千江有水千江月

by Li-Hung Hsiao, 蕭麗紅

故事男主角大信初到布袋，經女主角貞觀導遊地方，兩人因而相戀。後來貞觀至台北上班，大信至金門當兵，兩人之間的情愫產生變化。

在蕭麗紅的內容敘述中，充滿了台灣民俗的瑰麗與趣味，而貞觀與大信古典又含蓄的戀情；為台灣逐漸失去的純然戀歌，悠悠地低吟了一遍……

Genres: Fiction, Asia, Historical Fiction, Literature, Romance, China, 20th Century

385 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1980

Reviews

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the first 100 pages or so, this tale of a young woman’s growing up in the changing Taiwan of the 1970s was almost entirely lost in translation. Zhenguan is born in a fishing village that follows traditional cultural practices, and grows up in a close-knit extended family, and those early chapters consist mostly of descriptions of festivities, cultural practices, and cooking, as well as family events that don’t seem to connect to one another.

But the story finds its focus as Zhenguan comes of age, moves to the city to work, and experiences first love. I found it to be a surprisingly quick read, and the characters and their relationships feel realistic, although I am reading about them from the other side of a cultural chasm. It is, in particular, a lovely story about the importance of family. Even when Zhenguan moves away from home, her family is her community; her best friend is a cousin, even her love interest is a more distant cousin. Westerners writing about Chinese characters tend portray families as a source of antagonism and repression, so I appreciated this view from the inside, showing how the culture is supposed to work. The mix of tradition and modernity is also interesting; I especially liked the moment when Zhenguan, hiking to a mountaintop convent, wonders if the nun she’s seeking will be there – then reassures herself that if the nun is on a different mountain, she can always page her over the convent’s loudspeakers.

That said, there is clearly quite a bit lost in translating this book to English. The dialogue sometimes comes across as ridiculous (“Ah, the courtesy that is integral to the entire Chinese way of life is evident in even the smallest act”), the included song lyrics seem sentimental and banal, and there’s a major plot point (what went wrong with Daxin?) that’s never explained. I can only assume that there is some trope or cultural expectation here that needs no spelling out to readers familiar with Chinese literature. So, while I am sure this is a beautiful novel in the original Chinese, and while I somewhat enjoyed the last 2/3 of the book, it’s one I’d recommend to English speakers for academic purposes rather than casual reading.

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel I have read a good number of Asian-American authors, but I had never read any works by Chinese or Taiwanese writers. I was thrilled when I received this book from Ken's dad for Christmas.

At the most general level, the story is about a girl's "coming of age." She grows up in the 1970's with a large extended family in a small, rural sea-side village. The writing is casual and easy to read, though the subject matter is deeply personal and sometimes philosophical. At times, the writing reads like poetry. The main character learns to define herself in ways that are significantly influenced by her reverence for Chinese customs and traditions, her sense of filial piety, age-old adages passed down from family elders, and simple Buddhist maxims. As new experiences shape her, she finds she always turns in mind and body to her ancestral home, the place where she belongs. There is also a love story that, and without wanting to give anything away, I will say that I was a bit perplexed by the outcome of this relationship, but I'd like to imagine that the unwritten future - after the point at which the book ends - would unfold the way I hope it to.

While my personal growing-up experience has fleeting similarities with the main character's, there's not a lot that is outrightly the same. Still, the book evoked from me feelings of nostalgia, and even though the story is about a generation between me and my parents, I found myself wondering how much my parents would relate to the story. I wonder if they'll find the book true-to-life and meaningful, or melodramatic and dismissible (as I find some Asian-American works to be, having personal experiences by which to judge them).

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great yet it didn't make it my favorite list. This book is just something amazing yet i still thinks the ending is kind of rush. Well, this is my first time reading a translated novel. The most amazing thing about is this book is that I was able to finish within 4 hours. This book is thrilling and heartwarming yet part of it looks so fake of having a such a perfect family. Really, where on earth can you find a this family that everyone is so close to each other. Sigh, but i really have to give to translator for doing amazing, especially part of me really wants to read it in Chinese. The only bad thing about this book is that everything looks or sounds way too perfect beside Zhenguan's relationship with Daxin. However, part of me really wants to know can " one person starts a relationship through letters". Haha, does the author has to make everything sounds perfect or beyond the norm of normal. Well, to me I will definitely says the writing style is pretty unique especially in terms of translating the whole novel into English. I have to give a hand to the translator for doing a splendid job. This book indeed has its whole magic of not wanting to put it down but still it really seems so "fake".

