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The Gourmet and other stories of modern China
Lu Wenfu, like the wonton -sellers, rickshaw pullers, and petty bureaucrats in these stories, was buffeted by four decades of changes in Chinese politics and society since the 1949 Revolution. Denounced as a writer and demoted in 1957, in 1965, and again in 1969 during the Cultural Revolution, he returned to writing in 1978 after two decades of enforced silence.
Still, his voice remains one of the most attractive and sympathetic among China's major writers - understanding, not spiteful, capable of humour and gentle irony. His outstanding novella The Gourmet and the other stories in this, his only fully-curated collection in English, reveal the China that opened to the world after Mao's death. Here the tensions of a society emerging from years of upheaval are drawn with the relaxed, lyrical line of a master painter.
Still, his voice remains one of the most attractive and sympathetic among China's major writers - understanding, not spiteful, capable of humour and gentle irony. His outstanding novella The Gourmet and the other stories in this, his only fully-curated collection in English, reveal the China that opened to the world after Mao's death. Here the tensions of a society emerging from years of upheaval are drawn with the relaxed, lyrical line of a master painter.
278 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 6, 2020
'The Gourmet and Other Stories of Modern China' by Lu Wenfu strikes some readers as humorous, even warm, but not me. Instead, I was constantly reminded of George Orwell's novel 1984. I suspect these short stories of fiction are somewhat autobiographical.
The book consists of seven short stories:
-The Man from a Peddlers' Family
-Tang Qiaodi
-The Boundary Wall
-The Doorbell
-The Gourmet
-Graduation
-World of Dreams
All of these stories are domestic fiction. The characters are lowly farmers, factory workers, clerks and shopkeepers. The ordinary adult and elderly village characters in these stories, most of whom are shockingly uneducated and/or provincial as dirt and as knowledgeable about lifestyles in other places as are chickens in a farmyard, were forced to change a lot of their village hierarchies and family and friend relationships into a shape which conformed to communist philosophies. Often. The main problem is that the communist philosophies handed down by authorities changed politically every ten years.
The secondary issue was that whatever was the communist theory of the decade, which was enforced through brutal beatings and public physical punishments designed for maximum humiliations along with bodily harm, meant villagers who had been part of the respected authority class under one regime were made to do slave labor in the next regime change, then restored to respect with minimal apologies ten years later, then once again forced to slave labor for the next ten years, then again restored to their village and family - a cycle continued up through the 1980's. If one had totally accepted with love the rigid social communist philosophies which had been emphasied ten years previously (1940's was the starting point), then that past history of living with and enforcing those older communist social rules could be a death sentence later for that same loyal comrade.
The author, a faithful believer in communism and a patriot of China, apparently, had himself undergone these horrible changes of social Fortune - he was for awhile a respected communist, then he was being beaten and marched through the streets with a plaque hung around his neck as a capitalist.
The insane social reengineering and condemnation of neighbors and relatives for innocuous things, like preferring a kind of soup delicious to you, could be deemed to be unethical to enjoy eating. Because you loved it meant a whipping and banishment to a state farm for twenty years condemned as a capitalist.
Chinese communist authorities weren't trying to remake society only for a conformity of thought and lifestyle, they we're aiming for a mass conformity of ignorance and underclass poverty. The communists weren't aiming at giving everyone a college education and a nice home, they aimed at forcing all of their people to live like tame and dumb animal livestock inside of barns, with only a wood stall for a home and hay to eat, which you must praise every hour on the hour smiling as big as you could.
Haha! These stories of peasant justice and dissolved family ties! The wonderful village jokes behind the tormenting and complete social destruction of villager leaders condemned as capitalists after having been revered as living stalwart examples of communist philosophies! The heartwarming returns of condemned villagers as old people, their health wrecked and obviously only shadows of their former selves! The mental trajectory of the characters trying to keep up with each new decade's rigid social mores, and how they try to once again reform their minds to the correct social behaviors and thinking. Chinese communist sitcom humor, so funny! Not. But some reviewers have said how funny and warm these stories are.
