A Small Town Called Hibiscus

by Gu Hua

A Small Town Called Hibiscus is one of the best Chinese novels to have appeared in 1981. Its author Gu Hua was brought up in the Wuling Mountains of south Hunan. He presents the ups and downs of some families in a small mountain town there during the hard years in the early sixties, the "cultural revolution," and after the downfall of the "gang of four." He shows the horrifying impact on decent, hard-working people of the gang's ultra-Left line, and retains a sense of humor in describing the most harrowing incidents. In the end wrongs are righted, and readers are left with a deepened understanding of this abnormal period in Chinese history and the sterling qualities of the Chinese people.

Genres: China, Chinese Literature, Historical, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novels, Literature

264 pages, Paperback

Published September 5, 2003

About the author

Gu Hua (June 20, 1942) (simplified Chinese: 古华; traditional Chinese: 古華; pinyin: Gǔ Huá), is a Chinese novelist born in the People's Republic of China. His birth name was Luo Hongyu (羅鴻玉). His writings concern rural life in the mountainous area of southern Hunan of which he was familiar. In 1988 he emigrated to Canada.

Hua is best known for his 1981 novel Furong zhen (A Small Town Called Hibiscus) which won the inaugural Mao Dun Literature Prize (1982), one of most prestigious literature prizes in China. It was the third top-selling novel to ever win that prize, selling over 850,000 copies. The novel was a rebuke of the Cultural Revolution. The novel was famously adapted to film in 1986 as Hibiscus Town, winning many awards including 'Best Film' of the 1987 Golden Rooster Awards, China's equivalent of the Academy Awards.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Piotrek Machajek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jest to straszna ramota, trzymająca się konwencji socrealizmu z elementami gawędy i reportażu. Mimo dydaktyzmu nie brakuje jej jednak ironii i miejscami nawet wciąga. Jeśli uznamy tę "literaturę okopaną w rzeczywistości" za faktycznie wierny obraz realiów, to mniej zdziwi fakt, że na początku lat '80 w Chinach to była przełomowa powieść.

[Xovee Xu · Rating 5 out of 5]

写的确实不错，引人深思。

[Edzy]

I read this book in its original Chinese version, and am aware that Gladys Yang had done a translation into English, called A Small Town Called Hibiscus.

I do not envy her the job. The original Chinese utilises the Hunan dialect in the dialogue, and Gu Hua has a wide, rather literary vocabulary. It must have been difficult to replicate the full flavour of this novel in English. I haven't read Gladys Yang's translation, but I suppose some things will be lost.

The novel is divided into 28 parts in four long chapters. It spans around 15 years and ends a few years after the Cultural Revolution. Gu Hua's goal is to focus on four or five protagonists, as well as two antagonists, in the rural town of Hibiscus, following their life and travails during the political upheavals of this period. Gu Hua's satire can get rather acerbic, especially in the final chapter, but it is a righteous indignation that provokes thinking about Communist China under Mao.

Some parts are a little melodramatic, and the rather overcooked interior monologue can seem rather "naive". But Gu Hua's lovely descriptions of the setting, convincing personification, and clear-eyed denunciation of the flaws of the communist society make this a memorable, thought-provoking, and worthwhile read. I would also urge anyone interested in the book to watch the harrowing, superbly-acted adaptation by Xie Jin, first released in 1987.

[Bùi Nghĩa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Một cuốn tiểu thuyết đầy lôi cuốn và hấp dẫn kể về số phận của người dân của thị trấn Phù Dung, điển hình là người phụ nữ Hồ Diệu Âm bán món canh bánh tráng, trong thời đại cách mạng văn hóa của Trung Quốc. Cuốn sách khắc tả cuộc đời đầy chông gai của người dân qua một thời kỳ đặc biệt trong lịch sử Trung Quốc để cảnh báo về sự bảo thủ, cực đoan trong việc quản lý văn hóa, nhà nước có thể đẩy số phận của những con người vô tội vào trong cơn bĩ cực, phải đấu tranh, phải khó khăn lắm mới vượt qua.

Đọc tác phẩm hiểu hơn về một giai đoạn lịch sử của Trung Quốc và cũng hiểu về một giai đoạn lịch sử ở Việt Nam đã trải qua một quá trình cách mạng văn hóa đầy cực đoan như Trung Quốc. Đọc thông tin tác giả Cổ Hoa mới biết ông không viết nhiều tiểu thuyết nhưng cuốn này được liệt vào hàng kinh điển trong thời đại sau giải phóng Trung Quốc. Giọng văn của tác phẩm gần gủi, hiện thực và đôi khi trần trụi. Phát triển nhân vật quá hay. Kết thúc có hậu. Tuy tác phẩm mang màu sắc chính trị nhưng rất đáng đọc. Dịch giả Lê Bầu dịch và chú thích rất kỹ càng.

Đánh giá 5 sao/5.

Mình đọc bản tiếng Việt của tiểu thuyết này có thông tin như sau:
Tên: Thị Trấn Phù Dung
Tác giả: Cổ Hoa
Dịch giả: Lê Bầu
ISBN: 100064
Xuất bản: 4/2003
NXB: Văn Nghệ TP. HCM
Số trang: 406 Trang

[FanZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

When society turns against you, will you have the courage to sustain and survive?