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

千江有水千江月
最早是先看到2000年出版的英文版
封面的設計讓人深深著迷
後來楊照談書節目裡又提到這本書
到新竹的書店時，不知怎麼的就覺得一定要買下他

讀著讓我想起在左營莒光新村的童年
對人以及土地的那種情感
我也思鄉了

現代的我們似乎都跟過去的我們
越來越脫離了啊

讀著這本書
一樣是停不下來
深深著迷於認識我們的過去
那種情感，恐怕是現代人少有的

[Lurva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with the beauty of traditional Taiwan customs and the thick ties between families. Though I cannot accept the old beliefs of women beneath men in this book.

[Damon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A while back, I started wondering where Taiwanese literature could be found in the West. One can find plenty of Japanese literature, South Korean literature, Chinese literature, and the like. Granted, Taiwan's population is about half of South Korea, but it still seemed like a minnow compared to those other literature-in-translation powerhouses. The forward to this book extolled the virtues of Taiwan's rapidly developing literary scene, and presented this book as a touchstone of Taiwanese literature. Great! Let's see what Taiwan has to offer!

So this is the story of a young rural Taiwanese woman who falls for a guy. In contrast to the protagonists of so much literature these days, this young woman is not drawn away from her hometown to live a grander life on a larger scale, but instead drawn to stay close to her comfortable and familiar home town. Her romantic interest is from Taipei (which to her at the start of the book may as well be turn-of-the-last-century Paris), but still shares bonds to her hometown.

The setting, once established, follows her as she tries to navigate her relationship with her boyfriend (which takes place mostly through mail) and her family relationships. Readers unfamiliar with Chinese names would really have benefited from a family tree diagram. Keeping them all separate was a bit tough. Her boyfriend also helpfully points out how great this or that element of Chinese culture is, which at least provided a bit of an explanation for the outside reader.

Compared to the other Taiwan-based books that I read, this book at least had the advantage of not putting its characters at the center of every single major event in modern Taiwanese history. It instead leans on the atmosphere of rural Taiwan.

Still, the book kind of fizzled out for me. The protagonist's actions were poorly explained, and I was left assuming that it was all an allegory for the dynamic tensions between a modernizing society and the nostalgic pull of a rapidly disappearing rural way of life. Not having been a part of such a place in history, the story didn't really resonate with me. Perhaps I will scour eBay or Amazon for other Taiwanese literature, but this did not leave me wanting more in the near term.

[Cath]

made it to page 150 gave up not a fan of the translation

[Jessica Shing]

It is about the old good days of lost traditions and customs in the rural area of Chinese society. Through the narrative, the author displayed well the systematic layouts of a big family and shared their sorrows and joys in life that reflects their values and philosophy towards life. To be precise, the philosophy embedded in the story is a mixture of Taoism and Buddhism, with a relative domination of the former. While Taoism advocates a void state in mind that constraint people asking for more, quenching for fame and vanity, Buddhism works as back-up spiritual support as to how to adjust to outer adverse situations in that suffering now and then leads to prosperity in the next life. Actually the book title has root in Buddhism. It is from a poem in Song dynasty. When I read the book, I feel my heart comfortably settled.

[Barrita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es una historia lenta, muy lenta (especialmente al principio) y que simultáneamente explica las minuciosidades de las tradiciones chinas y taiwanesas pero tiene partes que parecen explicarse por temas culturales que no quedan del todo claros para una audiencia extranjera.

Los detalles son fascinantes y hay algo bello en que todo el libro está permeado de ese amor por las raíces propias, la familia y la comunidad que muchos mexicanos podemos apreciar. Zhenguan es un personaje entrañable y su vida se entiende no sólo a través de los sucesos que ocurren en ella sino en los pequeños rituales, frases y tradiciones que la marcan a lo largo de todo el libro.

