NATIONAL, BOOK REVIEW: A Review of a Taiwan Masterpiece
by Li Mu
Fairly speaking, it is one of the most celebrated novels written by a most celebrated Chinese writer in Taiwan, but is rarely mentioned in Mainland China except in literary circles and some of the most exclusive circles. The reason is almost natural: it is about gays.
At this point if you are unclear of the writer and his work, I strongly recommend you to skip this piece, since it is as difficult to change ignorance and prejudices as to change sexuality if you happen to regard gays as beasts coveting nasty sex games that brings about AIDS and vile impact on your children and social instability. You will not know how vulnerable love and hope is in the hearts of Crystal Boys (孽子) of Bai Xianyong(or Pai Hsien-yung 白先勇).
According to my opinion, the title of his work, "孽子", should be literally translated as SINFUL SONS. When Chinese see a character like "孽", they see doomed evil, like monstrous floods and droughts, corrupting their flesh and fate. "孽子" are sons born by illegal wives who are not supposed to remain in the family even under the roof of the most benevolent fathers.
The story was written "for those castaway boys wandering alone on the streets of Taipei in the darkest night," setting at the New Park at the beginning of 70s. It was a time when Kuomintang had settled down in Taiwan after it was defeated in 1949 by CPC after three years of civil war. Its soldiers and members, who came from Mainland China, were separated from their homes since.In Taiwan, dominating patriarchal family values centering on the union of man and woman and the bringing-up of male offspring was intolerant of homosexuality, which was generally little known among older generations.
Chrystal boys was adapted into TV series in Taiwan, 2003.
Evasion from family and future
Li Qing was expelled from home by his angry father, because he was discovered to have sexual involvements with a lab administer at his high school. He became settled in New Park, a kingdom of gay boys who had lost homes as he did, where Yang, an experienced adult honored as the master, took care of the boys. The boys hide from the public in the day and lurk under the thick wooded lotus pond at night, discreetly hiding from patrolling police. It was in this kingdom and the voice of Li Qing the lives of these boys were unraveled.
He would have become a distinguished officer, had Li Qing followed the wish of his father, who had a brilliant military career before settling down in a slum in Taiwan. But Li's dream crumbled at the death of his younger brother, whom he shared a life with after his mother eloped from the family at the time he was eight.The memory of his brother haunted him throughout his vagrancy, pushing him to find substitutes he could care as a brother.
Besides a school notice anouncing Li was expelled, no clues were given on when he had became aware of his sexual identity and why he had sexual involvements with the lab administer.Was it because he wished to stray into a erotic life when he did not see a promised future with his brother? Or was it because he had been burdened with unspoken passion for the one he could not bear to lose?
Care, Chases and Clashes
The story of Wang Kuilong (which means A vile dragon in ancient times that brings about tempest and flood) and A Feng (a male phoenix) was told as a legend at New Park. Son of a senior official, Kuilong fell tragically in love with the wild boy grown up in an orphanage. The combine of a vile dragon and a phoenix was doomed with fierce, unyielding combats.
In Feng there is a strange combination of self-denial and self-respect. He deserted himself as a deserted child of the society, "dirty and sick". But in strange self-respect, he defied people trying to help him, disregarding everything given to him. Despite their differences, Kuilong was unyielding in his pursuit, when A Feng kept running away, desperately evading his possession. "I am not born with a heart." A Feng said to Kuilong, who replied:"If you don't have one, I will give mine to you."
One night Kuilong found A Feng ready to go away with an old man. In his madness, he killed A Feng, which caused him to go to court. His furious father, Wang Shangde(in Chinese means "respecting virtue"), banned Kuilong from home till his death. Kuilong strayed in New York "as if with a curse on his back" for ten years before he returned to Taipei, and yet he was not even permitted to attend his father's funeral.
Kuilong, like Li Qing, chases after shadows of the past from substitutes. In his stray in New York, he took care of boys on the street, who reminded him of A Feng, and did not even care when he got hurt.
