China in Ten Words

By Yu Hua

Translated by Allan H. Barr

(2011)

Gildan Media

(Political and Social Commentary)

Mr. Yu, author of the award-winning novels To Live and The Blood Merchant, presents ten essays on ten Chinese words or phrases. Some are patently political, such as “Leader,” “Revolution,” “Disparity,” and “Grassroots.” Others are about the role of reading and writing as ways of telling the truth or distorting reality, such as “Writing,” “Reading,” and “Lu Xun.” In Yu’s hands, none of the topics are as simple and straightforward as they seem. He also exposes a country that is expanding and developing faster and more precociously than its laws or ethics. “Copycat” explores the widespread theft of intellectual property and the cutthroat competition that condones and even applauds businesses that steal a rival’s machinery and processes in order to drive them out of the market. “Bamboozle” is about a region whose major export is con artists who specialize in religious and medical scams. The essays are often darkly humorous; Mr. Yu portrays China “warts and all.”

 “Denunciations issued in the name of the people would borrow lines from Lu Xun. The confessions of landlords, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries, bad elements, and rightists would borrow lines from him, too. “Chairman Mao teaches us” and “Mr. Lu Xun says” were the standard political tags punctuating speeches and articles throughout the land. There was something paradoxical about the use of “Mr.,” for during the Cultural Revolution…Lu Xun alone was permitted to enjoy this feudal/bourgeois title, others being known simply as Comrade or, failing that, Class Enemy.” (99 “Lu Xun”)