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Little Hut of Leaping Fishes
Mingzhi is born to be a as the formidable Master Chai's first grandson, his life is mapped from the moment of his birth. But times are changing in China, and as Mingzhi grows, he begins to question his privileged heritage and the secrets and shadows that lurk in the corners of the Chai mansion. Eager to flee from the corruption, treachery and rivalries of his family - Master Chai, who farms opium poppies and beats out orders with his dragon stick; the jealousy of his second mother and half brother; and his opium-addict father - Mingzhi soon realises his only path to freedom is through learning. But as the foreign devils begin to encroach on China, Mingzhi is torn between two cultures; he must make his choice between the past and the future.
390 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
7 people are currently reading
349 people want to read
About the author
Chiew-Siah Tei
7 books16 followersChiew-Siah Tei was born and raised in Tampin, a small town in southern Malaysia.
She has been widely published in Malaysian Chinese media since the 1980s. In the 1990s she wrote literary prose, as well as columns on social issues, film, arts and literature for a variety of publications including Sin Chew Jit Poh and Nanyang Siang Pao.
Her first collection of prose, It’s Snowing (Chinese) – an account of her observation as an outsider in Scotland – was published in 1998. This was followed by a collection of arts and film reviews in 2000, Secrets and Lies (Chinese). She has since the late 1990s won awards for her Chinese prose, including the Hua Zong International Chinese Fiction Award and the National Prose Writing Competition. In 2002, Tei was nominated the Best Prose Writer of the year
Tei went to Scotland in 1994 to read for an M.Phil. in Media Culture, majoring in film studies, at Glasgow University. A chance participation in BBC’s Migration Screenwriting programme led to the writing of her screenplay, Night Swimmer. The completed film later won Best Short Film at France’s Vendome International Film Festival 2000.
Returning to Malaysia in 1998, Tei worked as a freelance translator and lecturer of media studies at a local college. In 2002, she left for Scotland again to pursue a PhD in Creative Writing and Film Studies at Glasgow University, where she began working on her first novel. In between studies and writing, she penned Three Thousand Troubled Threads, which was staged at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2005.
Her first novel, Little Hut of Leaping Fishes (Picador, 2008), was long-listed for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize in 2007 and short-listed for the 2008 Best Scottish Fiction Prize. In 2010, Tei was first awarded the inaugural Jessie Kesson Residency at the Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre, and later, the Hawthornden International Writers' Fellowship.
She has been widely published in Malaysian Chinese media since the 1980s. In the 1990s she wrote literary prose, as well as columns on social issues, film, arts and literature for a variety of publications including Sin Chew Jit Poh and Nanyang Siang Pao.
Her first collection of prose, It’s Snowing (Chinese) – an account of her observation as an outsider in Scotland – was published in 1998. This was followed by a collection of arts and film reviews in 2000, Secrets and Lies (Chinese). She has since the late 1990s won awards for her Chinese prose, including the Hua Zong International Chinese Fiction Award and the National Prose Writing Competition. In 2002, Tei was nominated the Best Prose Writer of the year
Tei went to Scotland in 1994 to read for an M.Phil. in Media Culture, majoring in film studies, at Glasgow University. A chance participation in BBC’s Migration Screenwriting programme led to the writing of her screenplay, Night Swimmer. The completed film later won Best Short Film at France’s Vendome International Film Festival 2000.
Returning to Malaysia in 1998, Tei worked as a freelance translator and lecturer of media studies at a local college. In 2002, she left for Scotland again to pursue a PhD in Creative Writing and Film Studies at Glasgow University, where she began working on her first novel. In between studies and writing, she penned Three Thousand Troubled Threads, which was staged at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2005.
Her first novel, Little Hut of Leaping Fishes (Picador, 2008), was long-listed for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize in 2007 and short-listed for the 2008 Best Scottish Fiction Prize. In 2010, Tei was first awarded the inaugural Jessie Kesson Residency at the Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre, and later, the Hawthornden International Writers' Fellowship.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
August 18, 2013
It is stimulating for a change to read a good historical novel from a crucial period of Asian history, that is not written from a eurocentric point of view.
April 10, 2020
As a person from India, I see this very familiar pattern, the Good Brother and the Wayward Brother.
