Chinese Whispers: A Journey into Betrayal,By Jan Wong, Atlantic Books, £8.99
Jan Wong was one of the first foreign students at Beijing University, where she arrived from Canada in 1972, at the height of the Cultural Revolution. Wong, a committed Maoist, pitched in, digging ditches and working on farms while studying. A fellow student, Yin Luoyi, asked her for help to leave for the US; Wong reported her to the university authorities. Yin disappeared, and Wong forgot the incident. Decades later, while reading her student diaries, the incident came flooding back to Wong, who was now a successful journalist. Having long ago shed her fascination with Maoism, Wong returned to Beijing for a month, family in tow, to try to find Yin, 33 years after she betrayed her.
That Wong has set herself a task with almost no chance of success is admirable. She is a good reporter, and is voracious in her search for the telling detail. Occasionally, some of the stories are a little dull on the page, but this is a minor oversight in a comprehensive book. It is an exploration of one of the darkest periods in Chinese history, a time that the characters here seem unwilling to examine or discuss.
Surprisingly, it is not a harrowing experience; Wong’s wit and sharpness bring the issues into clear focus without wringing any hands. Her irreverent style is never used to better effect than when she marvels at her earlier naivety and fundamentalism.
Modern China is perhaps progressing at a rate never experienced by any country in history, and Wong is a deft and intelligent guide to its relentless evolution. She is also aptly dismayed at the way in which the city is scrubbing out its history and environment, and perhaps this book is her effort to keep her own history and, more importantly, Yin Luoyi’s story alive, intact and undemolished by the rush to progress.
lmackin@irishtimes.com