The Bridegroom: Stories

Ha Jin's hilarious scenes paint mainland China in serious upheaval, its battles with its political (the Cultural Revolution) and social (arranged marriages) past, its bureaucratic present and its capitalist and freer (on a personal level) future. In 'The Woman from New York', the influence of the parents (-in-law) in divorce matters and of the party bureaucrats for job assignments is still insurmountable. In 'An Entrepreneur's Story', an ambitious mother shouts that 'she rather throws her daughter into a sewer than let her marry me.' Another one 'called him 'hooligan' when he was a butcher', but when he became rich ... The story also shows the power shift from party bureaucracy to money. In 'Saboteur', those who monopolize political power can still impose their gratuitous arrogance. In 'A bad Joke', the political leaders are still untouchable. In 'Flame', a lucky girl is one who married 'an officer with infinite access to food supply', but the marriage is unhappy because arranged. In 'Alive', the struggle for good housing and the importance of job assignments play a crucial and bitter role in family relations. In 'A Tiger-fighter is hard to find', the competition between provinces for the favors of Beijing is hilarious. In 'An official Reply', a party member uses his privileged position to obtain sexual favors and tickets for foreign trips. 'Broken' shows the prude Party's obsession with 'illegal sex'. In 'The Bridegroom/, the longtime suppressed and oppressed gay scene comes to the surface. 'After Cowboy Chicken came to Town' shows the Americanization of China at work: hire and fire, huge salary differences and a hypocritical 'client first' policy. Another constant is the sometimes substandard product quality (condoms and food - 'In the Kindergarten'). These short stories are all brilliantly shining pearls of human psychology, telling, ultimately, still survival struggles. Not to be missed.

Ha Jin's collection of short stories may be set in China, but they easily mirror ancient perks of authority in the common culture. Read one---you are sure to finish the book. Set against the backdrops of capitalism and communism, each story serves up a unique host of characters. The common thread through many of these stories appears to be incarceration, interrogation and showing "a sincere attitude." His stories feature the rude and powerfully poor versus the responsible-poor and the poor. Ha Jin's writing puts the reader right there, through pared-prose the characters are visible. They move through the language without pause, without stumble, free of over-weighted consideration.Saboteur begins with a young couple lunching, nothing out of the ordinary: the wife complains of a headache, the husband suggests aspirin. Instantly, persecution of a would-be citizen-serving policeman launches the husband into unsolicited chaos. The husband is then charged for not being a "model for the masses." From this point, fate for Mr. Chiu seems to be just what it is: a word.In Alive, Mr. Guhan is under contest for his job as head foreman. He is married and poor. A violent earthquake and loss of memory sends Guhan into not so much as a new life, than it is another one, in Taifu. This story is strangely curious in the beginning. Don't expect much relief by the end. Ha Jin is not so generous.A Tiger-Fighter is Hard to Find is insanely hilarious. It is a subtle tale of Huping, the average wanna-be-hero who takes complete and sole advantage of his opponents' impediments: a tranquilized Siberian tiger, subsequently, a fearful co-worker. All to capture a scene for a film. More than sincere filmmaking, however, is Huping's honest determination to be a true tiger-fighter. He even has jumping dreams about it--dreams so intruding, they cause enough limb-jolt to bruise his wife. The ache is, you pound a living anything one too many times, it's bound to strike back. Imagine Huping, enclasped in a tree. Feeling defeated, and perhaps cornered, Huping's demand is to, "shoot him!" His character is grounded in hubris and the primest of sentimentality. This is a story not to be missed.Broken showcases Tingting a typist, an adulteress, incarcerated. The focus of Tingting's interrogation often treads into the vein of personal sport or later use. Manjin, a participant in Tingting's interrogation and former spy on her sexual rendezvous, finds himself in a similar situation. In the crevices of a theater, he encounters a female who, without words, sends him on a hunt. He too becomes imprisoned and made to explain his craze.Perhaps the supreme stories are Bridegroom and The Woman from New York.Beautifully told, Bridegroom gets to the core of ignorance when it comes to homosexuality. Baowen, an exquisitely described homosexual, marries young Beina--it's economically convenient, as well as save-face. Beina's choices are less than sparse. The reality about Baowen's sexual