The Good Brother never goes astray, never, and if he does he is full of Remorse and returns to the Path of Rectitude almost immediately, but the Wayward Brother almost always treads the Path of Self Destruction. His end is predictable unless the Good Brother ‘saves’ him.
The book lacks the depth that the celebrated author Pearl S. Buck has, it just skims issues.
Strangely, although Mingzhi, considers himself liberated, he cannot bear the thought that his very lovable uncle might actually be his father !
The Good Brother never goes astray, never, and if he does he is full of Remorse and returns to the Path of Rectitude almost immediately, but the Wayward Brother almost always treads the Path of Self Destruction. His end is predictable unless the Good Brother ‘saves’ him.
The book lacks the depth that the celebrated author Pearl S. Buck has, it just skims issues.
Strangely, although Mingzhi, considers himself liberated, he cannot bear the thought that his very lovable uncle might actually be his father !
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2008
I loved the prose style of this book. Even though it was written in English, it had a very lyrical, Chinese feel to it. Many layers to the imagery and themes in the novel.
The story itself was very enjoyable and the central character of Mingzhi was very likeable and easy to relate to. While the Chinese culture (end of 1800s) was certainly a focus of the novel, the greater focus was Mingzhi's own desire to think and act beyond the limitations of his family and culture.
A very inspiring and beautiful novel. It's amazing that it is Chiew-Siah Tei's debut novel. I am looking forward to reading future novel's by this author.
My Suite101.com articles on this book:
Little Hut of Leaping Fishes
Role of Women in Little Hut of Leaping Fishes
The story itself was very enjoyable and the central character of Mingzhi was very likeable and easy to relate to. While the Chinese culture (end of 1800s) was certainly a focus of the novel, the greater focus was Mingzhi's own desire to think and act beyond the limitations of his family and culture.
A very inspiring and beautiful novel. It's amazing that it is Chiew-Siah Tei's debut novel. I am looking forward to reading future novel's by this author.
My Suite101.com articles on this book:
Little Hut of Leaping Fishes
Role of Women in Little Hut of Leaping Fishes
November 11, 2025
Gelezen ter voorbereiding van mijn reis naar China. Te lang geleden om de details nog te herinneren, maar ik vond het een goed boek; dat een boeiend historisch perspectief geeft op de Chinese maatschappij, tradities, waarden en normen.
May 10, 2023
Very enjoyable read for me.
August 1, 2012
This is a very enjoyable book, I read it very quick, but after all I am a sucker for this sort of story.
It’s written in a way which gives it a fleeting sensation and events seem to pass by you very quick, which in my opinion is a bit of a shame, because before you fully grasp the extent of something we move onto the next situation. Despite this minor inconvenience is a very enjoyable book, it follows the life of a man during the last few years of Imperial China. I love this sort of thing, set a book in Asia 50 years, or more, ago and I will most probably enjoy it. However, following one man, really means we follow one man, and at times it would be nice to gain a better insight on the other characters, see what has lead to certain choices and find out a bit more about their character.
As I’ve said, overall a very enjoyable book, easy to read, but what I feel is insightful of the situation in China and a book I’d recommend to almost everyone! Read it!
It’s written in a way which gives it a fleeting sensation and events seem to pass by you very quick, which in my opinion is a bit of a shame, because before you fully grasp the extent of something we move onto the next situation. Despite this minor inconvenience is a very enjoyable book, it follows the life of a man during the last few years of Imperial China. I love this sort of thing, set a book in Asia 50 years, or more, ago and I will most probably enjoy it. However, following one man, really means we follow one man, and at times it would be nice to gain a better insight on the other characters, see what has lead to certain choices and find out a bit more about their character.
As I’ve said, overall a very enjoyable book, easy to read, but what I feel is insightful of the situation in China and a book I’d recommend to almost everyone! Read it!
March 17, 2017
This seems like a book meant for young adults, or children even. Had I not read about the author i would have guessed it was written by a high school girl. The story is very predictable and cliched, the writing very simple and straighforward. The characters are one-dimensional and uninspiring. There are certain aspects of chinese culture and history which one might find interesting, but overall i find this book insipid and naive. Also, of particular annoyance was finding pu'er tea misspelled as pu're a few times.
