Product Description

In this dazzling, earthy novel -- winner of the prestigious Pegasus Prize for Literature -- Jia Pingwa presents an unforgettable chronicle of rural China, a world at once utterly alien and uncannily familiar. Called "impressive and revealing" (Kirkus Reviews), Turbulence follows the lives of two peasants, Golden Dog and Water Girl, through the post-Mao years and sets their star-crossed love for each other against the political upheavals of China itself. Pitted against the bureaucracy that hamstrings modern China, Golden Dog is an idealistic reporter not afraid to lash out at the abuses and corruption of the rival Tian and Gong clans. As he winds through a fascinating cast of revolutionary cadres, bureaucrats, fortune-tellers, blacksmiths, farmers, and artisans, Golden Dog, however, suffers a series of setbacks. Despite his love for the saintly Water Girl, the two seem destined to be kept apart by the vicissitudes of politics and culture -- she twice widowed and he pressured into an engagement with the seductive Yingying and, racked by guilt, turning at times to the lovely Shi Hua for solace. Part epic story, part love story, part political parable, Turbulence places the reader in a world where the I Ching exists alongside The Thoughts of Chairman Mao. Yet the sheer humanity of the novel transcends both cultural and political differences and makes it stunningly resonant to our own culture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #677406 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Winner of the 1991 Pegasus Prize, this ambitious novel depicts the struggles of Chinese peasants during the '80s, when the People's Republic began shifting toward a market economy. Along the Zhou River, in such places as the tiny village of Stream of Wandering Spirits and the larger Crossroads Township, the persistence of traditional superstitions and lack of modern conveniences make the setting seem closer to the 19th century than to the 21st. Add I Ching philosophy, Buddhist scripture and Communist Party teachings, all of which Jia adroitly weaves into his tale, and you come away with a fairly accurate picture of the beliefs and forces that motivate Golden Dog, the peasant protagonist of this novel. The plot, however, is fairly standard: one man against the corrupt system, represented by clans which dominate the Communist Party structure and use it for personal aggrandizement and also by those peasants who manipulate the already shaky economy. It is Golden Dog's fate to walk a thin ethical line as he seeks to loosen the grip of the clans while simultaneously engaging in free enterprise under the auspices of the Party. Jia's strength lies in characterization. His serviceable prose, like the Zhou River itself, moves slowly, carrying the reader to an ending that is predestined and unremarkable.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Jia Pingwa's novel of life in 1980s China will surprise some Americans and fascinate all. Far from being a Communist polemic, Turbulence is a work of earthy power whose main focus, the tension between unbridled capitalism and traditional social mores, is as pertinent in China as in America today. Both societies, though political opposites, share the same search for a balance between greed and responsibility. Jia Pingwa's characters explore this dichotomy brilliantly. In their mountain village, each tastes success and discovers its hidden cost. Golden Dog becomes an influential reporter but sacrifices love and self-realspect. His philosophical opposite, Dakong, earns great wealth through speculation, only to be brought down by the feuding bureaucrats whose power predates Mao himself. Beautiful Water Girl forms the solid center around whom the new and old worlds swirl. Through her leads the only path away from superstition and dogma. This is an exotic gift for all readers.
- Paul E. Hutchison, Pe quea, Pa.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Jia's US debut novel, awarded the 1991 Pegasus Prize, is a subtle, sinuous tale set in rural China in the 1980's--an epic of plain river people coping with incessant government meddling in their daily affairs. Existence along the Zhou River alternates between the mundane and the magical in Jia's experienced hands (twenty-four books, three of them novels) as the inhabitants of the village of Stream of Wandering Spirits and nearby White Rock Stockade spring vibrantly to life. Torn between the manipulations of rival Tian and Gong clans, both infinitely corruptible, the villagers languish until a capable young man decides to grab the bullies by the horns. Golden Dog, enthusiastic and daring, returns home from the army and organizes a profitable riverboat trade, which the powers-that-be quickly adopt as their own shipping brigade. Undaunted, Golden Dog deftly takes advantage of their weaknesses until chosen to become a journalist in Zhou City, a position he uses to great effect in exposing rampant graft and ineptitude in the bureaucracy. The hazards of his profession and his own self-doubt take their toll, however, as his beloved Water Girl marries another when circumstances and political pressure force them apart. Longing brings him back to his old friends as a local correspondent, but his reformist zeal earns him imprisonment and torture. When finally released, he goes back to the river with new plans and dreams, Water Girl at his side, but their future is as uncertain and muddy as a river flood. Country habits and haunting imagery greatly enrich this moral saga of a China at the crossroads, caught between old ways and new. Long-winded, perhaps, but impressive and revealing all the same. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Best Chinese Novelist's Best Book
Jia Pingwa in his country, just like Faulkner in Mississippi. He knows the people, he loves the people and he writes the people. Read his book, you will know them.

Great Insight into Chinese culture
I found this book very good and very insightful into the minds of the average Chinese person. I highly recommend this book.

Unreadable
At the time of my writing this review, there isn't a single serious review of this book. I think this is because no one can actually finish it. I picked this up at a used bookstore and the first page is full of beautiful flowing prose and lush descriptions. However, the novel itself jumps around chaotically. Impressively long paragraphs of unrelated sentences make for a hard reading. I've picked it back up three times now and still have not gotten a third of the way through.

The subject is fascinating and I would love to get through this book, but so far I find it essentially unreadable. Perhaps it is the fault of the translator, perhaps it is the author. I doubt it is me, for I enjoy involved literature. It is my opinion that almost no one wants to actually slog through this novel, no matter how beautiful the prose is.