Iron and Silk: A Memoir

When this book first appeared, I used it in an urban adult ESL class that was full of immigrants of all ages from China. They enjoyed it and occasionaly argued about parts. Then, a wonderful thing happened. Salzman was in town and agreed to visit our class. What a dear, sweet, and entertaining person he was--speaking in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English--keeping the students laughing for a couple of hours. He also appeared in a public talk with a very different kind of audience--and kept it just as fully entertained. When the movie of the book came out, and Salzman played himself, I thought it was a bit much, but I can't deny his acting skill.In answer to questions in the "review" of Lemas Mitchell (see below):1. Unresolved characters: Who was the girl with whom he took a bike ride? Is this the one that later became his wife?----Yes, that -was- unresolved, and we asked him about it. He was reticent, even shy about saying more.He married a California Chinese-American woman, not the woman on the bike. His wife has been an award-winning independent film-maker.2. Overly-romantic view of some Chinese cultural habits that would consider inappropriate:----This was humor.3. Self absorption: Was he really a kung-fu master? Was it all in his own head? Was his Chinese really that good after an undergraduate degree?----He never said he was a master; rather, he had a master as a teacher. His study of martial arts was what led him into Chinese studies in the first place. Yes, his skill in the language(s) was good. Chinese literature was, I believe, his major at Yale, from which he graduated with honors.----I'm here reading reviews because I'm thinking of using the book again with college level ESL students and wanted to check out the current attitudes.

In 30 short anecdotes, Mark Salzman gives a compassionate and humorous account of teaching English and studying martial arts in Changsha, a provincial capital in central China shortly after the opening of the country in the early 1980s. Changsha has the reputation that "there is nothing to do, nothing to buy, the people have no manners, the food is terrible and their dialect sounds awful" - so the book might have become very different from what it is: insightful, very funny, and full of respect for the often strange customs of traditional Chinese culture. In the best manner of innocents abroad, Mark Salzman knows how to make fun of his blunders in a very charming way. He conveys his sense of wonder beautifully, and does not pass judgment on anything he witnesses. Unlike many other authors who write about China, he is able to appreciate traditional Chinese forms of expression and self-mastery like martial arts (wushu) and calligraphy on their own terms. In his anecdotes he catches the essence of these arts: dedication, commitment, respect. "No matter what the quality of brush or paper," explains his calligraphy teacher, "one should always treat them as if they were priceless."What Mark Salzman wrote about China some 15 years ago is not dated in many ways. Strange ideas are still being trumpeted as truths, and bureaucrats still like to harass foreigners (although humiliating unwitting foreigners is not "something of a popular sport in China" anymore; today it may even happen that a young female police officer at a police station first lectures you for half an hour on a minor transgression, but asks you out for a date right after she is finished). Mark Salzman has a wonderful, gentle humor, and an admirable open-mindedness. He combines both to focus not on the ignorance of the people he meets, but on the insight which even ignorance can produce. There is no doubt that one little Chinese boy has no idea about the real Hong Kong, but being asked what he knew about this city, he answers "It's a big department store, isn't it?" Finally, let me say that I have never heard or read of a more charming and polite way of telling a Westerner that he has a big nose than in Mark Salzman's gem of a book: "You have a very three-dimensional face."

I saw this recently on TV, and had to scour the internet to identify this incredible film. While the movie was not subtited (simply the version I saw..?), my inability to understand chinese did not effect the impact of the movie. Emotion and intent is very well communicated, especially by Mark Salzman and Pan Qingfu. I am not often a fan of foreign films, but this one easily held my interest, and I was very satisfied after watching it. For anyone interested in Chinese culture, I recommend this movie.