Memories of Murder

n 1996 in northwest China, a 13-year-old called Zhang Koukou watched his mother die after her (2018) ominously interweaves a migrant worker’s homecoming and his theatrical enactments of Chinese stories about duty, vengeance, and supernatural encounters. The work is the first of a tetralogy probing the spiritual, mythical, and historical roots of northern China. Above is a sketch for the upcoming third chapter, , which explores the Siege of Changchun by Communist forces in 1948. In our March/April 2021 issue, associate editor Ophelia Lai will delve into the troubled psyches of Wang’s protagonists, who tread the knife edge between revelation and madness, and stand in for a society reckoning with the ghosts of history.