''Tai Shou Chuan USSR'' () is a short story by

Victor Pelevin Victor Olegovich Pelevin ( rus, Виктор Олегович Пелевин, p=ˈvʲiktər ɐˈlʲeɡəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈlʲevʲɪn; born 22 November 1962) is a Russian fiction writer. His novels include ''Omon Ra'' (1992), ''The Life of Insects' ...

, published in 1991.

Plot

The story is constructed in a pseudo-historical form and is a deconstruction of real events. And it is a reference to the Chinese

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

story "

The Governor of Nanke "The Governor of Nanke" (, otherwise translated as "The Governor of the Southern Tributary State", "Governor of the Southern Branch Commandery" and variants) is a Tang dynasty Chinese '' chuanqi'' (a form of short story) by Li Gongzuo, set in the y ...

". The author himself dubbed this short work "A Chinese Folk Tale". Or, the setting is a communist utopia in an alternate

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. According to another opinion, the story resembles the construction of short stories by the famous Chinese writer

Pu Songling Pu Songling ( zh, t= , 5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty, best known as the author of '' Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' (''Liaozhai zhiyi''). Biography Pu was born into a poor merchant famil ...

from the collections "Monk Magicians" and "Tales of Extraordinary People". The title of the story is "Tai Shou Chuan USSR". From the Chinese literary language, "Chuan" can be translated as "a collection of stories, essays, or legends." The character "Tai Shou" is more polysemantic, it translates as "commander of the army in the provinces" or simply "chief", "leader". Consequently, the title of the story should be understood as "A collection of essays by a certain leader about his life in the USSR. In the Chinese story, which Pelevin has looked up to, there is a strong influence of

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and

Taoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...

. In particular, the key theme is the Taoist ideologeme "life is like a dream. The Chinese "Tradition" tells of Chun Yukun's adventures in the unfamiliar land of Sophora. One day Chun Yukun got drunk and fell asleep under a sophora. He was then sent to the country of Sophora, where he married a princess. There he obtained a prestigious government position. After many years of a successful career, however, a turning point comes in his life: the death of the princess, the king's suspicions, and repatriation. After this, Chun Yukun wakes up and it turns out that he has been sleeping in his yard under a sophora, and it is still the same day. Finding the anthill, Chun Yukun recalls everything. In the story "Tai Shou Chuan USSR" instead of the knight Chun Yukun is the bum Zhang, who in the virtual world becomes one of the leaders of the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Pelevin refers to the leader of the USSR as "Son of Bread" and Zhang as "Sausage". In this way the author sought to emphasize the predominance of materialism and utilitarianism in human nature. One gets the impression that the Soviet state under Zhang's rule is powerful and prosperous. In reality, however, statehood exists there only nominally. Mentioning the former viceroy, who hid the fact that his head was cut off, the author satirically shows the numbing of the workers and their sinking into a world of illusions. "Tai Shou Chuan USSR," like the Chinese "Tradition," is imbued with the ideas of Taoism. An important part of both works is the image of the anthill. And if in Chinese philosophy the ant is a symbol of universal life and is able to build a state on a rational basis, then Pelevin identifies the anthill with a totalitarian society with rigid centralization, complete unification and obedience of individuals. The anthills are also dealt with in different ways: Chun Yukun in The Legend asked his friends not to touch him, while Pelevin's Zhang "diluted chlorine in two buckets and poured it on the anthill.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tai Shou Chuan USSR 1991 short stories Short stories by Victor Pelevin Existentialist short stories