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China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation
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Produktbeschreibungen
Kurzbeschreibung
This hugely important and ground-breaking book — an unprecedented oral history — gives voice to a silent generation and tells the secret history of 20th century China.
In 1912, five thousand years of feudal rule ended in China. Warlords, Western businessmen, soldiers, missionaries and Japanese all ruled China, exploited and fought one another and the Chinese. In 1949, Mao Zedong came to power.
China Witness is both a journey through time and through the author’s own country, and a memorial to an extraordinary generation of men and women who have survived war, invasion, revolution, famine and modernization — to tell the story of their times. It is an extraordinary personal testimony from a normally silent generation who, in their lifetimes have seen China transformed from a largely peasant, agricultural country of more than 1.3 billion people into a modern state. These are ordinary people — a herb woman at a market, retired teachers, a legendary “bandit” woman, Red Guards, oil pioneers, an acrobat, a naval general, a shoe mender, a lantern maker, taxi drivers, and others — from west to east, across the vast country, now in their seventies, eighties and nineties, and whose memories will soon die with them.
Here, for the first time many of them speak out about their lives and private thoughts about what they witnessed. Together their intimate stories are perhaps the only accurate record of modern Chinese history.
From the Hardcover edition.
In 1912, five thousand years of feudal rule ended in China. Warlords, Western businessmen, soldiers, missionaries and Japanese all ruled China, exploited and fought one another and the Chinese. In 1949, Mao Zedong came to power.
China Witness is both a journey through time and through the author’s own country, and a memorial to an extraordinary generation of men and women who have survived war, invasion, revolution, famine and modernization — to tell the story of their times. It is an extraordinary personal testimony from a normally silent generation who, in their lifetimes have seen China transformed from a largely peasant, agricultural country of more than 1.3 billion people into a modern state. These are ordinary people — a herb woman at a market, retired teachers, a legendary “bandit” woman, Red Guards, oil pioneers, an acrobat, a naval general, a shoe mender, a lantern maker, taxi drivers, and others — from west to east, across the vast country, now in their seventies, eighties and nineties, and whose memories will soon die with them.
Here, for the first time many of them speak out about their lives and private thoughts about what they witnessed. Together their intimate stories are perhaps the only accurate record of modern Chinese history.
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
"China Witness" is the personal testimony of a generation whose stories have not yet been told. Here the grandparents and great-grandparents of today sum up in their own words - for the first and perhaps the last time - the vast changes that have overtaken China's people over a century. The book is at once a journey by the author through time and place, and a memorial to those who have lived through war and civil war, persecution, invasion, revolution, famine, modernization, Westernization - and have survived into the 21st century. We meet everyday heroes, now in their seventies, eighties and nineties, from across this vast country - a herb woman at a market, retired teachers, a legendary 'double-gun woman', Red Guards, oil pioneers, an acrobat, a US-born general, a shoe-mender, a lantern maker, taxi drivers, and more.Xinran travelled from west to east, between the Yellow River and the Yangtze, from the cities to the remote countryside of her homeland. She met and talked with a reticent generation, amongst whom the idea of collective guilt is deeply rooted, and freedom of speech can be a dangerous and unfamiliar concept.They spoke to her about their lives, their private hopes, fears and struggles, about what they witnessed and what they felt - about everything from the Long March to oil pipelines, from land reform to folk medicine, from Mao to marriage. Together their stories paint an unprecedented, intimate portrait of this vast and powerful country and its people. In such a rapidly changing world its aim, as Xinran says, is 'to help our future understand our past'.
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7 Rezensionen
13 von 15 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Interesting, but Limited Information
2. März 2009
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
Xinran traveled across China in 2005-06 seeking out the men and women who had experienced the vast changes of the modern era. She tells the stories of 20 ordinary people, average age in their 70's.
Unfortunately, the information volunteered by these people is limited - partly because of their likely lack of broader knowledge, and mostly due to cultural reticence. As early as the second millennium B.C., a Chinese criminal's family was punished as harshly as the criminal himself. Around 100 B.C. the people were grouped in units of 5 and 10 households, carrying out mutual surveillance and mutually responsible for each other's conduct. In the case of minor offenses, the criminal's family would be exterminated to between 3 - 5 degrees of association; with serious offenses this was extended to 9 - 10. This principle remained a mainstay of the Chinese judicial system until 1911, and also gave rise to powerful traditions of clan loyalty and fear of speaking out openly that is still an inhibition today.
