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Title: A Daughter of Han: The Autobiography of a Chinese Working Woman by Lao Toai-Toai Ning, Ning L. T'Ai-T'ai, Ida Pruitt, Lao T'Ai-T'ai Ning ISBN: 0-8047-0606-9 Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr Pub. Date: October, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Slice of Life
Comment: Ning Lao Ta'i-ta'i. _The Autobiography of a Chinese Working Woman. Translated and Transcribed by Ida Pruitt. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1967.
Every now and then I read an entire book in one for one or two reasons a) I have to read a book that I have put off for the time period in which I had to read it b) I become completely engrossed in it. I must say that, in the case of this book, it started off as the former and it ended up being the latter, although I still have to write a paper on it by tuesday.
This memoir was was orally transcribed by Ida Pruitt over a two year period in which Mrs. Ning visited her from 1936-38. Pruitt was forced to leave Beijing in 1938 when the Japanese invaded the series. In the brief introduction of the book, Pruitt informs the reader that she does not know what happened to Mrs. Ning after she returned to America. The brutallity of the Japanese army was not as great in Beijing as in such areas as Nanjing and Shanghai,but one can not help wondering about Mrs.Ning who the reader, or at least I, becomes quite attached to.
Mrs. Ning begins her tale by detailing how her family became established in the town of P'englai her family history is both entrenched in history and folklore and makes for a fascinting read. The book continues following her life from her childhood, marriage, hard times, working both for government officials and missionaries, and finally living in Beijing. The greatest thing about this book is the extraordinary detail Mrs. Ning goes into describing her everyday life. One can almost see oneself removing the fourth wall of the past and being able to see late Ching China. One gets to see a good picture of opium addiction and the dealings inside yamen, political offices, that are no longer controlled by skilled officials. A great book.
Rating: 4
Summary: I Really Liked this book!
Comment: I had to read this book for a core class in college and I thought that I would have hated it. Actually, I really liked it. It told of a Chinese working woman's life. It even gives the reader an insight into her lifestyle and her struggles during this tumuluous time in history. The story even touches on the japanese invasion. I didn't think this biography would be interesting but it was. I would recommended this book to anyone. It is a light read and it is very interesting.
Rating: 4
Summary: life of one Chinese woman
Comment: Ida Pruitt's biography of Ning Lao T'ai-t'ai (literally "old lady Ning"), a peasant woman of northeast China born in 1867, is a fascinating anecdotal retelling of Ning's personal history as she related it to the author over the course of their two year long friendship. The storyline of Ning's life: childhood, marriage, work, and children, is laid out in a chronological history, broken into separate sections at particular turning points; and yet a cohesive theme of hardship, oppression and poverty, of strong-willed women and weak men is carried throughout not only Ning's tales but also through the stories she relates of her ancestors and neighbors.
Pruitt writes in the voice of Ning as if she is translating, but what she is really doing is recalling Ning's stories of her life in the first half of the 20th century. Ning was born into an educated middle class family which had fallen on harder times. Her father wants a better situation for her marriage, but the older husband he choses for her becomes addicted to opium driving the family into poverty. To survive and feed her children Ning must become first a beggar, then a servant to various households: military, Muslim, bureaucrat, and finally to Christian missionaries. And Ning's voice does come across clearly; speaking against concubinage and prostitution, about the penury of employers, the need to support and keep family together.
By using a first person retelling of the stories Pruitt gives the impresssion of accuracy, yet there were 7 years between the conversations with Ning and the writing of the book. Also the apparent bias against Japanese in prologue and last chapter together with the pub. date of the book indicate a hidden agenda on the part of the author. Still, although limited to the view of this one woman's experience, Ning's story is reflective of the hardships of life for Chinese women before the Communist era.
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Title: The Search for Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence ISBN: 0393307808 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: October, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Emperor of China : Self-Portrait of K'ang-Hsi by JONATHAN D. SPENCE ISBN: 067972074X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 22 October, 1988 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Born Red: A Chronicle of the Cultural Revolution by Yuan Gao, Gao Yuan, Gao Yuan, William A. Joseph ISBN: 0804713693 Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr Pub. Date: April, 1987 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: A Woman Soldier's Own Story: The Autobiography of Xie Bingying by Xie Bingying, Lily Chia Brissman, Barry Brissman ISBN: 0425188507 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 25 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Son of the Revolution by Judith Shapiro, Liang Heng ISBN: 0394722744 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 February, 1984 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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