A Thousand Years of Good Prayers: Stories (19 page)

But then, there was no other choice for him. The decision he made—wasn’t it out of loyalty to the wife, and to the other woman? How could he have admitted the love affair, hurt his good wife, and remained a selfish rocket scientist— or, even more impossible, given up a career, a wife, and a two-year-old daughter for the not so glorious desire to spend a lifetime with another woman? “
It is what we sacrifice that
makes life meaningful
”—Mr. Shi says the line that was often repeated in their training. He shakes his head hard. A foreign country gives one foreign thoughts, he thinks. For an old man like him, it is not healthy to ponder too much over memory. A good man should live in the present moment, with Madam, a dear friend sitting next to him, holding up a perfect golden ginkgo leaf to the sunshine for him to see.

Acknowledgments

I am deeply grateful to Kate Medina, my editor, and Richard Abate, my agent, for their trust, insight, and support; Kate Lee and Danielle Posen for all the hard work; editors who have taken risks on a new voice: Brigid Hughes, Cressida Leyshon, Deborah Treisman, Don Lee, Alex Linklater, Michael Ray, Linda Swanson-Davies, Susan Burmeister-Brown, and David Hamilton; the Paris Review Foundation and the Medway Institute for their generosity in offering space and time for this project; and Connie Brothers, whom I admire for countless reasons.

To teachers and writers whose wisdom has inspired me in the past two years: Marilynne Robinson, Frank Conroy, Edward Carey, and Stuart Dybek.

To friends for their support: Chen Reis, Amy Leach, Jebediah Reed, Kerry Reilly, Paul Ingram, Marilyn Abildskov, Katherine Bell, Timothy O’Sullivan, and Anne O’Reilly.

To my family for believing in everything I do.

Endless gratitude to the following people, who have changed my life: James Alan McPherson, my mentor; Barbara Bryan, my forever first reader; and Aviya Kushner, the enhancer of everything good in the world.

A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS

Yiyun Li

A Reader’s Guide

A Conversation with Yiyun Li

QUESTION:
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
presents readers with a stunning vision of China, past and present. When you think of your homeland, what thoughts or images come to mind? What are your feelings about China today?

YIYUN LI:
I have always said that there are two Chinas. The first is a country filled with people, like my family and many others, who try to lead serious and meaningful lives despite the political, economic and cultural dilemmas they face. The second is a country with a government controlled by one party, made rich from corruption and injustice. I love the first China but do not love the second. So when I think about China today, I always have mixed feelings.

Q: When did you come to America, and what brought you here?

YL:
I came to America in 1996 to attend the University of Iowa. I had planned to pursue a Ph.D. in immunology and hoped to stay in the medical science field as a researcher.

Q: But instead of becoming an immunologist, you became a writer—that is quite a switch! How did that happen?

YL:
I had never thought of becoming a writer nor had I written anything before I came to Iowa. But once there I stumbled into a community writing class, which led to more writing classes, and I began to seriously consider changing my career.

Q: Such a career change must have been quite daunting. What inspired you to actually pursue writing? Did you have a literary role model or teacher, who encouraged you along the way?

YL:
Several teachers early on were very encouraging and supportive, among them the Pulitzer Prize–winner James Alan McPherson, a great mentor and friend. When he read my first story, “Immortality,” he became so excited that he actually tracked me down through a friend. He asked her to bring me two things: a present for my baby (I was seven months pregnant when I workshopped the story with him), and a message saying I was a great writer and that I had to keep writing. From that moment on I had no doubt that I wanted to write, and that I wanted to write well.

My literary role model is William Trevor, a great writer himself and a true gentleman. I always consider him my most important teacher in writing. I read his work again and again to get to my own voice.

Q: Speaking about your own voice and approach, how do you go about constructing a story? What process do you go through, to imagine the characters, structure, and plotline?

YL:
I like to ask myself what kind of character would do certain things that other people would not do. For instance, I once saw a news clip that reported a beggar coming into a crowded marketplace with a sign: “If you give me ten yuan, I will let you cut me once; if you finish my life in one cut, you don’t owe me anything.” It was just one of the hundreds of little tales we hear and see every day, but I could not forget the beggar. In my mind, I kept imagining a woman who would come forward and cut the beggar with all justification and tenderness. What kind of character would do this? I thought about this and eventually the character Sansan (from “Love in the Marketplace”) came to me. Most of my stories come this way, with a minor character (sometimes very minor) as a seed for imagination.

