Rainbow

Written in 1929 by one of modern China’s best novelists, this work masterfully intertwines the political turbulence of 1920s China with the ideological awakening and romantic vicissitudes of a young Szechuanese women, Mei. Five years of her life, beginning with high school in conservative Chengtu, carry her from an early arranged marriage to her unfaithful cousin, through her escape to a job as a schoolteacher outside Chungking, to her life as an activist for women’s freedom and government reform in racy, liberal Shanghai. Through Mei, "a mirror reflecting other people’s ideas," Mao surveys in documentary-like fashion the iconoclastic ideas of the New Thought Tide. By her 23rd year, Mei, while unfulfilled in love, is fully engaged in activist stuggles, ready to break free from traditional mores as she plunges into an anti-government, anti-foreign riot. This naturalistic novel of youthful revolutionary zeal resonates strongly with events in China today. —D.E. Perushek, Univ. of Tennessee Libs., Knoxville