Getting to Know China
In the past 3 months, I’ve read 4 books by China authors, all who elegantly wrote about the horrors of the Cultural Revolution and the immense suffering of immigrants who headed for the Gold Rush in America during the 1930s. These authors gave me an education that was unforgettable.
1. NINE CONTINENTS - A heartbreaking biography about life in the eighties and nineties of China, where overpowering state propoganda loomed large, and the wounds of the Cultural Revolution were beginning its recovery. Life in China is shadowed by self-censorship, duty, and Confucian values. You were unlucky if you were an aspiring writer or artist, for creativity was stemmed and many were exiled. Xialu endured a miserable childhood in the village of Shitang, but upon arriving in Britain as an adult, wrote her first book that has since made her one of China’s most interesting voices. A very sad book. You will weep and weep.
2. ELON MUSK - I made a goal in Jan 2020. 3 weeks later after reading this book, I changed my goal completely. Elon’s craziness opened up new frontiers for me. Not only is Elon painfully intelligent and capable of enduring high levels of pain, this iconic entrepreneur and thinker has tremendous foresight and centers humanity and it’s betterment around everything he does - PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX. The world literally is a better place with him.
1. THE CHINESE IN AMERICA - I had no idea of the immense suffering the Chinese suffered when fleeing to America in the 1930s for the Gold Rush and building the Transcontinental Rail. I had no idea of the injustice and blatant prejudice the Chinese were shown even when they helped built economies and went to war under the US flag. The Chinese outperformed every other immigrant group in America including the Occidental themselves. They dominated university admissions while top Chinese scientists were unfairly accused of spying for China. It is naive to think the idealism of meritocracy will beat affirmative action. This book has given me a broader more matured way of viewing a multicultural country. One thing I am sure off though; the Chinese are not good candidates as immigrants. Especially in large swathes.
4. NÁNJĪNG REQUIEM - Some 300,000 Chinese were brutally killed and raped in the Nanjing massacre by Japanese soldiers. No mercy was shown to men, woman and child. Kind Christians and Americans opened up shelters to help protect the fleeing citizens. It is shocking that some Japanese deny these atrocities in the name of nationalism. I can certainly understand why China’s ascent as world power is rattling for Japan.
5. TO LIVE - Yu Hua’s award winning book on life during the great famine in China portrays tremendous hardship and exposes the failed policies of the Cultural Revolution.
6. CHINA DOLLS - A rather juvenile fiction depicting two Chinese American and Japanese showgirls before World War 2. While I appreciated the historical perspective and the documentary on club life, I did not enjoy this book nor did I like the characters. Accompanied me during the lockdown though teehee.
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” - RR Martin
