The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 8 August 2007
by Xinran
The line between fiction and non-fiction can be pretty fuzzy when an author takes a real character or event and embellishes a story around it. The story in this book is based upon an encounter between its author and Shu Wen, an aging woman just returned to Suzhou, China after wandering Tibet for thirty years, where, in search of her husband, she performed an act of love and faith that seems improbable in our world today. After spending two days with her, and mulling over the story for years, Xinran, once a radio reporter in Nanjing, penned this novel based on the story Wen had told her. It is an epic journey, as the title suggests, across a country and across time. Wen ends her wandering, having traveled in time, between the early years of the People's Liberation Army occupation of Tibet, and today, as communist China becomes one of the most capitalist nations on Earth. Xinran tells Wen's story in a straightforward, sympathetic, and ultimately apolitical manner. Wen follows her husband into the army and into Tibet after he disappears shortly after leaving home. Soon, after violent run-ins with the men attempting to defend Tibet from the invaders, she is alone, seeking refuge with a nomad family, along with a Tibetan noblewoman who lost her home when the Chinese arrived. The native ways appeal to Wen, as her stay with the family goes from weeks to years. She awaits news of her lost husband, but eventually accepts her new life in the rolling plains of eastern Tibet. As events transpire, though, she resumes her journey, which has an improbably romantic outcome. And, yet, there is a realistic appeal to the story, too. How she manages to avoid all contact with the modern world while living among the nomads seems a mystery, even in the remote regions in which she lived. Her resignation, too, seems unlikely to have endured those thirty years. Eventually, she is forced to encounter the differences between Tibetan and Chinese cultures. The point of view of the soldiers in the People's Army is interesting, in that they can't necessarily be expected to have a complete understanding of the historical context of their invasion of Tibet. Xinran tries, here, to be somewhat apolitical, offering respect and recognition to Tibetan culture while also subtly arguing that the presence of the Chinese is ultimately good for the Tibetans. She doesn't acknowledge the cultural chauvanism that characterized the Chinese position on Tibet during and since the invasion in 1950. Western readers may be looking for some political statement about the conflict and might be disappointed when Xinran has a character state that "All Tibetans know the story of the alliance between China and Tibet." while arguing that the Chinese have bestowed many technological advances on the Tibetans, but meanwhile failing to completely acknowledge the devastating affects on traditional Tibetan culture. Still, the apolitical tone sheds light on one writer's Chinese view of the situation. Indeed, Xinran does see the dramatic changes to Tibet when Wen finally sees the city of Lhasa under Chinese rule. She also notes the dramatic changes that happened to China itself, perhaps suggesting the often-stated argument that Tibet has suffered only as much as the rest of China, and in many ways has prospered more. This reader remains skeptical, but the book is a thought-provoking exercise. The romance is, perhaps its weak point. But what it says about women in Tibet and China, and what it says about China and Tibet themselves, make for interesting reading.