Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

This book full with funny story with the background of sorrow, it was written by Dai Sijie, a Chinese writer (born in 1954) who run away to France in 1984 and write this book in his escaping land. The book seems to be a semi autobiography of him self, because the book telling about two young man who get a "re-education" from the Mao's government, meanwhile Sijie himself also got "re-education" in the year of 1971-1974. Maybe this is what inspiring him to make this book, and comes out to be a very touching memorable story. The copyright have been sold to 19 country, although unfortunately this book still banded by the Chinese government.

This novel telling a story about Sijie's unnamed 17-year-old protagonist and his best friend, Luo, are bourgeois doctors' sons. In the era of Mao's government when all of the young intellectuals was send to a program called "re-education" to live with the farmers in a village as a program to clean all the young intellectuals mind in the years 1971-1974. Because "young Sijie" and his best friend was young intellectuals group, and so they condemned to serve four years in a remote mountain "re-education" program.

Every day they have to work in a traditional mine and have to carry pails of excrement daily up a hill. Only their ingenuity helps them to survive. The two friends are good at storytelling, and the village headman commands them to put on "oral cinema shows" for the villagers, reciting the plots and dialogue of movies. One thing that makes them happy in the "re-education" time is their meeting with the "Princess of Hong Mountain" a.k.a "the little seamstress" from the other village who really loves their stories. The two young man very exciting to tell their stories to the little Chinese seamstress.

In other village the two young men have a best friend which they call "the four eyes", he is also in the "re-education" program. He has a secret suitcase which hold lots of book from western writers that was already translate to Chinese. In that time, all of those books were a forbidden book in china, if anyone known to have it they will have to deal wit the mean minister. But both of the young man (luo and "me") very interesting with those book. And after some persuasion they make to "the four eyes", they can read a thin book that is the book of Balzac and make it as an entertainment for them self so they can let their imagination free.

When "the four eyes" leaves the mountains, the friends steal the suitcase full of forbidden books that he has been hiding. They dare to tell the story of The Count of Monte Cristo to the village tailor and to read Balzac to his shy and beautiful young daughter. Luo, who adores the Little Seamstress, dreams of transforming her from a simple country girl into a sophisticated lover with his foreign tales. He succeeds, but the result is not what he might have hoped for. Who about the ending of the story? Well again I won't tell it to much to keep your interest in this book on fire ;). Do enjoy the reading because this book certainly worth it.