Lu Wenfu's stories are not humorous to me, but they show how patriotic communist Chinese characters kept having the rug pulled out from under their feet. These characters only want to be good communists and they believe in socialism and confomity and a level playground. However, local communist leadership kept changing the rules since the 1950's, and to have lived as a good communist ten years earlier could mean you were an enemy of China in the next decade. So the characters struggle mightily to keep up, and if judged as a rotten capitalist later, take their punishment as deserving for having had the wrong thinking. I think that is where the humor is supposed to come into the story.
Wow. Just, omg. Wow. I was not impressed by Chinese communism.
The book consists of seven short stories:
-The Man from a Peddlers' Family
-Tang Qiaodi
-The Boundary Wall
-The Doorbell
-The Gourmet
-Graduation
-World of Dreams
All of these stories are domestic fiction. The characters are lowly farmers, factory workers, clerks and shopkeepers. The ordinary adult and elderly village characters in these stories, most of whom are shockingly uneducated and/or provincial as dirt and as knowledgeable about lifestyles in other places as are chickens in a farmyard, were forced to change a lot of their village hierarchies and family and friend relationships into a shape which conformed to communist philosophies. Often. The main problem is that the communist philosophies handed down by authorities changed politically every ten years.
The secondary issue was that whatever was the communist theory of the decade, which was enforced through brutal beatings and public physical punishments designed for maximum humiliations along with bodily harm, meant villagers who had been part of the respected authority class under one regime were made to do slave labor in the next regime change, then restored to respect with minimal apologies ten years later, then once again forced to slave labor for the next ten years, then again restored to their village and family - a cycle continued up through the 1980's. If one had totally accepted with love the rigid social communist philosophies which had been emphasied ten years previously (1940's was the starting point), then that past history of living with and enforcing those older communist social rules could be a death sentence later for that same loyal comrade.
The author, a faithful believer in communism and a patriot of China, apparently, had himself undergone these horrible changes of social Fortune - he was for awhile a respected communist, then he was being beaten and marched through the streets with a plaque hung around his neck as a capitalist.
The insane social reengineering and condemnation of neighbors and relatives for innocuous things, like preferring a kind of soup delicious to you, could be deemed to be unethical to enjoy eating. Because you loved it meant a whipping and banishment to a state farm for twenty years condemned as a capitalist.
Chinese communist authorities weren't trying to remake society only for a conformity of thought and lifestyle, they we're aiming for a mass conformity of ignorance and underclass poverty. The communists weren't aiming at giving everyone a college education and a nice home, they aimed at forcing all of their people to live like tame and dumb animal livestock inside of barns, with only a wood stall for a home and hay to eat, which you must praise every hour on the hour smiling as big as you could.
Haha! These stories of peasant justice and dissolved family ties! The wonderful village jokes behind the tormenting and complete social destruction of villager leaders condemned as capitalists after having been revered as living stalwart examples of communist philosophies! The heartwarming returns of condemned villagers as old people, their health wrecked and obviously only shadows of their former selves! The mental trajectory of the characters trying to keep up with each new decade's rigid social mores, and how they try to once again reform their minds to the correct social behaviors and thinking. Chinese communist sitcom humor, so funny! Not. But some reviewers have said how funny and warm these stories are.
Lu Wenfu's stories are not humorous to me, but they show how patriotic communist Chinese characters kept having the rug pulled out from under their feet. These characters only want to be good communists and they believe in socialism and confomity and a level playground. However, local communist leadership kept changing the rules since the 1950's, and to have lived as a good communist ten years earlier could mean you were an enemy of China in the next decade. So the characters struggle mightily to keep up, and if judged as a rotten capitalist later, take their punishment as deserving for having had the wrong thinking. I think that is where the humor is supposed to come into the story.
Wow. Just, omg. Wow. I was not impressed by Chinese communism.
September 24, 2017
"Forgetting is a kind of progress," writes Lu. That could serve as a nice epigraph to these wonderful stories, unfortunately, the only translation of his stuff I can find. A running theme here is memory and the resonance of the self over several decades of wacky, almost hard-to-believe change through the eyes of the average Chinese person. As Lu beautifully puts it in "Graduation", fiction derives its drama from the important people, whereas the average person has to fend for him or herself fictionally. That is also a nice summation of these stories.