Ha Jin has such a clean style of writing. I really like his novels, but I have to say that I think his short stories are a lot more lively! Each story was connected by the fact that most of its characters lived or worked in Muji City. Furthermore, most of the stories commented on the legal and social system in China, where much of one's reputation was staked on hearsay and not fact, for example. Basically, take your pick, there isn't one story in this book that won't surprise you in terms of how Communism controls every aspect of people's lives.It was funny to read how different people's perceptions are in China. Especially funny was reading "After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town," and seeing how the Western Capitalist fastfood workplace quickly turned the Chinese workers into angry, disgruntled angst-ridden youth. (Welcome to our nightmare!) I enjoyed "Alive," where I was shocked to see how quickly the government expected widows to remarry and start new lives in the aftermath of a disaster such as an earthquake. I also liked "Broken," which was a simple story about a man's desire which quickly turned into revenge, and came back to haunt him. Some of the stories were told in first person which turned out to be extremely vibrant. One of my favorites was "An Entrepreneur's Story," in which a man tells how the world treated him differently after he became wealthy. Actually, all of the stories were well-written, moved quickly, and were filled with everyday realism. Each one was told with a clearly different, individual voice, complete with its own quirks. It took me only a few days to finish this. I think I'll read more of Ha Jin's short stories.

I am a westerner who has traveled and worked (and married) in this region of China. The books of Ha Jin make me believe that I am in Dalian or Harbin. The characters have such an intresting nature but as I have found there isn't one China there is 1.5 billion China's. Ha Jin characters have a chinese nature and a personal independence I like. These tales are multifaceted and no repetitious. The setting and the characters change from story to story, but all are in this beautiful complex world of northern China. This region of China is still the least settled and the most political corruption and non western thinking happens here. The stories I liked most are: the Sabatour which is about a professor who is arrested for standing up to the police and who is utterly defeated, but is looking for an unlikely form of revenge. The Woman from New York. About a chinese woman who has gone to the west and comes back to reestablish connection with her family only to find she doesn't fit. Cowboy Chicken comes to ChinaA story about Chinese workers in an American francies trying to make sense of a formulated system that suprisingly works but doesnt fit China. This tale is mircaulous in how the west and east often miss the essence of each other.The Kindergarten A tale where a young class of students is cheated by there teacher to do work so that the down trodden teacher can survive. It is a tale of maturity and vengeance and misunderstanding. The story is from a young girls eye who understands something is wrong but not understanding the causes.Ha Jin's novels Waiting and In the Pond are good reads as well

I was delighted with these 12 short stories by Ha Jin. What a refreshing change to read about another culture, especially life in contemporary China. I learned a lot about the Chinese socialist form of living, and the different traditions and beliefs of their people. It certainly makes me appreciate more the freedom & wealth that we take for granted here in the United States. The author uses a flat writing style of simple sentences that it takes a while to adjust to. The stories do seem to end rather abruptly at times. However, this is only a small complaint from me. I stayed glued to the book until I finished it. My favorite story, of course, was the title story, "The Bridegroom." A model husband joins a secret men's literary club and is arrested for the crime of loving other men, homosexuality. "The Woman From New York" was another favorite, about a Chinese woman who finds out things are just not the same in her hometown after an extended stay in New York. She finds she is not welcome anymore in her former life. I think these stories held my attention and proved so interesting for the mere fact that it opened up a whole new world for me in understanding how other cultures think and rationalize everyday living. I thank my friend, Grady, for recommending this wonderful book, and now I am recommending it to you. You won't be disappointed!