Read Paper Republic hasn’t posted on Short Stops for a while, but we’ve haven’t stopped publishing our weekly short stories translated from the best of contemporary Chinese fiction. I hope you’ve managed to catch some – there’s something there for all tastes.

Well, today’s a bit of a red-letter day. At the beginning of the week, the Chinese government announced the ending of its One-Child-Per-Family policy. At the same time, a talented young woman writer called LU Min wrote a thought-provoking, and thoughtful, story about her own family’s experiences during the years when the policy was at its most draconian. We’ve translated it and posted it here: https://paper-republic.org/pubs/read/a-second-pregnancy-1980/ . Here’s how Lu Min begins: ‘We often tease my little sister – “Your life’s worth 56 yuan” – so many years have passed that we no longer feel the pain, and we can see a funny side to it.’

Read, and enjoy.

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