This is the first book I’ve read by Qiu Xiaolong, though he’s written a number of other books. I chose to read this book because the cover jumped out at me from the library — a beautiful Chinese woman, drawn from just above the mouth, rising over a city (Shanghai) — and because of the Chinese subject matter.
This is the fifth book in the Chief Inspector Chen series, according to Qui Xiaolong’s website, though he has written other books, including translations of poetry. I found I could easily pick up the stories with this book, then read the others.
He dedicates this book to his elder brother, Xiaowei –
but for luck, what happened to him during the Cultural Revolution could have happened to me.
I am privileged to know someone who was caught up in the Cultural Revolution, so this book had a secondary appeal to me.
In a way, this sets the stage for the book which moves from just before the Cultural Revolution up to the present. The book is interspersed with much Chinese poetry, heady insights into the Cultural Revolution and its costs to Chinese society, Shanghai history and Chinese culture (including the concept of ‘face’ as it plays out in the story.) It also has a couple of scenes of cruelty to animals in cooking (also befitting the story.)
Chief Inspector Chen has decided to take a vacation that coincides, fortuitously, with his being asked to investigate a corruption case that is going to court. He can’t directly say no, but he can use this time to take a literature course wherein he has to write a paper.
He doesn’t appear a lot in the first half of the book. Instead we meet the other characters, including the lawyer in the corruption case, officials, his counterpart in the force who is taking over for him while he is gone and this man’s wife who is interested in helping her husband solve the case. (Women play pivotal roles in this story.) But like a fox, he solves the case in a slow and steady way, using love poems along the way.
If you are interested in learning more about Chinese culture, this series would be for you.
Qiu Xiaolong was born in Shanghai, but now lives in St. Louis, MO. A poet and translator, he has an MA and PhD from Washington University.
The book has a feel of being translated from Chinese. By this, I mean that it is easy to slip into the world of China, because the choice of words or phrases is a bit different than a native American English speaker would choose. I’m not sure this is a deliberate literary ploy or if we are just blessed because of who is writing it.
I felt the book was as valuable for what it says about China both literally and through the story and the interactions of the characters as it was for the actual story.
If you have a Chinese child or a heart for China, you should not miss this book. It is not always easy to read (such as the scenes of cruelty in cooking and the fact that it has a feel of being translated and because you’d like to remember the cultural references) but it is very worthwhile.
I look forward to reading his other books. Have you read it?
I give it a 4.
If you would like to see the story behind the book, go here.
For those of us who wonder what it might be like if our Chinese child were still in China in their first family, here is an interesting article.
I also thought it was interesting that his parents chose the English name for him of: Seven Eleven (not Jack, for example.)
Some of our adopted Chinese children came with what sounded to us like odd names. Others of us were lucky enough to have someone tell us that the name occurs in a famous ancient poem, perhaps, one that is not commonly known to the modern scholar.
River of Daughters uses the theme of the Yellow River as a mother figure to express the personality of the people who lives at its bank. Compared to a lot of other dance with the Yellow River as its theme, this dance focuses more on the liveliness of the girls rather than the magnificance of the Yellow River.
Rob Gifford writes about his travels across China from Shanghai through the Gobi Desert on Route 312…he was the China correspondent of NPR for the last six years and is now back in Europe. The story takes him across the desert and recounts the people he meets and his views on changing China.
I have not read the book, but it sounds interesting!
River of Daughters uses the theme of the Yellow River as a mother figure to express the personality of the people who lives at its bank. Compared to a lot of other dance with the Yellow River as its theme, this dance focuses more on the liveliness of the girls rather than the magnificance of the Yellow River.
“They are destroying our families and killing our children. How can we not revolt?”
The rioting makes it clear that local officials are still under pressure to meet birth control quotas. But their motivations to act often are selfish, critics say.
“They want to protect their political futures, and they can make a lot of money while they are at it,” said Li Jinsong, a lawyer who represented a blind activist arrested for exposing excesses in the carrying out of family planning in eastern China. “It is easy for them to abuse their power and act against the best interest of poor peasants.”
Villagers in Bobai County talk of a reign of terror that has forced many into hiding to avoid forced abortions or sterilization.
Here in China, every second day of the second month of the Chinese Lunar Year (falls today [March 20]this year, the year of the Golden Pig), in most parts of northern China, people will cut their hair. In Chinese folklore, this particular day, the God of Dragons who is responsible for the rain will raise his head and
bring spring rain to the earth from today. On this day, people in China not only go to the barber, but they also eat noodles or popcorn. Moses Liang (yettie 163.com)
As China enters an auspicious year, the birth rate is expected to
soar
HOSPITALS across China are bracing themselves for what is expected to
be a surge of babies born in the year of the pig, which starts on
February 18th. Pig years, which occur every 12 years, are considered
auspicious. But the coming one, or so many believe, will be
especially fortunate since it is not just a pig but a golden pig, the
first in 60 or even 600 years, depending on which astrologer one
consults.
China’s state-owned media have carried numerous stories of
gynaecologists struggling to cope with unusual numbers of expectant
women. Life Times, a weekly newspaper, quoted an official as saying
that Beijing alone could see 170,000 births this year, 50,000 more
than in 2006 (quite an auspicious year itself). The increase is
partly the result of a mini-baby boom in the 1980s, which was in turn
caused by a boom two decades earlier. But officials say the golden
pig has much to answer for.
In recent years, Hong Kong has become a magnet for urban Chinese
women trying to evade China’s strict one-child policy and enjoy
better standards of hospital care (often free since many leave
without paying their bills). But those hoping for a golden pig baby
in Hong Kong will face difficulties. To stem the influx, Hong Kong
introduced new rules on February 1st requiring mainland women who are
more than seven months pregnant to prove they have a hospital booking
in the territory before they can cross the border.
China’s top family-planning official, Zhang Weiqing, said last month
that given the current bulge in the number of people reaching
childbearing age, the government would not relax its one-child
policy. This will probably mean that the golden pig’s impact on the
birth rate will be followed by a correction once the auspicious
period is over (next year is also being tipped as lucky, what with
the Olympics and all).
But problems are bound to arise as the golden pig cohort reaches
school age. In some parts of China, children born in 2000, the year
of the dragon (also very auspicious, as suggested by the chart), are
already facing stiffer than usual competition for places. In Shanghai
last week, deputies to the local legislature’s advisory body called
on city planners to start taking account of auspicious years when
considering education demand. They also appealed to citizens to
abandon superstition, but that is much less likely to be heeded.
I also found her website on Chinese beadwork to be interesting. There is a link midway down the webpage to page 10 of her book showing more examples. She teaches and gives seminars.
I know there is a place in China that specializes in embroidering both sides of a fabric with two different designs. I wonder if that has crossed to beading also, though I’ve never heard of it.
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