Forgetting or channeling memory back through the moment, and the everyday are then the main themes, but there is just so much quiet charm to Lu's wit and writing that I was sad when each story ended. It's been a while, too, since I read something that literally made me laugh out loud.
The stories:
"The Man from a Peddler's Family" - a wonton seller suffers through the vagaries of China's political tumult, watched by the narrator who tries to change as well, realizing that all he wanted was the warmth and comfort of his midnight snack.
"Tang Qiaodi" - an illiterate factory girl becomes spokesperson for...something.
"The Boundary Wall" - a hilarious take on 20th century Chinese political history= when the wall surrounding their building falls, architects argue over the best style to replace it with.
"The Doorbell" - Xu Jinghai installs a fancy Buddhist doorbell to warn him of visitors and which political stance he should take as they cross the courtyard.
"The Gourmet" - narrator and glutton jockey for the central position in a wonderful, wonderful tale of Suzhou's culinary world.
"Graduation" - an old retired woman struggles with her family who wants her to take stuff to the thrift store.
Forgetting or channeling memory back through the moment, and the everyday are then the main themes, but there is just so much quiet charm to Lu's wit and writing that I was sad when each story ended. It's been a while, too, since I read something that literally made me laugh out loud.
The stories:
"The Man from a Peddler's Family" - a wonton seller suffers through the vagaries of China's political tumult, watched by the narrator who tries to change as well, realizing that all he wanted was the warmth and comfort of his midnight snack.
"Tang Qiaodi" - an illiterate factory girl becomes spokesperson for...something.
"The Boundary Wall" - a hilarious take on 20th century Chinese political history= when the wall surrounding their building falls, architects argue over the best style to replace it with.
"The Doorbell" - Xu Jinghai installs a fancy Buddhist doorbell to warn him of visitors and which political stance he should take as they cross the courtyard.
"The Gourmet" - narrator and glutton jockey for the central position in a wonderful, wonderful tale of Suzhou's culinary world.
"Graduation" - an old retired woman struggles with her family who wants her to take stuff to the thrift store.
March 19, 2024
Oh, I'm so glad I read this collection of stories. I learned about the novella "The Gourmet" thanks to author Fuchsia Dunlop's book, Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food. That story, and most of the others, were excellent. My favorite piece is the last in the book, titled "World of Dreams, A Valediction." In it, the author just describes so beautifully the atmosphere of Suzhou. It made me yearn to return for a visit to China.
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January 10, 2022Wenfu was one of post-war China's most talented writers, whose fame caused him to become a casualty of the cultural revolution, These series of stories, written shortly after Mao's death and the resuscitation of the his reputation, offer an oblique and measured criticism of a society experiencing rapid and unprecedented change. I dug it.
September 6, 2018
你该是从读了这本书之后才爱上苏州精致的美食 - 陆文夫（他也是一位著名的美食家！）写的传神作品肯会让你魂牵梦绕啊。拜托，我快去买一张向苏州的单程票啊
March 28, 2022
Nice collection of post-revolution short stories showing the intricate lives of people from all sorts of backgrounds.
April 7, 2023
grim but gripping insights into historical revolutionary china from the perspective of food, love, culture and literature
August 7, 2012
I love these stories. Yes I bought this book because Fuschia Dunlop recommended the title story for what it tells you about Chinese food traditions but mostly I was really moved by the elliptical descriptions of people suffering under different anti-Rightist movements and in the cultural revolution.
So many of the characters suffer similar fates to Lu Wenfu: being sent to the freezing starving countryside, being paraded in public with signs around their necks, having their careers destroyed.. and this is compelling of course, but it's more the ideological changes they make that have stayed with me. Especially intrigued by how many of the characters had their faith in communism confirmed not destroyed by their own punishments. I'll reading this again.
So many of the characters suffer similar fates to Lu Wenfu: being sent to the freezing starving countryside, being paraded in public with signs around their necks, having their careers destroyed.. and this is compelling of course, but it's more the ideological changes they make that have stayed with me. Especially intrigued by how many of the characters had their faith in communism confirmed not destroyed by their own punishments. I'll reading this again.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews