istorical
fiction sometimes has a bad rep. First of all, it can often get the
facts wrong. Second, if it sticks too close to history it can be boring,
lifeless, removed from the people who were making history.
That is why I approached Eve J. Chung's Daughters of Shandong with a certain amount of caution. It was suggested for a book club I belong to, and since I didn't have a better suggestion to defend, I went along with the group's choice. I'm glad I did because the book seems to skillfuly avoid both major problems of historical fiction.
The novel begins with Mao Ze-dong's Communist forces coming to power in Northern China, thrusting aside the Nationalists under Chaig kai-shek. The narratrice, Hai, is the oldest daughter in a wealthy land-owning family which the Communists want to punish. She, her mother and younger sisters are left behind when her father and other members flee. Girls don't matter, supposedly, and the excuse given for this act of cowardice is that they won't be bothered by the insurgents. Of course, that doesn't happen, Hai is nearly killed, becoming the scapegoat for the whole family. Only peasants who remember the kindness of Hai's mother help them, and so eventually they are able to flee.
What follows is a harrowing journey over two years (if I calculate correctly) that sees them go first to Qingdao on foot, and then to Hong Kong before ending up in Taiwan. I have not checked all the facts, but it appears that Chung did a great deal of research and avoids the trap of painting the Communists as devils and the Nationalists as the good guys. The truth is far more nuanced. What is portrayed as evil is th misogyny which favours men and denigrates women that pervaded China during this period.
A very good read, in short, and one from which the reader may learn a lot.
That is why I approached Eve J. Chung's Daughters of Shandong with a certain amount of caution. It was suggested for a book club I belong to, and since I didn't have a better suggestion to defend, I went along with the group's choice. I'm glad I did because the book seems to skillfuly avoid both major problems of historical fiction.
The novel begins with Mao Ze-dong's Communist forces coming to power in Northern China, thrusting aside the Nationalists under Chaig kai-shek. The narratrice, Hai, is the oldest daughter in a wealthy land-owning family which the Communists want to punish. She, her mother and younger sisters are left behind when her father and other members flee. Girls don't matter, supposedly, and the excuse given for this act of cowardice is that they won't be bothered by the insurgents. Of course, that doesn't happen, Hai is nearly killed, becoming the scapegoat for the whole family. Only peasants who remember the kindness of Hai's mother help them, and so eventually they are able to flee.
What follows is a harrowing journey over two years (if I calculate correctly) that sees them go first to Qingdao on foot, and then to Hong Kong before ending up in Taiwan. I have not checked all the facts, but it appears that Chung did a great deal of research and avoids the trap of painting the Communists as devils and the Nationalists as the good guys. The truth is far more nuanced. What is portrayed as evil is th misogyny which favours men and denigrates women that pervaded China during this period.
A very good read, in short, and one from which the reader may learn a lot.
