Son of China

:Bridge Yong'an, Fujian, China
Taken from Wikimedia

I've finished Jimmy Carter's biography of his mother, which was quite good and easy to read, although I think he may have soft-pedaled a few of his mother's faults, as a good son would, I suppose.

Now I'm in the middle of another non-fiction book, a memoir by Da Chen, an American writer from China who has written two books about his life in China, the one I'm now reading, Sounds of the River, and an earlier book, Colors of the Mountain. The earlier book covers his early life during the Cultural Revolution, and the later one covers his college years and beyond.

Sounds of the River is very well written and interesting. China is a complex country and its people are also complex. Their relationship with communism and their increasingly close contact with the West are topics that are not as easy to pin down as Americans might think. I'm learning a lot about China.

Chen writes about how he was chosen to go to Beijing to learn English so he can help his country communicate with the West. But since he is from a little farming village in the Fujian region of China, he is definitely out of his element in the big city and must learn how to get along there. He is not out of his element at school, however, and finds that he is different from many of his classmates who have come from more privileged backgrounds. They don't think they need to work very hard at succeeding in school because of their political connections. But Chen knows he needs to do his best to surpass his more advantaged fellows, and fortunately he is capable of that, thanks to the lessons he learned at home about hard work and persistence.

Chen does a great job of describing his village, his region of China, his family members and other people who live in his neighborhood. I have no trouble visualizing all that he presents. He makes the place and the people seem quite wonderful, and that is what he is aiming for, I think.

Chen has written some fiction as well. I'd like to read more of his work in the future.

Jimmy's Mom

I've started a new book, and in keeping with my new theme of choosing "C" books, I'm reading Jimmy Carter's biography of his mother, Lillian, entitled, A Remarkable Mother. It's actually quite interesting so far and well written. I'm learning about the late 19th century south and farm families such as the Carters and the Gordys. I think I will enjoy it!

Shakespeare's Last Stand

Astor Place Riot, taken from Wikipedia

Well, I've finished The Shakespeare Riots and it was very interesting and well written. At the end, Nigel Cliff concludes that the dramatic Shakespeare people knew and loved in the 19th century was eventually transformed into the literary Shakespeare that we have now, partly because of the changes to American society and partly because of the rise of the popular novel. He's probably right about that, but I wonder if the riots really had more to do with lower class frustration than with Shakespeare.

I had never heard of the Shakespeare riots (or the Astor Place Riot, as it is also known) before reading this book and I was appalled at how violent they were, especially considering the ostensible cause. But then, people who are disgruntled by unfairness will find any reason to express their frustration, no matter how nonsensical it is. Examine any riot and you'll find the same underlying cause: class warfare, the great division between the haves and the have-nots. And that seems to have been at the root of the riots that took place in New York City in 1849.

The people who were killed on May 10, 1849, were mostly killed by gunfire from the New York militia who had come to quell the riot. Up to that time, however, the rioters--mostly working class folk and Irish gangs--were throwing paving stones at police officers. Those weapons could have had lethal consequences as well.

When things threatened to get out of control completely, the National Guard were called in. When the rioters wouldn't stop throwing stones, they were fired upon. Unfortunately, many of those killed (of the total of 25 or so) were innocent bystanders. The authorities were criticized for their actions, as were the National Guard troops at Kent State. Few were critical of the rioters because they came to seem like the victims when the government used its superior force.

It's interesting to me to see how little has changed since then with respect to the conflict between the rich and the poor and how it erupts into violence that ultimately has no effect on the basic structure of society. As with most riots, the outcome was pointless destruction of life and property. Life went on until the next crisis brought the tensions to a head once again.

The boiling over of anger and frustration does not change the power arrangement, in most cases, and so results in very little positive change. Those who rule are happy about that, since they believe the way things are arranged is best for society. The lower classes are not capable of governing and so should be prevented from having power. Perhaps they're right. Is there a way to give the "common people," as they used to be known, power without destroying the society we now have? That's a good question, and one not addressed by Nigel Cliff.

But we are still asking it, especially when we look at how other societies deal with their oppressive governments and the rift between one segment of society and another. We want to help those who yearn for freedom, but then we find that it's much more complex than that, because often when they get freedom, they don't use it in the way we think they should. The Shakespeare Riots were quite complex. Nigel Cliff tried to get at all the causes and I think did a pretty good job of it. But how to prevent such events from recurring? He doesn't really say.

This was a good book that I highly recommend. What's next on my reading list? I'll let you know . . .