Creo que no había leído mucho de Taiwan, así que me pareció una lectura muy interesante pero definitivamente hay algo que no termino de entender acerca de las acciones y decisiones de los personajes.

[Song-yun · Rating 4 out of 5]

久聞蕭麗紅的大名，卻遲到今日才拜讀作品。《千江有水千江月》是本難得之作，雖然主題是小兒女的情愛，但故事主軸之外的背景更令人著迷，少有作品如此濃縮了時代之美，讓人對傳統的農村生活起了眷戀，或許因為蕭家是大戶，所以作者眼中的農村生活是忙碌、辛勞、群體性高，卻不以為苦的。我讀過的其他傳統農村文學作品，大多有苦有恨，有壓迫有痛苦，《千江有水千江月》中幾乎所有重要的女性角色都遭受痛苦或創傷，卻並不伴隨憤恨苦毒，她們對生命的苦難、傷痕坦然以對，雖艱困依然邁步前行。今天的女性主義常不離權力、壓迫的探討，以此來檢視本書的人事物與其中眉角，必難再有書中流露的寬宥。本書出版當時，的確有評論者認為這本書將時代中的尖刻之處都以浪漫、充滿感情的筆調帶過了，對於自身的時代毫無反省或批評。我覺得這樣情節的故事可能還會有，但這樣的角色或觀點可能不會再出現了，成為這本書獨一無二之處，不論這種一廂情願的圓融是種瑕疵或光芒。我還身處在此刻此時，眼光不離時代的影響，或許要等到下個世代，才能較為公允地進行比較。

本書行文遣詞優美動人，少有小說文字如此瑰麗卻又親切，漢語、閩南語自然夾雜，字字句句是精心卻不做作的經營，大方優雅，角色對話也生動鮮活。情節不若今日講究娛樂效率、佈局工整的類型小說，走的是細水長流，悠悠宛宛，結局不從俗，在出版當時或許是有些叛逆的選擇？不圓滿的愛情，好像應該讓整本書更清新脫俗，不過我讀來卻是有點遺憾，不是因為結局喜悲，而是這樣故事和寫法，似乎制約了我的閱讀期待，讓我嚮往更「傳統」的結果。由於書中乘載高濃度、高彩度的時代背景，相較之下，故事主軸的愛情反倒有點失色無味，男女主角不夠出色，他們符合該時代好兒好女的樣板，但卻像泛黃模糊的老照片，看不太清楚樣貌，他們在愛中感受到的糾結痛苦，在如此恢宏的背景之中，反倒顯得小氣拘泥，應該是我唯一感到可惜的地方。

書中許多美麗的句子和音韻，讀起來特別怦然心動，書中不時穿插佛經、古文、通俗戲曲⋯⋯，讀起來實在很過癮。閱讀過程非常美好，我很感激有這樣作品存在，身為讀者何其有幸。

[Ocean G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was exactly the book I was looking for in terms of a novel that goes through Taiwanese customs and traditions.
Plus, the family bears an uncanny resemblance to my wife's family.
Plus, the title, and the meaning behind it, is really nice.
Plus, the story itself is actually quite pleasant. Despite it being a tad unconventional and not really having a plot per se, it seemed much more true to real life, where there is no real beginning-arc-end.

For these reasons I give this five stars, and hope to read more by the same author soon.

[Noé · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my usual genre, but I enjoyed its flowy prose and that the plot subverted my expectations in subtle ways that made it more interesting to read.
I knew next to nothing about Taiwan in the 50s-70s prior to picking up this book on a whim at the library, and while the forward from the editor indicates that this book may view life through rose-colored glasses, it nevertheless provided a sense of introduction and vibes.

[John Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful coming-of-age novel that takes place for the most part in a southern Taiwanese coastal town in the early 1970s. Much of the story centers around the romance between the main character, Zhenguan, and her distant cousin, Daxin, who she sees as her soulmate. Their close connection comes through very well in the book. I really enjoyed the writing and the story.

