Review
Any reviewer would be justified in calling Ha Jin's latest 672 page
novel plodding, the prose laborious, the observations and reflections banal, the
dialogue awkward and wooden. So why didn't I stop reading it? Perhaps because
Jin is a sly writer, whether he means to be or not. His bare, stilted prose
sneaks up on the reader, hiding its emotional and intellectual impact in formal
robes, until after 400 pages, one single turning point reveals the sum of their
hidden parts. Nan and Pingping Wu have brought their young son to America,
worked hard at menial jobs, opened a restaurant, bought and paid off a house in
only a handful of rather unremarkable years. Their business is thriving, they
have money in the bank, and their son is still in grammar school. Their marriage
is weary, but it began that way. As a reader, I'm more than a little perplexed
by how little has...
Beyond the Book
The Tiananmen Square Protests
Beginning in mid-April, 1989, thousands of demonstrators anchored by a core
group of dissident university students occupied Beijing's Tiananmen Square. In
what has been described as the greatest challenge to the communist state in
China since its inception in 1949, tens of thousands soon joined in the peaceful
protest, angered by widespread governmental corruption and calling for
democratic reform.
In May, demonstrations and marches throughout Beijing
exceeded one million participants. Late on June 3, 1989, army tanks moved into
the square and began firing indiscriminately into the crowd of unarmed
protesters. Estimates of the death toll range from 200 to more than 3000, as the
Chinese government never released...
