Phoenix Terrace

Author: Xiang Ben Gui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: Liu Baoshan, a demobilized soldier who came from a long-term worker background, returns to his hometown, Fenghuangtai, to serve as a grassroots official. He is determined to lead his fellow villagers to "have enough to eat" and "live in brick houses." Over the course of more than two decades, he experiences the primary cooperative society, advanced cooperative society, people's commune, Great Leap Forward, three years of natural disasters, and the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution. The more things get stirred up, the poorer they become, even to the point of watching his relatives starve to death before his eyes. It wasn't until the reform and opening-up that these two aspirations of Chinese farmers were finally realized. This demonstrates that the larger climate hasn't changed, and any individual effort is futile. In this sense, this book is a manifesto condemning the extreme-leftist line and also an ode to the reform and opening-up. The success of this book lies in its creation of vivid and lifelike characters, as well as its reflection of the era's turmoil through the depiction of their fates and experiences. Among them, Liu Baoshan stands out. Liu Baoshan's reverence for the "Old Class Leader," a true communist, his hatred for Tian Zhongjie who broke up his marriage, his tenderness for several women in his life, and his tenacious spirit in repeatedly failing and trying again to overcome poverty all make this outstanding rural grassroots official's image leap off the page. Tian Dabang is another successful character. He embodies the characteristics of Chinese farmers—hardworking, kind, selfish, and cunning. Born into a landlord family, he survives numerous movements with a narrow escape. What keeps him going is, first, his belief that the government will bring a better life to farmers, a promise made personally by Mao Zedong when the Red Army marched north to resist Japan; and second, his hope of eating a few full meals before his death, which is also the social foundation for why the reform and opening-up gained the support of the vast majority of Chinese people. In the history of modern and contemporary Chinese literature, when landlords are written about, they are either portrayed as evil or corrupt. Tian Dabang's character represents a significant breakthrough in literary history. The author grew up in the countryside, understood the rural areas deeply, and harbors a profound love for the land and his fellow villagers. Over decades of creative career, he has been inseparably tied to the countryside, and this book is a culmination of his work. Not only do the major events in the history of the rural areas of the People's Republic of China find truthful reflection in the book, but even a single detail is not made up. It may not always be better than life, but it is always rooted in life.