The Dragon's Village: An Autobiographical Novel of Revolutionary China

by Yuan-Tsung Chen

Book Overview

This extraordinary autobiographical story, compelling, candid, and deeply personal, plunges us into that tumultuous moment in China out of which the modern People's Republic finally emerged. It is the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140058117
• Release Date: May 1981
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.7" x 0.7" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

First Hand Account of Chinese Land Reform

Ling Ling lives a life of privilege in China. She lives with her aunt and uncle, who throw parties for the wealthy and powerful set. All around them, they hear that the good life is coming to an end for people like them, that Communism is sweeping the country, and that things will never be the same. Ling Ling gets swept up into the excitement. When a friend from school asks if she can hide from the police for the night, she says yes, and suddenly she's questioning her upbringing and beliefs. Her aunt flees to Hong Kong, but her uncle tries to stay put a little longer. Soon he must leave too, and Ling Ling decides to stay and see what will become of this new nation. She joins a group of land reform workers, whose job is to go out into the country, examine the land deeds of the landlords, and redistribute the land. Landlords will lose their wealth and status, and the peasants will be empowered. Except that things aren't quite that simple. Reading this book, I have the benefit of hindsight. I could tell how naive Ling Ling is, how little she really knows of farming or of poverty, how little she understands human nature. All too soon, she finds that things are much more complicated than she imagines. There are tragedies along with occasional triumphs. Ling Ling learns more about herself than she imagined, and finds that she is capable of being independent. I really enjoyed this book. I was anticipating a tragic end, but I was pleased to see that that wasn't the case, at least not completely. I found myself wanting to read more, to see what happens to the villagers Ling Ling meets and befriends. The title calls this an 'autobiographical novel', and I would love to know more about the author. The only notes in my edition say that the author was also a land reform worker, and I really want to know how much of her experiences are reflected in the book. I would recommend this to anyone who could find a copy. I found it very enlightening and a good story besides.

The Dragon Village

The book came right when I needed it and it's in excellent condition. No complaints whatsoever. :]

Great Depiction of the Chinese revolution

I had to read this book for one of my college history course. During the first chapter was not so sure about the book, but after I got past that I enjoyed it. It does drag on through some parts, but I think the author gives a very visual depiction of what life was truely like in the little village in the 1950's. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys reading and likes history. As long as your able to follow along with the many character names that there are, it is really enjoyable book.

A great read... though Chinese names can be confusing

The Dragon's Village is an autobiographical novel that portrays the psychological contention of a seventeen year old girl set against a chaotic era in Chinese history- an era of Communist land reforms. The theme expresses the writer's perspective on the conflict between political and personal realities and political and personal ideals. Prior to the turning point, the main character, Ling-ling is torn between traditional Chinese values and her communist ideals. The novel focuses on how political and social reforms can force one to change internally, however the novel also succeeds in depicting oppressive Chinese traditional values such as the static subordinate status of women despite the communist revolution. The book tells the story of Ling-ling, a seventeen-year-old, Chinese girl of bourgeois origin who joins a revolutionary work team and travels to a secluded village to spread the reform movement. Fueled by idealism and determination, Ling-ling goes to the Dragon's village (dragons being a symbol or mystery, the extraordinary, and strength in Chinese mythology) only to be obstructed by landlords and villagers who fear them. She finds the village and villagers to be indeed mysterious. In effect, Ling-ling feels her goal to find herself and her niche in life is being blocked by traditional Chinese patriarchal values and the corruption that results from it; exactly what makes her leave Shanghai in the first place. The conflict is introduced early in the novel when Ling-ling, expressing her distress with the traditional role she is expected to play, leaves to join a reform team. Towards the turning point, Ling-ling begins to notice that neither the traditional society she comes from nor communism truly defines who she is. During the rising action, Ling-ling questions herself several times whether she belongs to the village or not. At the turning point, she is faced with a choice: to her aunt, who will still accept her at this point, or press ahead. While pondering over this and reflecting on her past, Ling-ling notices that the KMT and the Communist are "all the same people"; one is not better than the other. Upon realizing this, she burns the old pages of her diary to burn away the idealistic past and move into a new level of self awareness of her own inner complexities and the complexities of ideologies. She realizes that there needs to be a balance of reality and aspirations. The main theme of the story is embodied in two sentences in the novel: "Every one of us- peasants, work teams, and landlords alike- was caught in the wheel of history. Immense forces beyond our control were moving us forward, but at the same time molding and remolding all our hopes regardless of who and what we were." Oppressed people rise up, albeit not without opposition and obstacles, freed but then tied down again by the elite group of the next regime- that is the cycle of history. But regardless of who or what one is, in each turn of the "wheel", values are force

Carrying out the land reform in a remote Chinese Village.

Yuan-Tsung Chen gives a very engaging account of Ling-ling, a young girl from a Shanghai rich class family, who joins the revolution to carry out the land reform in a remote village in NorthWest China in 1950. The most interesting aspect of Chen's writing is her ability to portray not oly the miserable living conditions of those Chinese peasants, but also the male resistance to let women be treated as equals.Mao's ideas take a new dimension in the context of daily life in this village. If I had been living such a hopeless existence, I would have also loved his communism!! I don't give this book 5 stars only because it drags a little bit a times.