October 2, 2009
Inside a multi-generational Chinese family at the end of the 1800's, when the opium trade is flourishing and the reaction against foreigners starts to appear. The author has studied the life within the Chinese household and the education and steps to become a Mandarin. The resolution of the book is rushed, considering that the beginning is drawn with such detail and color.
August 30, 2011
I loved this book.
what a time to live in, so very different from what we know.
And yet human emotion stays the same regardless of time or setting.
All parents want the best for their child and all humans need love and company etc.
Nothing ever changes and that is just oke.
what a time to live in, so very different from what we know.
And yet human emotion stays the same regardless of time or setting.
All parents want the best for their child and all humans need love and company etc.
Nothing ever changes and that is just oke.
September 29, 2013
Un bello scorcio della CIna che cambia ed entra in contatto con la "modernità" occidentale... spero di poter leggere altro dell'autrice!
June 25, 2019
The blurb of the book gave a good indication of the kind of story this would be. If there was any confusion, the first couple of chapters told everything the book will talk about. Many might find it hackneyed or trite, and you cannot really fault anyone for that. Novels which show a culture in its ancient, orthodox nature are more about the nuances of the lives people led at the time the novel is set in, the shackles of the culture. The plot takes a back seat quite often. The story here is predictable, I agree, and the way Minghzi meets characters often reminds you of a Dickens novel. But the way the story is shown is enchanting. Such is Chiew-Siah Tei's use of nature to depict a scene or emotion or both of them together that that's what I remember most vividly about Little Hut of Leaping Fishes. With everything that happens around Minghzi, it's his mother's words that stick with me ('yin shui si yuan') :D
This particular excerpt thrilled me while I read it:
"Autumn in the eastern island across the strait is filled with the stink of gunpowder, the trotting of heavy boots, and loud, brutal shouts. And the louder cries of anger, fear, and pain that come in response. Red-hot blood spatters onto whithering leaves, turning cold, darkening as it coagulates in the September wind. The season ends with the end of a newly independent nation"
This particular excerpt thrilled me while I read it:
"Autumn in the eastern island across the strait is filled with the stink of gunpowder, the trotting of heavy boots, and loud, brutal shouts. And the louder cries of anger, fear, and pain that come in response. Red-hot blood spatters onto whithering leaves, turning cold, darkening as it coagulates in the September wind. The season ends with the end of a newly independent nation"
May 31, 2017
i was quite excited to read this book as the author is a fellow malaysian and i LOVE reading oriental fiction. however, i ended up disappointed just after a few chapters. for one, the story falls flat from what the synopsis promised. the characters are also not well-developed especially for mingyuan and er niang. mingyuan is supposed to be the main antagonist/rival for mingzhi but i felt that the writer did not know what to do with this character, and as a result, the development and ending for this character is dissatisfying to me. er niang too, could have been a much more interesting character if the writer bothered to spare a few more lines on her. her character is so flat that i forgot about her before even finishing the novel. frankly, i personally feel that master chai (the main character's grandfather) much more interesting than mingzhi himself. mingzhi is supposed to be a character with inner turmoils as he struggles to shape the world into a nicer place but he turned out more boring than interesting. it might be because this is the author's first novel but i find that some parts of the writing is not smooth and feels forced as well. overall, i hope the author's subsequent books will be better than this.
May 1, 2021
I fished(pun intended) out this book from one of book fairs i visited a few years ago. The author is a malaysian too so i was even more intrigued to read it. I really enjoyed reading it and i remember finishing it in one go as it was that good. I'd definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy reading books related to chinese dynasties.
May 15, 2019
In the late 1890s, Master Chai maps out his plans for his eldest grandson, Mingzhu. Master Chai farms opium to get richer. Mingzhu studies harder to become an Imperial Mandarin scholar. The family saga continues, 100 days of reformation comes and goes, and China learns from the West.
March 18, 2022
M 2022 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ … there was an interesting story in here that never got a chance to come out, overburdened as it were with the many layers of exam taking, general all round wickedness and lazy plotting, but I learned a few things along the way
Not for bookclub
Not for bookclub
September 14, 2020
3.5/5 stars
Read
March 9, 2021I just knew Chinese culture to some extent.
