China Waiting by Ha Jun:

China

Waiting by Ha Jun:

A Novel and Its Portrayal of Chinese Friction

and the Socio-Political, Historical,

and Cultural Contexts in Mao Years

Waiting by Ha Jin was published in 1999. This is a tale of a love triangle in China during the Cultural Revolution. Lin Kong, a military doctor, was forced into marriage by his parents in 1962. He is extremely disappointed when he meets his wife, Shuyu, and discovers that she is unattractive, old in appearance, and has bound feet. But Lin marries her anyway under pressure from his parents. They have one child, a girl named Hua, but Lin is unhappy in his marriage. He soon becomes entangled with another woman, Manna Wu. Lin desires to divorce Shuyu to marry Manna, but the officials in his small country town will not allow a divorce without the wife's agreement. Shuyu will not agree. Due to cultural pressure, as well as her love for Lin, Manna Wu decides to wait for him. Military law will allow an officer to obtain a divorce without the wife's approval - after eighteen years. Waiting tells the story of this long, long wait.

The plot, conflicts, and themes in this story are a consistent portrayal of the culture during the time it took place. Waiting began its story in 1966, when the Cultural Revolution began and Chairman Mao was at the height of his power. It continued through the 1980's when China was still trying to recover from the devastating effects of the Cultural Revolution.

The Cultural Revolution took place from 1966 to 1976. It was a social movement that involved the persecution of capitalist elements in order to perpetuate Chinese socialist ideals. The Cultural Revolution brought about major changes in Chinese politics, economy, and civilization. These changes were portrayed consistently and accurately in Ha Jin's book, as well as the way that women were seen and treated during this time.

Shuyu was a woman caught between the old world and the new. The Chinese practice of foot binding was no longer a common practice during her childhood, yet her mother had insisted on binding Shuyu's feet. Her mother told her that because her face was so ugly, foot binding would be her only chance of making a good marriage. In her mother's time, tiny bound feet were called "Golden Lotus" and considered to be a treasure. But in Shuyu's and Lin's time, they were considered old-fashioned. Only woman of an older generation had bound feet, and Shuyu's feet were immensely embarrassing to her husband. In fact, Lin was so ashamed that he refused to allow his wife to visit him in the city for seventeen years. This is a good example of the way that girls and women were thought of as property and bound to obey first their parents' and then their husband's expectations, regardless of their own feelings or desires.

Manna, Lin's girlfriend, was more of a modern Chinese woman. She was educated and enlisted in the military. She was a nurse and had a career. She wore bright clothing and played volley ball. But she was still subject to the old Chinese traditions about a woman's place in society.

After Manna and Lin had been dating for a while, all of their acquaintances and co-workers began to treat her as Lin's fiancee, which was proper according to social mores. Yet they were not allowed to marry until Lin's divorce was granted; and they both internalized traditional customs to such a great extent that they did not have a sexual relationship for the entire eighteen years they spent waiting for Lin's divorce.

In a way, Manna was forced into waiting for Lin by social and political traditions. The Chinese military had very strict regulations that unmarried officers had to follow. These traditions were enforced by harsh official penalties, as well as social sanctions. Mannu began to date Lin at the age of 26. She initially believed that he would be able to easily and quickly obtain a divorce from Shuyu and then marry her. She did not count on Lin's divorce taking eighteen years. In Chinese society, a woman is considered an old maid at the age of 28, and when Manna reached this age, it became difficult for her to find another husband. Besides being thought of as Lin's fiancee, and therefore his property, no other man would concede to marry her because her age made her an undesirable mate. And after her rape became publicly known, Manna was first ridiculed and shamed, then she was viewed as Lin's wife because she was no longer a virgin. Before this event made it would have been difficult for her to marry another man; this event made it impossible.

In the novel, Ha Jin describes the difficulties that Manna and Lin had during their courtship. These fictional impediments are an accurate portrayal of the political and social climate during the Cultural Revolution. There was an army regulation that forbade unmarried partied of the opposite sex to walk together outside the walls of the compound. This regulation is an example of social expectations for women at this time, mainly that women were to remain chaste and under no circumstances should they behave in a way that would cast doubt on their chastity. The result of this rule was that Manna and Lin were forced to see each other within the compound, and consequently within sight of their comrades. Because it was common knowledge how much time they spent together, Manna was treated as Lin's fiancee and later, his wife. This is another example of society's expectations. It was a common perception that any couple who spent so much time together in public were going to be married. Eventually, Manna's pay, food coupons, and mail were sent directly to Lin. Chinese social custom directed that a man should have control of every aspect of a woman's life, including her money and her mail.

The novel Waiting marked the end of a time when women had absolutely no say at all; they did not even have their own names. When Lin's mother was buried in the mid-60's, her headstone read merely, "Kong's Wife." The country was going through great social and cultural changes, and Lin's wife Shuyu was a victim of this transitional period. Because she was born in the country, and not in the city as Manna, she was raised by parents who had very old-fashioned and traditional values and readily internalized those values herself. Shuyu's mother still believed that a man found tiny feet attractive. Because she saw her daughter Shuyu as ugly, she made Shuyu bind her feet and told her that it would be her only chance to make a good marriage. However, by the time that Shuyu was ready to be married, the male viewpoint had changed. Bound feet were now obsolete and the immense pain that Shuyu had been forced to bear in order to make her attractive to her future husband was not gratified. Also, during this time, women in the country were expected to work hard and received little to no education. Shuyu had aged rapidly due to many hours of manual labor. Lin was embarrassed and ashamed of Shuyu's looks and her ignorance and refused to be seen in the city with her.

A good example of the contrast between Shuyu's outdated values and Lin's more modern ones happened during the first year that Lin tried to ask his wife for a divorce. Lin went home annually to see to his family and his house. Towards the end of his visit, Shuyu came to his bed at night and asked him if he could stay with him. She was suggesting that they have a sexual encounter. She apologized to Lin for being "shameless" but said that she has been thinking of giving him a son. She explains to Lin her reasoning for wanting a son, citing that they will need a son to help them in their old age and that "a girl isn't a reliable thing." Lin responds by telling her that having a son to carry on the family line is "a feudal idea" and he does not want or need a son. Lin's realization that Shuyu harbors no doubt whatsoever that they will be married for the rest of their lives causes him to proclaim her "a simple-hearted woman!" To himself. (Jin, 1999, p. 114-15.)

Throughout the book, Ha Jin describes ways that China's customs, mores, and laws made women inferior to men and even put their lives at risk. Even though Waiting is fiction, it closely resembles the way that life really was in this country during the Cultural Revolution. The Chinese army had a sector called the Political Department, rather similar to a Human Resources or Personnel Department today, with the glaring exception that the Political Department concerned itself with the morals and values of its staff. In the beginning of Manna's and Lin's relationship, they were both called into the Political Department. The nature and intent of their friendship was questioned, and they a promise was extracted from them both that they would have no abnormal relationship until Lin was divorced and they were married. It was implied and understood clearly that "abnormal" meant "sexual" and that if they broke this promise, their careers and futures would be in jeopardy. This incident shows the way that Chinese society viewed sex and marriage. Sexual intercourse was a very private thing that a woman reserved for her husband and a man and woman reserved only for marriage. Anyone who was caught to violate this practice was judged to be immoral and would be harshly criticized and even ostracized by the community.