The book also refers to the Cultural Revolution and the 1972 resumption of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. The novel also details civil disputes between warring Chinese groups, including rival gangs and political powers. The narrator tells the story of his family's struggles, first as distillery owners making sorghum wine and then as resistance fighters during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Red Sorghum's plot revolves around three generations of the Shandong family between 19. The novel was translated from the Chinese by Howard Goldblatt in 1993 as Red Sorghum: A Novel of China, but has also been referred to as 'The Red Sorghum Clan' in some sources. 'Red Sorghum' was published in People's Literature (Issue 3, 1986), 'Dog Ways' was published in the April 1986 issue of Shiyue ('October' magazine) 'Sorghum Wine' in the July 1986 issue of PLA Arts, 'Sorghum Funeral' in the August 1986 issue of Beijing Wenxue and 'Strange Death' in the November–December issue of Kunlun magazine. The novel is a compilation of five novellas: 'Red Sorghum', 'Sorghum Wine', 'Dog Ways', 'Sorghum Funeral', and 'Strange Death'. It was Mo's first novel and remains one of his best-known works. Its five parts were published serially in various magazines in 1986 and republished together as a single novel in 1987.

'red sorghum family') is a Chinese-language novel by Mo Yan. Red Sorghum: A Novel of China ( simplified Chinese: 红高粱家族 traditional Chinese: 紅高粱家族 pinyin: Hóng Gāoliáng Jiāzú lit.

Red sorghum book