For those interested in contemporary China

A Sinophile is a person who demonstrates a strong interest in aspects of Chinese culture and its people. To understand modern China is to learn about life during Mao’s reign, immigration to other countries and current life in modern, technology-driven China. The fiction and non-fiction below, in no particular order, and available in Glenview Public Library’s collection, make for fascinating reading.

The Vagrants by Yiyun Li –
Fiction
A novel with a consistent voice, highly readable prose, fascinating and believable characters and bursting with interesting details, Li illuminates the period two years after the death of Mao. This first novel is reminiscent of the work of Ha Jin as the author is fairly new to writing in English. She came to the US in 1996 as an immunology major at the University of Iowa, but soon found herself in a writing class there. This is a memorable experience which enhances one's knowledge of what Chinese people have lived through.

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie Chang –
331.40951 CHA
These young women must re-invent themselves as they move to a factory town, Dongguan, that provides a dormitory, stores, friends and work. There is nothing there but the factories that make the imported goods found all over the world. English is the only way to upward mobility. Chang, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, traces her own family history while living with the factory girls and learning about their day to day dramas and rather unromantic courtships and grueling hours. A real eye opener.

The Bitter Sea: coming of age in a China before Mao by Charles N. Li
952.05 Li
An exceptionally well written and gripping memoir of growing up in China. Born near the beginning of World War II, Li was the youngest son of a wealthy Chinese government official. He saw his father jailed for treason and his family's fortunes dashed when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists came to power in 1945. He went from living amongst the most wealthy and then the reversal of fortune found him living in a slum. A difficult father and a much removed mother added to his difficult life. Now a professor of linguistics at U of California, Santa Barbara, this appears to be the first in a continuing saga of his life. I can't wait for the next one.

Midnight at the Dragon Café by Judy Fong Bates
Fiction
A family comes to Canada from Communist China in the late 1950's. They own a Chinese restaurant in rural Ontario that consumes them. Su-Jen Chou tells her story--her life as the only Chinese girl in her high school-- in this deeply affecting coming-of-age novel. Her father is the proprietor of the local Canadian-Chinese “greasy spoon”. Her mother is haunted with yearnings for her homeland, and unpleasant family secrets are revealed. A memorable, well-told story that reads like a memoir.


Wild Swans: three daughters of China by Jung Chang
951.05 CHA
An ode to courage and resilience, this autobiography is about three generations of women in China. It provides a thorough portrait of China during World War II and what Mao’s version of communism did to one family. Chang was one of the lucky few permitted to leave Communist China and earn a doctorate in the west. Essential reading for those seeking to understand how China evolved.

A Good Fall by Ha Jin
Fiction
Deceptively simple, but well-crafted short stories represent a variety of Chinese immigrant experiences. Characters are often academics newly arrived in New York (Queens especially). Jin's characters share a simple goal: how to successfully live in America in spite of baggage. Two stories had a particularly virulent form of baggage: a hate spewing mother-in-law. I have a question for Mr. Jin: could visiting mother-in-laws really be that rude to their daughter-in-laws?



-IVF