"Socialism Is Great!": A Worker's Memoir of the New China (Hardcover)

by Lijia Zhang (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
With a New Afterword

“A sharply observant and admirably crafted memoir. . . . A truly original contribution to our understanding of modern China.”
—Jonathan D. Spence

“A literary gem. . . . Zhang deftly crafts the journey of a whole generation, desperately yearning to break away from the ropes of tradition and living to dream the impossible. It's a book to relish, a volume to cherish and mostly, a life to celebrate.”
—Da Chen, author of Colors of the Mountain

“A beautiful memoir. . . . Our current China literature is heavy with victim memoirs, but this is a true tale of aspiration: a young woman coming of age in a nation desperately trying to do the same.”
—Peter Hessler, Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker and author of River Town

“Beautiful.... A remarkable memoir.... A notable historical document and a vivid, affecting portrait of a young woman's resolve.”
—Kirkus Reviews --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
A spirited memoir by a former Chinese factory worker who grew up in Nanjing, participated in the Tiananmen Square protest, and ended up an international journalist.

Lijia Zhang worked as a teenager in a factory producing missiles designed to reach North America, queuing every month to give evidence to the "period police" that she wasn't pregnant. In the oppressive routine of guarded compounds and political meetings, Zhang's disillusionment with "The Glorious Cause" drove her to study English, which strengthened her intellectual independence—from bright, western-style clothes, to organizing the largest demonstration by Nanjing workers in support of the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989. By narrating the changes in her own life, Zhang chronicles the momentous shift in China's economic policy: her factory, still an ICBM manufacturer, won the bid to cast a giant bronze Buddha as the whole country went mad for profit.

Written in English, "Socialism Is Great!" is a testament to Zhang's personal triumph over the controlled existence that was supposed to be her destiny.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Atlas & Co. (April 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977743373
• ISBN-13: 978-0977743377
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #630,171 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timely, Informative, and Beautifully Crafted Story in post Mao China, July 5, 2008

By	Julius Perl (Boston) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have met Lijia Zhang by a chance encounter as we shared the same row seat on a recent trans Pacific flight. At the onset of our casual conversation, I was impressed by her command of the English language, quite uncharacteristic of a native Chinese. I naively asked, "where did you learn to speak such good English?" She modestly replied that she is a writer, just having returned from a US book tour promoting her newly released "Socialism is Great!" and proudly handed me a fresh copy. Then, for the next 12 hours I was practically glued to the book, discovering the answer to my original question, and learning much more...

"Socialism is Great!" is an autobiography spanning a 10 year period of Ms Zhang's young adult life centering in China's ancient capital of Nanjing. On a surface level, it is a story about Lijia, a free spirited young woman coming of age. The book's plot skillfully meanders around both her home life, dominated by a strong mother, and her work place, a munitions factory, whose 'danwei' system keeps her shackled to a monotonous job while denying her the higher education which she desperately seeks. Lijia's heart is fragile, first broken by a handsome young intellectual called Red Rock, and then hurt once more by an older married man. In disillusionment, she spirals down to a series of loveless affairs and one night stands. Unlike her heart, Lijia has a tough skin, and against all obstacles she single-mindedly pursues a dream to better her education, to study and perfect her English (she even hides to study in the factory's garbage dump - the only place to provide her privacy), so she can free herself of her factory confinement and become a journalist.

On another, and more significant level, the book's plot unravels against a backdrop that vividly portrays the dawn days of modern China, a post Mao Zedong's era of the 1980's, in a period when the tornado of the Cultural Revolution has dissipated, yet its dust has not quite settled. This is a time of great change, as the Communist system shifts toward market economy. Individuals become entrepreneurial, while government controlled factories find creative ways of competing in a free market. (In an ironical example, Lijia's munitions factory produces a huge bronze statue of Buddha). Many shed their old garbs to mimic Western styles and anything American (as does Lijia to her old cadres' displeasure). Others are out rightly challenging the limits of the new government.

