
19. The Cause Is Expanding
20. Footsteps of the Times
21. An Invisible Network
22. Gray
Epilogue
Translators’ Acknowledgments
Barefoot Doctor
1
The Barefoot Doctor in Yun Village
Even when she was young, Mrs. Yi had been courageous, multi-talented, and well respected in Yun Village. She was the village’s “barefoot doctor,” a title given to her by the township government. At that time, the village was rather isolated, and it was short of doctors and medicine. When villagers were sick, they could only wait to die. The young Mrs. Yi went to the county seat for training in medicine. After six months she returned to the village and formally started her practice, including midwifery. Though the barefoot doctor earned only twenty yuan a month, about the same as a farmer, she was so dedicated to the job that she often forgot to eat and sleep.