Under the Red Flag: Stories

In these short satirical and sometimes cruel stories Ha Jin brushes realistic paintings of daily life in a Chinese village under the Cultural Revolution. Political power (of the Communist Party) is an all important factor in people's lives. But the Party is not a monolith. There are factions within the Party Committees who are loosely based on older human clans or cliques. Members try to exploit the personal shortcomings of adversaries who don't follow `the right path', to settle family quarrels (`Leniency Toward Those Who Confess; Severity To Those Who Refuse.') Also, old customs and ways of thinking continue to haunt human relations. There are the Confucian gender preferences (`the daughter had drowned herself and her baby girl because her husband and parents-in-law had scolded her for being unable to bear them a boy'), Buddhism (`How wise were Buddha's words: Desire and lust were the source of disaster'), the deeply ingrained factor of not to loose (or save) one's face and even fortune tellers. Into the bargain, of course, there is sex (matchmakers, adultery, problems with mating of humans and even animals). These short stories shine through their `social realism' and their human touch. Highly recommended.

Ha Jin has created a collection of stories that are absolutely remarkable. "The Emperor" is a short story that ranks right beside The Lord of the Flies. With a ferocity not seen much these days, Ha Jin's short stories are forged in the same class as Dubliners by James Joyce, especially Joyce's "The Dead," but with a voice crossed between Hemminway and Dostoevsky