The Water Lily Pond: A Village Girl's Journey in Maoist China (Life Writing) Review

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The Water Lily Pond: A Village Girl's Journey in Maoist China (Life Writing) ReviewHan Z. Li's The Water Lily Pond: A Village Girl's Journey In Maoist China is the true story of a young girl's adolescence and womanhood in Maoist China. Han Li recounts life in a small rural village, where everything had value except the lives of girls and women as reflected in such incidences as a childhood friend who drowned herself rather than live in an arranged marriage, and a gentle neighbor who hanged herself after her husband beat her brutally for not bearing a son. Han Li tells of having the opportunity to attend a university, yet being subject to harsh urban snobbery and "student-thought spying" that made the ability to hide one's real thoughts central to personal survival. A tale of how political change in the Maoist regime had deep and lasting effects upon ordinary people, The Water Lily Pond is a poignant and compelling insight into that old Chinese curse of "living in difficult times".The Water Lily Pond: A Village Girl's Journey in Maoist China (Life Writing) Overview
This evocative narrative draws us into the inner life of a young Chinese peasant girl, May-ping, and her first glimmerings of youthful love and idealism under the Maoist regime in China. As she grows into a mature woman, she becomes increasingly aware of the strife around her.

An intelligent girl born into a Poor-Class family in a small village in rural China, she is, because of the Maoist policy towards such families, able to pursue her dream of going to university. To her surprise, urban snobbery and "student thought-spying" at university make it essential for her to hide her real thoughts. Such self-protection becomes especially necessary once her idealistic boyfriend Dan — a secret boyfriend because young people were forbidden to be romantically involved — is sent to a labour camp for his outspoken ways.

In her village, she learns that everything has value except the lives of girls and women. One of her childhood friends, a landowner's daughter who because of her family's Landlord Class, is not allowed to go to university drowns herself when forced to face an arranged marriage. Hua-Hua, a shy and gentle neighbour, hangs herself after her husband beats her brutally for not bearing him a son.

May-ping manages to survive the Cultural Revolution as a member of the Communist party who feels outside the system and keeps her inner self intact. Her story reveals how political change during the Maoist regime left its mark on ordinary people.

Employing stories within stories, the narrator carries the reader to a mythological realm to images of the resilient water lilies and the nurturing lily pond.


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