Hello and welcome to the final history and culture post for Series 2 of What China Wants.
As has become somewhat traditional now, ahead of every major holiday I preview some shows and books that I’m going to watch/read over the break. I hope you join me in this because artistic merit aside, there’s nothing quite like getting to grips with its culture to understand another country.
Many thanks for reading my newsletter, and please do consider commenting on the titles I preview below - let me know if you enjoy them, and feel free to recommend some other books and shows for our fellow China-watchers to enjoy.
I’ll be back on Tuesday for the final letter of Series 2.
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What to Watch
Rather than profile some films, as I did before the summer holidays, I’m going with a couple of TV shows.
Nothing But Thirty, starring Tong Yao, Maggie Jiang, and Rachel Momo.
One of the major hits in China this year has been Nothing But Thirty. The show explores the lives of three different women in Shanghai as they deal with their families, their jobs, and what it means to be turning thirty.
I’ve watched the first episode and it’s an enjoyable, light take on modern life, but dealing with some serious issues. Sort of a censor-friendly, straighter version of Sex in the City, but still fun. It also shines a (highly produced, but still informative) light on what it’s like to live in wealthy urban China today, and so if you want to know what that’s like, then this will give you an inkling.
For some reason it isn’t available on Netflix or Apple TV in the UK, although it is in other geographies. However, it is possible to watch it on YouTube, complete with English subtitles. Here is the first episode:
Autumn Cicada, starring Allen Ren and Li Man
If modern-day Shanghai isn’t your thing, then maybe WWII Hong Kong is. Autumn Cicada was a major hit in China last year, and concerns the fate of a young, devoted communist named Ye Chong (Allen Ren). Recruited by Chinese communist forces, he agrees to go undercover as a double agent; but when Japanese intelligence officers learn that they have been infiltrated, so begins a deadly hunt to capture the “Autumn Cicada”.
As with other Chinese entertainment, the political situation on the ground has influenced the writing: having a loyal communist party agent in Hong Kong is an obvious lesson for the youth of today. I’m looking forward to watching the series to see if the message is as blunt as it seems.
But - and it is a big but - it is important to note that during the 1941-45 Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the communists did form a resistance movement, which at its height numbered 5,000 fighters. Not only did they perform acts of sabotage against the Japanese, they also smuggled Allied airmen into safety in China proper. The East River Column, as they were called, now have a memorial in the New Territories.
Here is the first episode of Autumn Cicada (also on YouTube, and with English subtitles):
What to Read
Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua
The Cultural Revolution, which started in 1966, was one of the most turbulent events in any country post-WWII. Millions died, tens of millions were displaced, and hundreds of millions felt the impact.
Yu Hua is an author renowned in China for being one of the country’s more avant-garde writers. Yu was a young boy when the Cultural Revolution started, and nearly an adult when it finished, so it’s not a surprise that he has written about that particular time. In Chronicle of a Blood Merchant, he tells the story of a lowly cart-pusher trying to keep his family alive during the upheaval, which he does by selling his own blood to the local blood chief. The “job” becomes increasingly dangerous, and his life is further complicated when he learns that one of his children is not actually his.
I’ve heard it said on many occasion that Blood Merchant, published in 1995, is one of the most important books in modern China. But that was before the current Red Reset enveloping the nation, forcing everyone back to their socialist roots. With its inherent criticism of the regime under Mao, it would be interesting to talk to Yu and find out how his books are considered by the authorities today.
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
Jean Kwok was five years old when her family moved from Hong Kong to Brooklyn. Living in a vermin-infested flat, she worked in a Chinatown clothing factory before finally graduating from Harvard. Her tough upbringing provides the inspiration to the next book to check out, Girl in Translation, about a young immigrant in America. The protagonist is a clever girl who lives a double life between school and sweatshop, with the added pressure of knowing that her family’s future is in her hands.
There will be plenty of people leaving Hong Kong following the National Security Law crack-down who will take inspiration from this book. Granted, the vast majority of those leaving the former Colony will be English speaking and middle class, but it will still be a struggle for many, and Kwok shows what they might achieve for them and their children.
The other group that should read this are those already living in the UK, Canada, and Australia, the countries receiving the highest number of recent Hong Kong immigrants. The story of Jean Kwok’s heroine, like Kwok herself, is a poster-child for what hard working immigrants can achieve in their adopted lands.