Red Poppies

Red Poppies is a 1998 Chinese-language novel by the Tibetan Chinese writer Alai, whose theme is based on the Tibetan custom and traditions. The novel consists of 12 chapters with a total of 481,000 Chinese characters. It won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2000.

Summary
Set in Ngawa, Sichuan, the novel chronicles the stories of a Tibetan Tusi and his family from the 1920s to 1949, which gives a general introduction to the economic development in Ngawa, the territorial disputes among Tibetan chieftains, and the fights for throne succession.

Family of Tusi Maiqi

 * The first-person narrator: considered as an 'idiot', the second son of Tusi Maiqi, mother is a Han Chinese
 * Tusi Maiqi: father of the first-person narrator
 * Mother: the second wife of Tusi Maiqi, a Han Chinese woman as a gift given to Maiqi by a merchant trading furs and herbs
 * Brother: the eldest son of Tusi Maiqi, son of Maiqi's first wife, considered as the successor of Tusi Maiqi
 * Sangji Zhuoma: maid of the first-person narrator
 * The lame butler
 * Weng Bo Yi Xi: Lama of Gelug
 * Suo Lang Ze Lang: attendant of the first-person narrator
 * Yang Zong: used to be the woman of the chieftain Zhazha, belongs to Tusi Maiqi after Zhazha's death
 * Lama Menba
 * Sister: half-blooded, shares the same father with the narrator, lives in London
 * Uncle: Tusi Maiqi's younger brother, trades in India
 * The silversmith: later marries Sangji Zhuoma

Other characters

 * Special commissioner Huang: an official of the national government
 * Tusi Ronggong: a female Tusi
 * Tana: the beautiful daughter of Tusi Ronggong
 * Tusi Laxueba
 * Tusi Wangbo

Reception
Comments by the selection committee of the Mao Dun Literature Prize: "The novel narrates from a unique viewpoint, with a rich connotation of Tibetan culture. A slight of fantasy enhances the artistic expression. The writing style is light, charming and poetic".

Adaptations

 * TV series: a television adaptation of Red Poppies was first shown in 2003.
 * Dance drama: Red Poppies was adapted into a dance drama by Hong Kong Dance Company in 2006.