Title: When The Mountains Fall

Author: Chinghiz Aitmatov (from Kyrgyzstani)

Translator: Gu Xingya

Publisher: Sino-Culture Press

Edition: First Edition, September 2018

Format: 16 - mo, Hardcover

Printed Sheets: 13.75

Word Count: 172,000 words

ISBN: 9787507549652

Price: 48.00 CNY

In Kyrgyzstan under the market - economy conditions, material desires run rampant. Aydana, the fiancée of the famous journalist Arsen, succumbs to the temptation of a newly - rich tycoon and becomes a pop star. When Arsen tries to meet Aydana, he is driven out of the performance venue. Just like the aging snow leopard, Arsen becomes a loser in the survival competition. To seek revenge, he returns to his hometown and plans to work as an interpreter for the hunting and tourism company of the villagers living in the depths of the mountains. There, he meets the woman he loves, and they look forward to a happy future. However, at the critical moment of the hunt, in order to protect the precious wild snow leopard from being hunted, he is shot by the profit - driven villagers. Amid the misunderstandings, condemnations, insults, and attacks of his fellow villagers, he bids farewell to the world and dies in a cave together with the aged snow leopard.

"The passing of Aitmatov is a huge and helpless loss for all of us. We will remember this great writer, thinker, and humanist." - Vladimir Putin

"I particularly like Aitmatov's The White Steamboat. Through the tragic story of a seven - year - old child, it closely weaves the allegorical myth, the child's fantasy, and the harsh reality together." - Cao Wenxuan, winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award

"In the eyes of people around the world, he was already a Nobel laureate long ago. The death of Aitmatov may mean the departure of the last literary priest from that land." - Chi Zijian

"Aitmatov mainly relies on true lyric art. Those long descriptions, full of depictions, songs, and associations related to horse lore and grass lore, are really beautiful. The enjoyment is unforgettable, and reading it carefully once is like a bath in beauty." - Zhang Chengzhi

"Aitmatov's works are very easy to read. Each of his works is like honey and wine, so sweet and fragrant that you get intoxicated. When reading his works, you can even smell the scent of ripe crops and haystacks." - Feng Deying

Chinghiz Aitmatov (1928 - 2008) was a famous Kyrgyzstani writer. He served as the secretary of the Soviet Writers' Union, an academician of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences, and an ambassador. He won the Soviet State Literature Award and the Lenin Award several times and had a profound impact on contemporary Chinese writers. His main works include novellas such as Jamilia, Farewell, Gulsary!, The White Ship, Cranes Fly Early, Spotted Dog Running Along the Seashore, etc., and novels such as The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years, The Place of the Skull, The White Clouds of Genghis Khan, Cassandra's Brand, When The Mountains Fall, etc. His creations are rich in Kyrgyz national characteristics, with profound and rich content and beautiful writing. They have been translated into more than 150 languages and published, and have been adapted into movies, TV dramas, operas, and ballets many times.

Gu Xingya was born in 1941. He graduated from the Russian major of Hebei University in 1965. Since 1979, he has been teaching at the Foreign Languages Department of Hebei University. From 1984 to 1994, he served as the deputy director and then director of the Russian Teaching and Research Section of Hebei University. From 1992 to 1994, he worked as a business translator in Russia and the Sino - Russian border area. After retiring in 2001, he taught Russian literature at the School of Liberal Arts and the College of Business and Industry of Hebei University. He started publishing translated works in 1983 and joined the Hebei Translators Association in 1988. His main translations include The Man Who Regained His Dignity, The King of Thieves, The Trial of the Madman, Lamb Cooked in Goat's Milk, The Collapsing Mountain, The Secret History of Moscow Merchants, The Diary of 1867, My Chronicles, etc.