The first 30 years of PRC's history were full of political movements where individuals were ostracized because they belonged to the "Five Black Categories." Millions were humiliated, persecuted, and discriminated against. Their wealth was taken away, and they were robbed of educational and employment opportunities. Their stories were filled with blood and tears, and my mother's family was one of those affected.

Gu Hua described a series of events that occurred over thirty years in a small village. The protagonists were not heroic - they were merely survivors and demonstrated remarkable strength with their hope, resilience, and courage. I sincerely appreciate the writer's choice of these average people, who are accessible for the then-Chinese public to identify with. After all this book was written and published immediately following the end of the cultural revolution when political certainty and stability were still unsure.

Of course, twenty years later, Fu Rong Jie Jie became a popular online figure, but that was a different story.

[Katharine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sort of a love story but also the story of a village trying to get through the "new order" of communism through the 50's and into the 70's. I really liked this and had got it in order to learn a little about what life was like for "regular people" in China back then. It was at times awkward (translation issues I think) but a well-told story and I would recommend it to others.

[Yuan · Rating 5 out of 5]

vivid writing about people's life during that specific period. Which is still worth alerting even today.

[Cmac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good insight into what life was like in rural China 40-60 years ago

[Xiaolink · Rating 4 out of 5]

时代洪流下的人物剪影，读起来魔幻又真实。不知道几十年后回忆现在这场轰轰烈烈的运动，会怎样的作品来呈现。

[Shoppix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lesenswert

[Tatiquieró · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story of survival during the years of the Cultural Revolution in China. Political correctness and dignity, betrayal and devotion. A lot to think about.

[Đào Kiên · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bản dịch tiếng việt là Thị Trấn Phù Dung

[Bill Weinberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic of Chinese "scar literature," which seems to have served as a sort of social catharsis by which the horrors of the Cultural Revolution were exorcised in the immediate post-Mao era. I read it to get a picture of what life was like in a small village of rural China during the Cultural Revolution, and it certainly provided that. And it definitely affected me, to the point that I had trouble putting it down. But I also felt it was manipulative (even in its naive prose style), and the entire trajectory of the plot was predictable from the opening pages. The lead character is a pure-hearted and beautiful young woman with a modest entrepreneurial initiative---she works hard for years with her mild-mannered husband selling bean-curd in a market stall to save up enough money to build a new house. When she is purged as a "new rich peasant" (property confiscated, ritually humiliated for years, husband driven to suicide), her persecutors are portrayed as driven by psycho-sexual motives behind the mask of ideology: the chief male villain is a spurned suitor, the chief female villain a jealous rival (and a Plain Jane). It's left slightly ambiguous whether these antagonists are being consciously cynical, or have blinded themselves to their actual motives and think that their fanaticism is genuine. Of course in the end, after years of hardship and humiliation, the tables are turned and we get a happy ending: the Gang of Four are dethroned and Deng Xiaoping takes power, the heroine is rehabilitated (along with her new husband and young child) and her property restored, her persecutors are demoted and become village outcasts.

Mao's name is mentioned exactly once; on all other references he is simply "the Chairman." The Gang of Four are repeatedly invoked, but Deng is only mentioned as a figure officially demonized during the period of fanaticism (although his influence is the obvious context for the Happy Ending). It is not mentioned that the village commune is broken up into private plots (this may have happened later; the novel ends in 1979), but there is definitely a new flowering of entrepreneurial spirit in the village. I think this book skirted the edge of what was permissible dissent at the time--which gave it a legitimacy making it all the more effective and convenient as propaganda for China's capitalist transition.

[Matt Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first glance, this book seems like it will only be filled with small, minor tales about life in a Chinese village. Boilerplate characters are introduced, the stage is set for soap-opera drama. However, the element of hardline Chinese Communism is thrown into the mix and everything collapses and explodes. The horror of extreme Leftism descends on the small town and proceeds to destroy the lives of those who lead positive lives, and elevate those who are most vicious, cruel and fanatical. But like Chinese folk tales of the ancient past, those who participate in great evil can never escape their fate. Hua does a fantastic job describing the irony of fanatical Red Communism thrust upon village life, and how the lives of each of the characters and thrown upside down. But even more than that, the passion with which he writes the emotional journey of the cast members is truly excellent and a hallmark of a great author. Although I can imagine that the story has more resonance in the context of a Chinese reader and in the original language, this is a heart-rending story that I would recommend to anyone.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the Postscript Gu Hua writes, "Life is the soil of Literature." I have heard this book described as "safe" in that it was written in a way that ensured it would not be banned in China. I can see how some may say this about the resolve in the ending of the book. However, I think this book does a good job drawing emotion from the reader and gives insight into life in the early decades of "Modern China." There are also subtle currents that are not quite obvious and maybe unintentional about how many people had high hopes for the new society, suffered greatly, endured much and wanted simply to live life afterwards. The lesson, I think, may be that moving forward is sometimes better than seeking "justice". This is a very different notion than here in the "west" and America particularly.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for my World Lit. class

[Zeynep · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a new attempt with Chinese literature. It is a very good one though. there is a human aspect in it but mainly political. I've learned a lot about Chinese History and communism reading it.

[Austin Barselau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting microcosm for the larger cultural and political movements going on in China during the time. Read as a school assignment.