Reunion and Repentance
Mr. Fu, one of the respected personages secretly helping the boys out. He was a former division commander of Kuomintang, had fought against Japanese invaders during the war. After settling down in Taiwan, he was among the most respected social class and was also a friend of Wang Shangde. Like Li Qing's father, he expected his only son to have a brilliant military career. But his expectation was shattered when he discovered his son had sexual involvements with another soldier. He dictated his extreme disappointment over the phone to His son, whose pride and respect for father led to suicide. Reconciled with the harsh fate, Mr. Fu started to offer his hand to the boys.
Model of the older generation, Mr. Fu cherished old Chinese value of raising a son to continue his career and contribute to the homeland. It was difficult for him to tolerate what was so sharply against mainstream values. The tragic ending of his son is a miniature of the overall tragic split between fathers and rebellious sons: when sons find themselves incompatible to their traditional homes, they either lose it or die.
Unable to meet their own lost ones, Mr. Fu and Wang Kuilong came across the gap to speak to each other as a father and a son, which makes the most dramatic culmination of the novel.
The son, with sad indignation, reproved his father for being so harsh to him: "He hated me so much! Didn't even let me see his face for the one last time! Without leaving a word, he is gone. Isn't he cursing me? He wanted me to go to hell!" The father, with the same indignation, shouted: "It's too unfair of you to talk your father like that! When you are bearing a grudge about your father, have you ever considered how much pain your father had felt? Do you think you can recompense what your father has suffered? Do you think you are the only one bearing the sorrow? You're hurt, but your father is hurt even more." "Then why wouldn't he let me see him for the last time?" "He couldn't bear to see you again, even before he closed his eyes."
Bai Xianyong has said, the novel is about father-son relations and recompense. The father represents Chinese social values and attitudes towards younger generations, and the conflict of father and son represent the conflict of individual and society. As a result of their split from the family, the boys find "pseudo-fathers" and other companions to compensate for what they have lost.
But these castaway boys never found real home in a society that called them as "freaks", and put them to prison and never escape shadows of love and hope.
It is said that the condition of gays at present in Taipei is much better than the 70s. The New Park (which Wang Kuilong considered to be the ugliest park) has been renamed as 228 memorial park in memory of the 228 massacre, and has seen no homeless boys nowadays. Those crystal boys are elsewhere now.
Fairly speaking, it is one of the most celebrated novels written by a most celebrated Chinese writer in Taiwan, but is rarely mentioned in Mainland China except in literary circles and some of the most exclusive circles. The reason is almost natural: it is about gays.
At this point if you are unclear of the writer and his work, I strongly recommend you to skip this piece, since it is as difficult to change ignorance and prejudices as to change sexuality if you happen to regard gays as beasts coveting nasty sex games that brings about AIDS and vile impact on your children and social instability. You will not know how vulnerable love and hope is in the hearts of Crystal Boys (孽子) of Bai Xianyong(or Pai Hsien-yung 白先勇).
According to my opinion, the title of his work, "孽子", should be literally translated as SINFUL SONS. When Chinese see a character like "孽", they see doomed evil, like monstrous floods and droughts, corrupting their flesh and fate. "孽子" are sons born by illegal wives who are not supposed to remain in the family even under the roof of the most benevolent fathers.
The story was written "for those castaway boys wandering alone on the streets of Taipei in the darkest night," setting at the New Park at the beginning of 70s. It was a time when Kuomintang had settled down in Taiwan after it was defeated in 1949 by CPC after three years of civil war. Its soldiers and members, who came from Mainland China, were separated from their homes since.In Taiwan, dominating patriarchal family values centering on the union of man and woman and the bringing-up of male offspring was intolerant of homosexuality, which was generally little known among older generations.
Evasion from family and future
Li Qing was expelled from home by his angry father, because he was discovered to have sexual involvements with a lab administer at his high school. He became settled in New Park, a kingdom of gay boys who had lost homes as he did, where Yang, an experienced adult honored as the master, took care of the boys. The boys hide from the public in the day and lurk under the thick wooded lotus pond at night, discreetly hiding from patrolling police. It was in this kingdom and the voice of Li Qing the lives of these boys were unraveled.