Even media in today's China base reporting in line with this fear. Interviewees are often "led" to follow the central ideology of the party and to express personal views defined by these principles.
Thus, Xinran's accounts from those in the Cultural Revolution, the Great Leap Forward, the Long March, etc. is not able to convey the immensity of these tragedies.
Notheless, some of the interviews were of particular interest. One first involved a teacher at a Gobi Desert construction/military site. She received no raises for 30 years, supervised self-study until 11 P.M., and sometimes helped the children home during severe weather. Desks were made from mud covered with straw.
Altogether, incredible indicators of internal strength and stoicism. However, for broader perspectives I recommend "Mao," by Jung Chang, and "Chinese Lessons," by John Pomfret.
Unfortunately, the information volunteered by these people is limited - partly because of their likely lack of broader knowledge, and mostly due to cultural reticence. As early as the second millennium B.C., a Chinese criminal's family was punished as harshly as the criminal himself. Around 100 B.C. the people were grouped in units of 5 and 10 households, carrying out mutual surveillance and mutually responsible for each other's conduct. In the case of minor offenses, the criminal's family would be exterminated to between 3 - 5 degrees of association; with serious offenses this was extended to 9 - 10. This principle remained a mainstay of the Chinese judicial system until 1911, and also gave rise to powerful traditions of clan loyalty and fear of speaking out openly that is still an inhibition today.
Even media in today's China base reporting in line with this fear. Interviewees are often "led" to follow the central ideology of the party and to express personal views defined by these principles.
Thus, Xinran's accounts from those in the Cultural Revolution, the Great Leap Forward, the Long March, etc. is not able to convey the immensity of these tragedies.
Notheless, some of the interviews were of particular interest. One first involved a teacher at a Gobi Desert construction/military site. She received no raises for 30 years, supervised self-study until 11 P.M., and sometimes helped the children home during severe weather. Desks were made from mud covered with straw.
Altogether, incredible indicators of internal strength and stoicism. However, for broader perspectives I recommend "Mao," by Jung Chang, and "Chinese Lessons," by John Pomfret.
3 von 3 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Stupendous effort - but limited to interested parties
7. Juli 2009
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
Xinran Xue's efforts to elucidate China's past 50 years, by interviewing various members of the older generation, is a good read for Sinologists, curious souls like me, and Chinese abroad who'd like to know their own people, history and culture. Under "curious souls", I would include those who are still interested in Communism and its effects, those who wonder what China is - and was; how Chinese men and women think about everyday things. The gender roles and male domination of China is an interesting facet brought up frequently by this author. A good chapter on this is the story of a husband and wife who did the land surveying of the Gobi during the 50's and 60's, far in the miserable hinterlands. The wife's account of her early years in this unusual place and job (esp. for a woman!) is modest and straightforward: what they did, how they did it, how few the materials, how poor the people, how harsh the weather, etc. Then they interview her husband, who did the same work, and he's completely full of himself, his titles and so on, rather than discussing what he actually did, how he lived, what and how he ate, and other down-to-earth real details of 1950's China expansion into the oil business.
The writing style is nonfiction, yet personal, and if anything, I'd suggest the author use more photos if she publishes any further stories about the older folks of China. We in the West often have no real idea of how the people were living, eating, dressing, etc. unless we see the photos in addition to reading the books. The sexual modesty of China also comes through in a very strong way, although it's much looser now.
Perhaps I can find more such photos and stories online, esp. old missionary photos are available. But the big advantage to this book is that it is written by a real Chinese, who spoke the language(s), and who was trusted by the people she interviewed - rather than a foreigner's view. Her somewhat love=hate relationship with her motherland amuses me.
The writing style is nonfiction, yet personal, and if anything, I'd suggest the author use more photos if she publishes any further stories about the older folks of China. We in the West often have no real idea of how the people were living, eating, dressing, etc. unless we see the photos in addition to reading the books. The sexual modesty of China also comes through in a very strong way, although it's much looser now.
Perhaps I can find more such photos and stories online, esp. old missionary photos are available. But the big advantage to this book is that it is written by a real Chinese, who spoke the language(s), and who was trusted by the people she interviewed - rather than a foreigner's view. Her somewhat love=hate relationship with her motherland amuses me.
5 von 6 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
worth reading
15. Juli 2009
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
This is not exactly the kind of page turner. At times, there is no story line or you lose track of it easily. But it is a weighty work and valuable for the amount of research the author put into. The author clearly identifies with the silent generation and poured her heart into the writing of it. Read it, and you will not fail to be touched.
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