[Leiki Fae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book ages ago, circa 2004 when I first moved to Taiwan. I remember enjoying it at the time and feeling like I was learning a lot about Taiwanese culture. This second time around, maybe because I've been here so long, maybe because I'm so much older and so much has happened since 2004, I found it hard to get through.

The story is told mostly through a series of episodes in the life of the protagonist, Zhenguan. There are some truly tragic or surprising moments, but most of the time, Zhenguan is skipping around her little hometown, thinking about how much she loves it, and then laughing with all her cousins at really lame jokes. I know that this is a book about nostalgia, about a "simpler time and place" in Taiwan that was already lost by the time this book was published in 1980. Maybe I'm not nostalgic enough myself to appreciate Zhenguan's simple and wholesome feelings.

However, I really think this is a good and useful read for people who move to Taiwan for work. The narrator takes a lot of care to explain Taiwanese traditions and superstitions, to the point where I wondered if the author was writing a guidebook or a novel.

Take this exchange, for example. Daxin, Zhenguan's male counterpart in the story, wants to know how she knows its his birthday:

"I found out about your birthday nine years ago. It was the seventh day of the seventh lunar month; you had just returned with the others from the seaside. The adults all retired to bed, but Fourth Aunt went to the kitchen to cook a chicken egg and a duck egg for you."

"Oh...so that's how you knew!"

"Yes, that's the custom here in the south."

"In Taipei, we eat noodles cooked with pig's knuckles on our birthdays."

"Yes, but here that's for people over twenty years old. Before that, children are given a chicken egg to represent a chicken and a duck egg to represent a duck. So it's like eating a whole chicken and a whole duck!"

Daxin laughed. "Chinese culture is so rich and deep. Foreigners would probably have a hard time understanding how an egg could represent a chicken!"

"Well, it certainly isn't a science!"

"Such is the nature of our culture: no matter what, there will always be room for contemplation..."

The self-consciousness about being Chinese, the awkward allusion to foreigners by a 20-year-old Taipei citizen wandering through a southern seaside village, pull you out of the moment. Forty years ago, in little fishing villages in Taiwan, were people that concerned about what foreigners thought about Chinese culture? I'd be surprised if that were the case, so what's the literary merit in having these two talk to each other like they're practicing a PowerPoint presentation on Taiwanese culture? Writing like this for an audience she would have anticipated would be mostly Chinese, the author is making claims about the uniqueness and beauty of Chinese culture, perhaps because her audience is at risk of forgetting that important aspect of their identity, perhaps because foreign cultures, be they Japanese or North American, are alluring to modern Chinese people. So this book is nostalgic, and also very patriotic. It's like a guidebook for Taiwanese people who forgot how and what it means to be Taiwanese.

But at this point, I think the "simple country folk" trope is actually a pretty dangerous idea, so I can't get on board with just thinking Zhenguan is virtuous or even adorable. And besides that, there's enough detail about how women spent their days--cleaning house, cooking, giving birth and caring for the children, and generally waiting on the menfolk--that it's hard to succumb the nostalgia. When Zhenguang observes that her Japanese aunt, Ruriko, an adult woman who lived through a war, "seemed as innocent and pure as a little girl," I cringe, not smile.

BUT: If you don't know about Ghost Month or Dragon Boat Festival, this book is a fascinating read the first time around. And without being quite so blunt with the descriptions, you can learn a lot about the value of face and the strength and importance of familial ties. Of course, this is the Taiwan of the past, but it's offered up as Taiwan at its best. I suggest that if you are a careful reader, you make a note of Zhenguan's cousins' names when they are listed and try to keep track of their lives through births, weddings, and deaths, or else every time one is mentioned, you won't even know who is a man or a woman.

Zhenguan expresses at least one sentiment that resonates with me, especially when it comes to living and working in Taiwan:

[T]here was one tenet she had subscribed to ever since coming of age: that there were good people and good things, but they didn't necessarily have anything to do with her. Sometimes it's best to keep a distance, so that when people meet, there will be only civility and good will.

As Zhenguan explains to Daxin elsewhere, every gift ought to be repaid by the recipient, so accepting favors from friends and coworkers here can make a muddle of things very quickly, especially for immigrants and expats like me who were content to leave the binding ties at home in the first place.