He would have become a distinguished officer, had Li Qing followed the wish of his father, who had a brilliant military career before settling down in a slum in Taiwan. But Li's dream crumbled at the death of his younger brother, whom he shared a life with after his mother eloped from the family at the time he was eight.The memory of his brother haunted him throughout his vagrancy, pushing him to find substitutes he could care as a brother.
Besides a school notice anouncing Li was expelled, no clues were given on when he had became aware of his sexual identity and why he had sexual involvements with the lab administer.Was it because he wished to stray into a erotic life when he did not see a promised future with his brother? Or was it because he had been burdened with unspoken passion for the one he could not bear to lose?
Care, Chases and Clashes
The story of Wang Kuilong (which means A vile dragon in ancient times that brings about tempest and flood) and A Feng (a male phoenix) was told as a legend at New Park. Son of a senior official, Kuilong fell tragically in love with the wild boy grown up in an orphanage. The combine of a vile dragon and a phoenix was doomed with fierce, unyielding combats.
In Feng there is a strange combination of self-denial and self-respect. He deserted himself as a deserted child of the society, "dirty and sick". But in strange self-respect, he defied people trying to help him, disregarding everything given to him. Despite their differences, Kuilong was unyielding in his pursuit, when A Feng kept running away, desperately evading his possession. "I am not born with a heart." A Feng said to Kuilong, who replied:"If you don't have one, I will give mine to you."
One night Kuilong found A Feng ready to go away with an old man. In his madness, he killed A Feng, which caused him to go to court. His furious father, Wang Shangde(in Chinese means "respecting virtue"), banned Kuilong from home till his death. Kuilong strayed in New York "as if with a curse on his back" for ten years before he returned to Taipei, and yet he was not even permitted to attend his father's funeral.
Kuilong, like Li Qing, chases after shadows of the past from substitutes. In his stray in New York, he took care of boys on the street, who reminded him of A Feng, and did not even care when he got hurt.
Reunion and Repentance
Mr. Fu, one of the respected personages secretly helping the boys out. He was a former division commander of Kuomintang, had fought against Japanese invaders during the war. After settling down in Taiwan, he was among the most respected social class and was also a friend of Wang Shangde. Like Li Qing's father, he expected his only son to have a brilliant military career. But his expectation was shattered when he discovered his son had sexual involvements with another soldier. He dictated his extreme disappointment over the phone to His son, whose pride and respect for father led to suicide. Reconciled with the harsh fate, Mr. Fu started to offer his hand to the boys.
Model of the older generation, Mr. Fu cherished old Chinese value of raising a son to continue his career and contribute to the homeland. It was difficult for him to tolerate what was so sharply against mainstream values. The tragic ending of his son is a miniature of the overall tragic split between fathers and rebellious sons: when sons find themselves incompatible to their traditional homes, they either lose it or die.
Unable to meet their own lost ones, Mr. Fu and Wang Kuilong came across the gap to speak to each other as a father and a son, which makes the most dramatic culmination of the novel.
The son, with sad indignation, reproved his father for being so harsh to him: "He hated me so much! Didn't even let me see his face for the one last time! Without leaving a word, he is gone. Isn't he cursing me? He wanted me to go to hell!" The father, with the same indignation, shouted: "It's too unfair of you to talk your father like that! When you are bearing a grudge about your father, have you ever considered how much pain your father had felt? Do you think you can recompense what your father has suffered? Do you think you are the only one bearing the sorrow? You're hurt, but your father is hurt even more." "Then why wouldn't he let me see him for the last time?" "He couldn't bear to see you again, even before he closed his eyes."
Bai Xianyong has said, the novel is about father-son relations and recompense. The father represents Chinese social values and attitudes towards younger generations, and the conflict of father and son represent the conflict of individual and society. As a result of their split from the family, the boys find "pseudo-fathers" and other companions to compensate for what they have lost.
But these castaway boys never found real home in a society that called them as "freaks", and put them to prison and never escape shadows of love and hope.
It is said that the condition of gays at present in Taipei is much better than the 70s. The New Park (which Wang Kuilong considered to be the ugliest park) has been renamed as 228 memorial park in memory of the 228 massacre, and has seen no homeless boys nowadays. Those crystal boys are elsewhere now.
