As
Chinese New Year approached, I began to reflect on the books I read this past
year. I had immersed myself in Chinese
culture and language, which I've been interested in for most of my life. So I thought I'd share three of the many
books I read. Each book is top-notch,
beautifully written, evocative, and picturesque. Each is a memoir that depicts a woman
triumphant, at times despite circumstances of misogyny so blatant and palpable
as to be shocking. I encourage readers
of this blog to sample one or two of these books, like salty, sweet, or savory
dumplings in this, the Year of the Rooster. Nian nian you yü!
1. Good
Chinese Wife by Susan Blumberg-Kason
A
true love story set in China, Good
Chinese Wife depicts the author as an American graduate student at Hong
Kong University who meets and falls in love with her Chinese classmate. Curious about Chinese dating rituals, I found
the book compelling, well-written, and completely absorbing as it details the
rites of love, courtship and marriage in China as experienced by the
author. At one point, Cai, Ms. Blumberg-Kason's
future husband, explains that Chinese couples only date if they intend to
marry. Once Cai and young Susan are
married, however, their cultural differences prove insurmountable. Although I knew the outcome, I wished for a
happier ending.
2.
Leaving Mother Lake by Namu Erche
Yang and Christine Matthieu
This
is a beautiful and poignant memoir (co-authored with Christine Matthieu, an
anthropologist). I'd never heard of the
Moso people and their matrilineal culture--with unusual customs and disbelief
in marriage. So I thought this was a book I could not miss
out on. It depicts the author's
childhood and adolescence in a primitive environment that favors women. Ms.
Yang reveals the fascinating
details
of her youth, steeped in the beauty of the Himalayan mountains and Lugo Lake,
her original homeland at the China-Tibet border. The book culminates in her running away from
love (though I wonder what happened to Geko, the young man she rejected) and
her village, ultimately to Beijing. It
is beautiful, eloquent, and rare.
3. Journey Across The
Four Seas: A Chinese Woman's Search for Home by Veronica
Li
As
a young girl, Flora Li asked her mother when she was going to school. Her mother said, "You're a girl. Girls don't go to school." That might have sealed her fate, except that
she was determined to better herself and her circumstances. A memoir of Flora Li's life as told to her
youngest daughter, Veronica Li, Journey
Across The Four Seas depicts Flora as she struggles to get an education and
attend college in China. Eventually, she
gets accepted into a college program, graduates and works at various companies with tenacity and diligence. What I liked most was that she triumphed over
many personal obstacles--from fending off her husband's girlfriend to raising
her five children. Flora Li is a woman
of valor. In addition, the book captures the tone and
events of the turbulent times: the Japanese invasion of Nanking, British
colonialism, World War II, with important historical persons such as Chiang
Kai-shek. I loved this memoir!
--Yolanda
A. Reid