September 2, 2022
Great insight into Chinese history and good story
April 1, 2025
Really strange pacing. 66
December 10, 2025
Abbandonato: noioso
August 18, 2019
I read this for our carers' book group and really struggled to finish. I found the style of writing did not engage me and was really quite bored with the characters. Interesting to read different views though and I look forward to discussing this with our group.
June 21, 2015
Convincing version of late Qing Dynasty China. All the symptoms of rot are here: the corruption, opium smoking, the rote learning of the Confucian classics culminating in the examination system, the Boxers. Down these mean streets goes Mingzhi, who is not only not himself mean, but idealistic and, while an efficient student of the classics, a man with a heretical taste in foreign languages, ideas, and people. Meanwhile, everything around him, including most of his family, disintegrates. Chiew-Siah Tei looks fondly on his characters, even the Mingzhi's greedy relatives, but his China is a place where honest hard work and thought are punished and the only solution is to leave. Not the worst solution in any case--who wouldn't have been glad to miss the warlords, the Green Gang, and the Japanese invasion?
November 2, 2016
tei's writing is a little clunky and try-hard at times, but the book is saved by a set of compelling characters and a plot that moves just fast enough to hold your attention. the imagery of a chinese village caught between tradition and modernisation comes across beautifully.
the story itself is quite simple. mingzhi is the eldest son of the family - the heir - and he is one of the best protagonists i've come across in some time. he's kind and curious, quite unlike his younger brother, mingyuan. mingyuan is jealous of the attention and favouritism showered upon mingzhi and commits acts of cruelty and petty rebellion as a way of lashing out.
interestingly, the book implies that mingzhi might be bisexual here and there, in his interactions with little swallow, a circus entertainer, and martin.
the story itself is quite simple. mingzhi is the eldest son of the family - the heir - and he is one of the best protagonists i've come across in some time. he's kind and curious, quite unlike his younger brother, mingyuan. mingyuan is jealous of the attention and favouritism showered upon mingzhi and commits acts of cruelty and petty rebellion as a way of lashing out.
interestingly, the book implies that mingzhi might be bisexual here and there, in his interactions with little swallow, a circus entertainer, and martin.
January 19, 2013
Oriental fiction is usually my favourite fiction of all. There is a certain something about it that I love. Flowery beautiful descriptive writing creatkng a great sense of place and usually a likeable written style to tell the story.
This was neither. I got 22 pages in and thoughy forget it. The writing is stilted and feels so false like and there is no description that makes you feel involved or as though your living the story rather than just reading it..Crap. I'll stick to my regular Chinese authors from now on.
This was neither. I got 22 pages in and thoughy forget it. The writing is stilted and feels so false like and there is no description that makes you feel involved or as though your living the story rather than just reading it..Crap. I'll stick to my regular Chinese authors from now on.
October 18, 2009
The book kept my attention. It takes place in late 19th century China and follows the lives of two half-brothers in the Chai dynasty. The first brother was favored due to his birth order and lived the good life. The second brother had a life of strife. I love cultural novels, but this one was a bit depressing. All in all a decent read.
June 8, 2011
Strange and thought provoking book - a little bit too long. But gets you into the mindset of the late 1800s in China, good on the cultural background and the constraints within families. Some of the characterisation is not finely drawn, but it is really a novel of cultures rather than individuals. Worth reading, but I didn't keep my copy to reread
December 22, 2012
loved it..the essence of how the Chinese people in China worked and were treated at that particular time, and there was also mentions on the countries which tried to invade China, on how women was perceived in the society and the importance of education in a family. all the elements blend well which created a very beautiful story..i would love to read this book again
July 23, 2014
Set in late 19th century imperial China, two brothers born within days of each other are worlds apart. The eldest Mingzhi is born to inherit the Chai wealth. The youngest Mingyuan being the 2nd grandson is very bitter. This story tells of the differences between the boys and their lives. storytelling at it,s best.
January 22, 2011
mingzhi... it is all about him... not much of the little hut, the leaping fish... there is jasmine as well... i like the story. it will be better if the life of mingzhi ends at old age or his death...
February 28, 2016
Such a pleasant book to read. Even though the book is saturated with Chinese cultural elements, the author has successfully written the book in a way that it's easy for readers to follow and get immerse in the story. The characters and story line are very original and fresh. Highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews