Wintry Night [Hardcover]

Li Qiao (Author), Taotao Liu (Translator), John Balcom (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan | Publication Date: March 15, 2001

An epic spanning more than half a century of Taiwan's history, this breathtaking historical novel traces the fortunes of the Pengs, a family of Hakka Chinese settlers, across three generations from the 1890s, just before Taiwan was ceded to Japan as a result of the Sino-Japanese war, through World War II. Li Qiao brilliantly re-creates the dramatic world of these pioneers -- and the colonization of Taiwan itself -- exploring their relationships with the aboriginal peoples of Taiwan and their struggle to establish their own ethnic and political identities.

This carefully researched work of fiction draws upon Li's own experiences and family history, as well as oral and written histories of the era. Originally published in Chinese as a trilogy, this newly translated edition is an abridgement for English-speaking readers and marks the work's first appearance in the English-speaking world. It was well-received in Taiwan as an honest -- and influential -- recreation of Taiwan's history before the relocation of the Republic of China from the mainland to Taiwan.

Because Li's saga is so deeply imbued with the unique culture and complex history of Taiwan, an introduction explaining the cultural and historical background of the novel is included to help orient the reader to this amazingly rich cultural context. This informative introduction and the sweeping saga of the novel itself together provide an important view of Taiwan's little known colonial experience.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

To an American reader, Li Qiao's three-volume Taiwanese epic, the first and third volumes of which are translated here, references some surprisingly familiar episodes: frontiersmen grabbing land and clearing forest, aboriginal tribes taking scalps, and unscrupulous moneymen cheating the settlers. Like the Wild West, Taiwan was also being settled in the 19th century--in this case by the Hakka, a mainland Chinese ethnic group. The first volume, Wintry Night, describes the travails of founding the village of Fanzai Wood, focusing on the Pengs, a family of farmers headed by patriarch Peng Aqiang. The Pengs have purchased young Dengmai from her family as a bride for their youngest son, but when he dies, Liu Ahan, a soldier, marries her and thereby enters the Peng family. The story weaves an account of Ahan's coming of age with the history of Fanzai Wood's struggle with typhoons, the crops and Ye Atian, an unscrupulous landlord. The novel ends with the Japanese invasion of Taiwan in 1895, which provokes a Taiwanese rebellion; Ahan serves in that unsuccessful struggle. The third book, The Lone Lamp, begins with Ahan's son, Liu Mingji, and his friend, Peng Yonghui, being inducted as Taiwanese "volunteers" into the Japanese army in the 1940s. Ahan is dead, and Dengmei is now an old woman. The two young men are sent to the Philippines and witness the horror of the Japanese occupation. Perhaps because the translators have abridged these novels, important passages--for instance, the fight between Ye Atian and Peng Aqiang--are confusing. Still, the story illuminates and personalizes a neglected historical epoch. Balcom, in addition to translating, has provided a helpful introduction.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This abridged translation of Li's original three-volume saga consisting of Wintry Night, Deserted Village, and Lone Lamp introduces English-language readers to one of Taiwan's most prolific authors. Balcom's introduction explains that the second volume has been completely left out of this translation. This historical novel, which took Li over half a decade to complete, is the story of the Peng family in rural Taiwan. Beginning in 1890 with patriarch Peng Aqiang, his wife Lanmei, their family of four sons and two daughters (along with their wives, husbands and children), and foster daughter Dengmei, the novel follows the migration of this extended family to the region of Fanzai Wood, where the majority of the first half of this work takes place. The family works the land as farmers, and the novel tracks their growth and progress up through the time of the Japanese occupation in 1945. Dengmei's youngest son Liu Mingji is the focal point in the latter half of the novel, which concentrates on his services in the war effort in the Philippines. Overall, this book presents its share of challenges. For instance, because numerous characters share similar surnames, general readers may find it difficult to keep them straight without pen and paper in hand. Also, the depictions of Li's main characters are not particularly strong, and there is little to bond the reader to them. However, the book has been well-received in Taiwan for its historical value, and Li has taken great care to denote the historical detail. One can only wonder whether this work would have been stronger had it been translated in its entirety. Academic and public libraries with Asian history collections and public libraries serving large Taiwanese communities will want to take note. Shirley N. Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (March 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231122004
• ISBN-13: 978-0231122009
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,224,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Taiwanese History Told with Poignancy, February 6, 2010

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Irene in Boston - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wintry Night (Modern Chinese Literature from Taiwan) (Paperback)

Translated from a Taiwanese trilogy, this book has two parts: Part One is the first book of the trilogy, Part Two is the third; the second book of the trilogy was omitted. Unfortunately, an unabridged translated version isn't available.

A few pages into the book, I had to draw a family tree. Part One of the book focuses on the extended Peng family, and without writing it all down, the names and relationships would have been a big jumble to me. Part Two shifts the focus onto the extended family of one branch of the Peng family, and I had to draw a whole new family tree to keep up with the story.

Before reading this book, I knew very little about the details of how Taiwan was settled by people from China, or of the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. Through the members of one extended family, Part One describes the hardships of those who first opened up aboriginal mountain lands for farming (a period of time that reminded me of the harsh life of American pioneers who moved West into Native American Indian territory). Part Two tells of the difficulties faced by Taiwanese men conscripted into the Japanese army towards the end of World War II. Frequent references were made to the anti-Japanese resistance movement (which reminded me of the French Resistance against the Nazi occupation of France). I would have liked to have read more about the anti-Japanese resistance, but alas, it was the omitted second book of the trilogy that focused on that part of history.

Despite finding similarities to other more familiar histories, the stories in Wintry Night are entirely Taiwanese. While the book at times read like a non-fiction account of one family's history, the author interspersed the story with poetic descriptions of the Taiwanese mountains and the spirit of Taiwanese people. One understands how much the environs were an integral part of the lives and livelihood of the early settlers, and how much being Taiwanese (and more specifically, Hakka Chinese) was at the heart of their identities.

While Part One told of hardships and struggles, it's clear that hope existed, and perhaps the Peng family would one day prosper. In this part of the book, people seemed to act rashly, and I didn't always understand a person's motivations. I wasn't sure if I was missing something, if the author wasn't developing the characters enough, or if some important detail was lost in the translation.

Part Two, meanwhile, was somber and depressing, with graphic descriptions of the casualties of war. Even the rare faint glimmer of hope felt more like a yearning, blind faith rather than a practical possibility. The endings of both parts were poignant and artistically beautiful, but left me feeling empty. As the reader, I knew the family would survive - as they did after every setback - but I still wanted to read more, to find out how they would do it.