The book kept me captivated as I was anxious to learn at every step how the bravely tenacious young woman was going to 'make it' out of the factory. Every page is sprinkled with colorful metaphors, perhaps influenced by ancient Chinese proverbs. The author's mastery of the English prose brings to mind another non-native English writer from another century - Joseph Conrad. I find the book to be quite informative and recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about Chinese history and its culture.

When finished reading the book, I felt as though an epilogue would be useful to explain what happened to Lijia personally after she left the factory. I also wished she provided her commentary on China's progress today, which certainly is influenced by the policies of the 80's. Or perhaps the author will produce a sequel book to deal with the subject. I certainly would want to read it.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Socialism is Great!: A Worker's Memoir of the New China, May 3, 2008

By	Timothy A. Patterson "Split Second Timing" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Zhang Lizia tells a "coming of age" story in 1980's Nanjing, China. Her story traces in intimate detail the agony of being pulled out of school at age 16 by her mother in order to work in a intellectually stultifying and demoralizing missile factory - theoretically for life. Unable to accept this fate, Lizia dreams one day of becoming a journalist, attaining a proper University education, and breaking free of the shackles of mind-numbing socialist repression. The working title of the book was "Frog in a Well," signifying the depth of despair of walls closing in on her, without any obvious way out. After ten years of setbacks and more setbacks, Lizia was able to teach herself English by countless hours of self and group study and reading English novels like "Jane Eyre" behind the pages of the Communist "People's Daily" newspaper as co-workers laughed and mocked her. Fighting to maintain her integrity and desire for self-expression at all costs, Lizia's story is a living testament that the human condition which dares to dream cannot be denied, even in a country that stresses collective thinking only. Writing in her self taught non-native language, her style is emotional, beautiful, sad, and humorous, all in one. The book focuses mostly on her personal life - family, friends, lovers, and the beautiful "old" Nanjing, and less on politics as described in countless other memoirs of post Cultural Revolution families. Lizia writes with grace and determination and concludes the story risking her future by standing up to the authorities as she leads factory workers in demonstrations supporting the Beijing democracy movement of 1989. This book is not to be missed - you will laugh and cry at each turn of the page.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Endurance, stoicism and joy, June 10, 2008

By	James Glyn Ford "Glyn Ford MEP" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lijia Zhang is an autodictat that worked her way up from poverty and the factory floor. Aged sixteen and a promising student she was denied a place at University because of her father's 'political problems'. Consequently she was pulled out of school by her mother, to replace her when she took early retirement from her job on the acid pickling line at the Ministry of Aerospace's Liming Machinery Factory. Liming in Nanjing was responsible for the development and production of China's Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Not that that mattered to Lijia stuck in the overmanned and underworked Work Unit Number Twenty Three, the gauge testing department. Desperate to escape her 'iron rice bowl' job for life and a Stakhanovite by nature and training she signed up for the new TV University.

She passed with flying colours, but was denied the expected promotion because of 'political problems' again. This only made her more of a rebel. 'Socialism is Great!' follows her revolt in fashion, ideas and action. With the help of a series of male mentors/lovers she adopted colourful western dress, Nietzsche, Kafka and the much frowned on Misty Poetry, who sense of ennui certainly was not designed to motivate the masses. Then English was to become the key to escape. Lijia took up the language as if her life depended on it.

In some senses it did. English was learnt playing truant from her work in the malodorous surroundings of the factory waste dump as in her private life men came, betrayed and went. One leaving her with the gift of an illegal abortion. As Liming arms were turned into ploughshares as the winds of change and the new drive for profit saw the factory win a bid to cast a giant bronze Buddha. By 1989 she was one of the leading organisers of the largest demonstration of Nanjing workers in support of the democracy movement in Tiananmen Square. The book finishes as, post-Tiananmen, the Public Security Bureau take her in for questioning. Zhang's 'Socialism is Great!' lifts with its endurance, stoicism and joy. Zhang leaves you wanting more!