Silver City [Hardcover]

Li Rui (Author), Howard Goldblatt (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1997

In his first novel to appear in English, China's acclaimed author Li Rui breathes life into China's monumental history through the vibrant saga of the Li and Bai clans--their romances, betrayals, intrigues, and power struggles. Set in a provincial saltmining town, the story follows the two families from the pre-Communist 1920s--a courtly era of sedan chairs and tea houses--to the explosive cultural revolution and beyond .

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Offering a rich panorama of Chinese history, this work reveals the lives of family members from the Bai and Li clans, who are traced from the early days of communism through the upheavals of the cultural revolution to the unsure present. Intertwined in battles of political intrigue, romance, and betrayal, these two wealthy, powerful families are constantly at odds, fighting for power and position. Rui introduces many characters, several with similar names, making it is difficult to tell one from another. Nevertheless, readers will eagerly follow the actions of two outstanding protagonists: the remarkable Sixth Great Aunt, Lizihen, whose strong sense of duty forces her to sacrifice all for her family, and her brother Li Naizhi, who also blindly sacrifices all for his political beliefs. Their altruistic actions have an impact on the lives of practically everyone they know. Years later, when distant relatives try to piece together the rich tapestry of their ancestry, no histories can be found, no houses or artifacts remain, and, sadly, no one remembers. This bittersweet novel is the first work by Li Rui, an established and popular author in China, to be translated into English.?Janis Williams, Shaker Heights P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The waywardness of history and human emotion are impressively detailed in a popular Chinese writer's US debut: a first novel (originally published in Taiwan in the early '90s) that describes the struggle of two families to live and love in modern China. Set in Silver City, a provincial town where salt is mined, the story opens with a mass execution in 1951 by the Communists. Almost all the men of the clan of Li are killed, and with their deaths, the renowned family compound falls into disrepair. Fifteen years later, the destruction is complete when Red Guards destroy its ancient twin arches and locust tree. The author's story of the Li family in the preceding years, and of Li Naizhi, the only Li male who escaped, seamlessly blends period detail (sedan chairs, embroidered clothing of the 1920s, etc.) and historical fact. Li Naizhi escapes because he's a Communist who joined the Party as a teenager--after he saw his high-school principal executed in 1927 for working with peasants. As Li Naizhi advances in the Party, his uncle, the clan's leader, Li Yi, struggles to maintain the family's mines and prevail against the takeover bids of American-educated entrepreneur Bai Rude. The men continue their rivalry until the Communists assume power and Bai Rude and his wife flee China, though his daughter, Bai Quiyaun, stays behind and marries Li Naizhi, her high-school sweetheart. She shares his triumphs (he becomes a minister) and his defeats--namely the reeducation of the Cultural Revolution, which eventually separates them and drives her to suicide. The patriarchs' personal lives are equally complicated, as wives arrange for concubines to provide heirs, then murderously retaliate; and a Li relative becomes both a Buddhist nun and a Communist spy. When Li Naizhi's eldest son, a historian, visits Silver City in the 1980s, little remains of it. An impressively nuanced reminder not only of the terrible toll of Chinese history, but of how fiction can illuminate it with portraits of individuals caught in its currents. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books (November 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805048952
• ISBN-13: 978-0805048957
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,892,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book I ever read in college, October 17, 1999

By 

Anne ([e-mail]) (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silver City (Hardcover)

It's a great book to see what China was like before and durring the communist take over. Also, it's a great story that pulls you in to the Bai and Li familys. The family tree in the front of the book can be helpful. I feel bad for winterset though.