This book shares two Chinese tales of romance, placed in the setting of the Boxer Rebellion in the early 1900s. Western concepts of love were just starting to take root then in China’s artistic community, and these novels portray the first attempts to integrate these foreign themes in Chinese society. At the time, marital love, based in centuries of Confucian thought, was grounded in families, not individual feelings, so Western concepts stirred the cultural pot. These two stories convey two very different reactions, but enlighten readers about the historical impact of an integrated, globalized world.
The first tale “Stones in the Sea” is told in the first person, an usual trait for Chinese stories of this time. It tells of how a teenage young man fell in love with another young woman who lived nearby. His challenge is not so much to woo her but to persuade both families that their path is noble. The story is more of a simple love tale, but the cultural backdrop of ancient China stimulates readers’ imaginations. The Boxer Rebellion, when nationalistic factions fought against Western interests and their Chinese sympathizers, functions prominently to impact this story’s plot.
The second tale “The Sea of Regret” intertwines the Boxer Rebellion with two arranged marriages in a sophisticated manner. These arranged marriages, however, are not passionless; rather, the engaged couples must suffer deeply for each other as they flee southward as refugees. They, too, have deep elements of romantic love, less resembling Western teenage love in “Stones in the Sea” but more conveying a deep dedication to each other. Clearly, the author is attempting to integrate Western romantic love with traditional Chinese concepts of parental guidance for marriage. The added elements to this drama make it a thought-provoking tale, impressing comparably to present-day dramas.
As an American, I enjoyed reading how romantic love reared itself in another context. Even in China in the early 1900s, love and war seem forever enemies. “The Sea of Regret” is a literary masterpiece while “Stones in the Sea” seems more significant for its historical value as a first-person novel resembling Western romances. These plot structures provided a entertaining way to learn about Chinese society in that era. It shows that, despite traditions relatively isolated from each other, we humans aren’t that different from each other after all.
The Sea of Regret: Two Turn-of-the-Century Chinese Romantic Novels
By Wu Jianren & Fu Lin
Translated by Patrick Hanan
Copyright (c) 1995
University of Hawai’i Press
ISBN13 9780824817091
Page Count: 205
Genre: Chinese Literature; Romance
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