We hear about the dramatic transformation of China in the last decades. Still, you cannot really say you know until you read this great work of Yu Hua in which the characters will bring you through time and to experience the transformation.
Character development is always exceptional for Chinese authors, and it is no difference for Yu Hua. The brothers are the protagonists in this work. The author put in much good work in building up the characters of Baldy Li and Song Gang to strengthen the plots and made them convincing. Readers easily find the characters unforgettable, pitiful while at times distasteful. Baldy Li, as the character should be used for a creative writing class as the classic example in character development. Baldy Li is complex in which he has his moment of a human, and he is neither all evil nor all good. He is also consistent throughout his life in many aspects. Even when he acts something surprising, the readers can easily see his ability to do such a thing.
The book brings us back into many significant historical moments of modern China. Still, one that is especially memorable for me is the infamous Cultural Revolution. Song Gang’s father, Song Fanping, was a young teacher and we all know that the educated are one of the targets for denunciation. The form of denunciation was extremely violent, degrading, and inhumane. During the height of the revolution, Song Fanping was put into a yoke, dressed in a degrading way by the Red Guards in which they were mostly teenagers, and put in those shaming sessions for long hours, or dragged into a parade with other victims, then locked up in a prison through the night. At any time during this everyday ritual, when a Red Guard feels like, in which they feel like a lot, they would kick, punch, spit, and stab the victim. You might think that this is distressing enough, but the final scene of Song Fanping was beyond human comprehension. It is not only the violence was to an extreme, but the way Yu Hua set up the scene with the involvement of his family members around, the onlookers, the neighbours, and the action and reaction of Song Fanping was optimal. I leave the scene for you to explore and enjoy yourself.
Modern China started its brand new state based on Marxism. A brand new concept put into practice. It is true that Russia was first to experiment on the ideology, but it was still at an infant stage. Through trial and error, the People’s Republic of China has become the second-largest economy in the world 71 years later. In the process, many Chinese sacrificed with their lives and worked hard for it with their sweat and tears, including Song Fanping. Most of these heart-wrenching moments are recorded in the book and laid bare the cost of the Chinese people paid for their economic achievement of China today. It is definitely worth a look of this miracle.