He Liyi belongs to one of China’s minorities, the Bai, and he lives in a remote area of northwestern Yunnan Province. In 1979 his wife sold her fattest pig to buy him a shortwave radio. He spent every spare moment listening to the BBC and VOA in order to improve the English he had learned at college between 1950 and 1953. For “further practice,” he decided to write down his life story in English. Humorous and unfiltered by translation, his autobiography is direct and personal, full of richly descriptive images and phrases from his native Bai language.At the time of He Liyi’s graduation, English was being vilified as the language of the imperialists, so the job he was assigned had nothing to do with his education. In 1958 he was labeled a rightist and sent to a “reeducation-through-labor farm.” Spirited away by truck on the eve of his marriage, Mr. He spent years in the labor camp, where he schemed to garner favor from the authorities, who nevertheless shamed him publicly and told him that all his problems “belong to contradictions between the people and the enemy.” After his release in 1962, the talented Mr. He had no choice but to return to his native village as a peasant. His stratagems for survival, which included stealing “nightsoil” from public toilets and extracting peach-pit oil from thousands of peaches, personify the peasant’s universal struggle to endure those difficult years.He Liyi’s autobiography recounts nearly all the major events of China’s recent history, including the Japanese occupation, the Communist victory over the Nationalists in 1949, Mao’s disastrous Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, the experience of the labor camps, and changes brought about by China’s dramatic re-opening to the world since Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1978. No other book so poignantly reveals the travails of the common person and village life under China’s tempestuous Communist government, which He Liyi ironically refers to as “Mr. China.” Yet he describes his saga of poverty and hardship with humor and a surprising lack of bitterness. And rarely has there been such an intimate, frank view of how a Chinese man thinks and feels about personal relationships, revealed in dialogue and letters to his two wives.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This surprising book--written in slightly quaint but effective English by a man long removed from his college study of the language--is truly history from the bottom up. He Liyi's ( The Spring of Butterflies ) story is set mainly in a remote area of northwestern Yunnan, but it shows how changes in the world's largest country filtered through the life of one village and of an observant but never bitter patriot. Son of a Kuomintang policeman who was executed, He endured five years of socialist reeducation in a labor camp before returning home in 1962. Trying to create a new life, he accepts his lot as a peasant and marries a virtuous local woman who does not fear poverty. While village festivals are joyous, He is denounced by his work group during the Cultural Revolution and he steals "night soil" to contribute his share to fertilizing the fields. With little irony, He recounts family meetings concerning division of labor and their own five-year plan. He's determination to tell his story suggests that the government--"Mr. China"--has not ground out his individuality. Chik, who taught English in China, helped He get a typewriter and edited his manuscript. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
When one recalls how many tens of millions of lives Mao Zedong's revolution destroyed, He Liyi must be considered lucky. Born in 1930 into a poor Bai minority family in rural Yunnan, he studied English in college but ran afoul of political zealots. After five years in a labor camp, he settled into the harsh life of a rural worker. This is the searing story of an extraordinary man who triumphed over unimaginable adversities to resume his calling as an English teacher in a remote mountain school in 1979. His own story is also an invaluable entree into the customs, joys, and travails of his rural neighbors. That he wrote this story himself in simple but often lyrical and exquisite English is a gift to us all that is almost beyond belief. This book belongs in all libraries. --Steven I. Levine, Boulder Run Research, Hillsborough, N.C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Moving account of survival during Cultural Revolution.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mr. China's Son: A Villager's Life (Paperback)
Mr. China's Son is the very moving story of a remarkable man who was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution for the crime of having been educated to speak English. From his job in a labor reform camp tending water buffaloes, he eventually is released and becomes a peasant farmer. He later becomes a middle school English teacher in a remote mountain school in Yunnan province. Along the way he picks up a cadre of foreign friends and correspondents and wins a trip to England from the BBC. I have been corresponding with Mr. He since 1983, and was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to review his manuscript for this book (778 pages) prior to its publication. Even though we have never met in person, I consider him one of my closest friends and one of the most fascinating people I've ever known. His book is being used as a text in many colleges in history/Asian studies courses. He frequently is called to meet with visiting student groups or visiting college professors who have used his book in their studies. Mr. He's two sons are both college graduates. The younger son, He Lu-Zhong, won a trip to Germany some years ago and recently completed a year of study in Bangkok, Thailand. The older son, He Lu-Jiang, teaches English at Dali Medical College, has a young son of his own. Mr. He and Lu-Jiang are currently working on an English language book about tourist attractions in the Dali area. Mr. China's Son is definitely a must read!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A most moving account of a villager's life in China,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mr. China's Son: A Villager's Life (Paperback)
Mr He Liyi has written one of the most moving accounts of life during the cultural revolution in China. From his normal life of a government servant through the indignitiy moving to the countryside to live as a peasant, his reform through labour and his utter determination to learn English. He Liyi's writing style is simple and personal, the book was written by him in English, no small feat for someone living in the middle of China and with little formal English training. I met He Liyi in the small town of Dali where he lives by chance in the post office. Myself and friend spent many hours at his little cafe in Dali enjoying his company and his stories. For someone whom China has done no favours during his life, he is determined to make things better and continue living his life to the full. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than Wild Swans!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mr. China's Son: A Villager's Life (Paperback)
The book about the Cultural Revolution which is best known in the West is probably Wild Swans. If you enjoyed that, then this is a "must read". The events and story are just as interesting, if not more so, but in addition this book is far better written. One senses the enormous challenge and satisfaction that Mr He experienced in grappling with the English language and moulding it tell his own story - the experience of the revolutionary in the Chinese countryside. His marvellous style is unique. And his humour and lack of bitterness shine through the story. <B>
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