Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

Xu Sanguan works at a silk factory and sells his blood to the local hospital whenever life throws a crisis his way. Over the decades, from the 1950s through the Cultural Revolution, every family emergency sends him back to the blood station. The novel follows his marriage, his three sons, and the small humiliations and triumphs of a life lived on the margins.

Why Consider This One

If To Live is Yu Hua’s tragedy, Chronicle of a Blood Merchant is his tragicomedy. The premise is absurd in the best sense: a man literally selling parts of himself to keep his family afloat. But the humor is warm rather than bitter, and Xu Sanguan is one of the most lovable characters in Chinese fiction. His relationship with his wife is messy, jealous, tender, and completely real.

The novel has a looser, more episodic structure than To Live, built around the recurring ritual of blood-selling. Each visit to the hospital marks a new chapter in Xu Sanguan’s life, and the repetition gives the story a folk-tale quality that makes it deeply satisfying to read.

What to Expect

A warmer, funnier book than To Live, though no less devastating in its final act. The prose is simple and direct, the chapters are short, and the rhythm of crisis-and-blood-selling gives the story a propulsive momentum. If you want to ease into Yu Hua with a book that makes you laugh before it makes you cry, start here instead.