[Ryan Geer · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful story! It made me "homesick" for Taiwan...

I think that if you're looking for a somewhat modern novel that will give you a glimpse into family life, relationships, religion and culture in Taiwan, you won't go wrong reading this one.

[Janice]

Written in oral Taiwanese. The story is set in the aftermath of 228. Love and terror, memory and history.

[Anders Bjonbäck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for a class on "Buddhist narrative literature" at Harvard Divinity School. I found it very touching. Sometimes the best ending is one you cannot classify as happy or sad.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting culturally, but didn't get the ending at all

[Yi-Jun Yeh · Rating 4 out of 5]

（這是一本我在當兵期間看完的書）這本書綜合了酸甜苦辣，寫的是貞觀和大信之間的故事。本以為是愛情故事的我，很期待故事結局發展得如何，沒想到故事有所轉折，聊到了人生百態。此外，作者清楚紀錄了他撰寫此書時的嘉義布袋面貌（嘉義布袋為此書的主要時空背景），故事中角色的生活體現了傳統的台灣鄉下習俗和親情。

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Buddhist novel, of all things. From Taiwan, and a best-seller there.

[John Blochberger · Rating 3 out of 5]

It says this book blew up in Taiwan when it was released but it was quite a basic story. I read it to get some perspective of life post WW2 in Taiwan and in that sense it mostly delivered.

[Graham Oliver · Rating 2 out of 5]

2023 March - With more context, this now reads like nostalgia propaganda basically? So much of the book is basically "traditions are good, listen to your elders, wow that old saying is so true!" The storyline is incredibly boring. The only interesting part is the First Aunt, but we get so all the emotions and interiority are so far at a remove, other than the main character admiring her decision its barely on the page. The book also frequently dips into directly telling you people's emotions and thought processes without any kind of reflection or nuance to it.

2018 October - The central love story in this book is simple and earnest, which is both a bad thing (predictability) and a good thing (break from the complete lack of earnestness in modern American literature).

While the narrative is a little boring, the book does portray a detailed look into ritual, custom, and family relationships in mid-20th century Taiwan. I'm told that the original Chinese also has a lot of nostalgia-inducing dialect, but I can't know that!

[Cassandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

As always, I find it difficult to properly evaluate a work in translation; the book seemed artless, overly so, the prose and dialogue simple to the point that they felt deliberately naive, written down to a low level... but is that in the Chinese, or in the English, and even if it is in the Chinese, does it have the same impact? Impossible for me to say. I enjoyed the details of the folk traditions, and all the cultural information, but I wanted more understanding of the characters, more insight into what Zhenguan pictured for herself in the future, more of the things that such a novel does not provide. Popular fiction is perhaps similar no matter the culture.

[MIeko · Rating 3 out of 5]

A "love" story back to the years when the war just ended, when all the traditions were kept and when people still visit their neighbours. Unlike recent novels, many classic Chinese poems were quoted, which makes it more worthy reading. Conversation and the story between the two friends (they never claimed each other boyfriend/girlfriend) is touching. Yet the more attractive part is the everyday life introduced here and there - how women used to makeup/dress, how people used to talk to their neighbours, how people used to forgive and pray, etc.

The book is great from the begining, I would have marked 4 stars if the ending is great as the whole book.

[Dade Cariaga · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://dadecariaga.blogspot.com/2010/...

[Cai · Rating 3 out of 5]

The translation is difficult and doesn't make sense at times. The characters are okay, but since the language is hard, it's not easy to really feel anything for them.

[Vivian雨薇薇 · Rating 4 out of 5]

文字很美，玩遍了大半個台灣以後，書中描寫的地方都讓我有奇怪的親切感（除了澎湖）。還講到很多中國傳統的傳說等等。貞觀和大信的故事裡很多地方都讓我感同身受，現在正在台灣一所大學交換，遇到一個很喜歡的男生，第一次發現，原來曾經以為很純粹的感情之間可以夾雜這麼多的國家民族的因素。

[Cheng-Hsi]

讀起來像未央歌