Beijing Sprawl

June 5, 2023
Xu returns to the setting of his novel Running Through Beijing for an evocative if monotonous collection about living on the margins. Muyu, picaresque hero of “The Six-Eared Macaque,” is a transplant from the countryside, having moved to Beijing because he had no other prospects. He shares a tenement flat with three other young men, all of whom aspire to greatness despite the squalor and high cost of city life. Each of the young derelicts crosses paths with various colorful Beijing denizens: the eponymous busker of “Prince of Morocco”; a young rustic in search of his doppelgänger in “Brother,” where Muyu also features; and the disgraced truck driver of “Wheels Turn,” who cobbles together a monstrous car from spare parts. With money scarce and cops sweeping through residences with batons and bulldozers, the episodes often end in irony and tragedy. Xu doesn’t offer much perspective on the characters’ inner lives, and a dulling sameness eventually takes over the stories, though they offer a convincing assessment of the city’s inescapable drudgery and inequitable circumstances. There are some high points, but this doesn’t rise above the sum of its parts.