Q: I was struck by a wonderful line in the title story about the power of a new language. As Mr. Shi’s daughter says, a new language “makes you a new person.” Did you find this to be true when you began writing in English?

YL:
Absolutely. For me, writing in English is the most liberating experience. In English, I am free to express things that I would have consciously censored—both out of political pressure and cultural pressure—had I been writing in Chinese.

Q: The “American dream” is a prevalent theme in your work. What does it mean to you personally, and also in your storytelling?

YL:
For me, the American dream meant that I could pick up writing and become a writer, something I had never dared to dream before coming here. For my characters, it means freedom to escape totalitarian control on many different levels—from parental supervision to the ideological control of the Communist party.

Q: The stories in this collection are infused with aphorism and mythology. Where did you learn these wise and wonderful proverbs?

YL:
Most of them I inherited from Chinese tradition and translated into English. Someone at a reading once said that he counted more than sixty of these sayings and I was quite surprised by the number. A lot of them are used in dialogue, which is how Chinese speak: full of proverbs and references to mythology. I used these to make the dialogue more genuine.

Q: Along those lines, what is your own favorite adage about life?

YL:
There is a saying in Chinese: For someone to achieve anything, he has to first work as hard as he can; whether he is allowed the achievement, however, is determined afterwards by the heavenly power. I think the saying reflects how I feel about life and my characters. Several readers have commented on the fatalism of many of the characters in the stories, and I think that the fatalism came with my belief in this Chinese saying.

Q: Are you working on anything new?

YL:
I am working on a novel set in China in 1979. It tells the story of the disintegration of a community after a public execution of a female political prisoner.

Q: America’s history with China is complex, to say the least, and will be a defining relationship for the world of the twenty-first century. What do you think Americans should know about China that they might not already know? On the other hand, what do you think the Chinese should know about Americans?

YL:
One time, I met two old women in the street here in America who read “Extra” and loved the story. They said to me, “we both agreed we could be Granny Lin.” Another time someone told me that after reading “The Princess of Nebraska,” he realized every Chinese graduate student he walked past in the street might have a rich story. These are the things that I think people in both countries tend to forget—that deep down we are all human beings, and the pains and joys we have are the same. In a way, I think the two countries are set up in the public view as competitors, which can lead some Americans and Chinese to feel wariness or animosity toward one another. But in the end, people here in America are like what you will find in China, too.

Questions and Topics for Discussion

For “Extra”

Consider Granny Lin and Kang. How is each an “extra”? What explains their bond?

Granny Lin cherishes her time with Kang as her “brief love story” (p. 22). What does she mean by this? Granny Lin also believes that “to love someone is to want to please him, even when one is not able to” (p. 19). How does this hold true in her friendship with Kang? How would you describe what it means to truly love someone?

Why does Granny Lin think the truth is futile? Discuss her reaction to Old Tang’s death, and to Kang’s disappearance. Why doesn’t Granny defend herself? How do other characters in
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
view the possibility for achieving truth and justice?

For “After A Life”

Why did Jian’s birth turn the Sus’s relationship cold, although the challenge of Beibei’s condition did not? Why were Mr. and Mrs. Su able to share misfortune, but not happiness?

Imagine the questions that Mr. Su never gathered the courage to ask Mrs. Su. What might he want to ask her, in his deepest heart? Why does he decide, instead, that “things unsaid had better remain so” (p. 40)?

Discuss the theme of shame in “After a Life,” and the many forms it takes in both the Su and Fong families. Does anyone overcome the weight of shame? Who deals with it best? Who hides it and remains imprisoned by it? What roles do honor and dishonor play throughout the entire collection of stories?

For “Immortality”

Describe the identity of the narrator of “Immortality.” What atmosphere does this collective voice create?

Assess the complex attitudes of the people toward the Great Papas, the dictator, and the impersonator. How are these cultural figures—heroes and villains both—“larger than the universe” (p. 53) yet vulnerable to time? Do they achieve immortality in the hearts and minds of the people?

Yiyun Li presents the history of China through aphorism, mythology and storytelling. What does one gain from such a literary portrayal that one does not through history books?

For “The Princess of Nebraska”

“The Princess of Nebraska” is set in the heartland of America, during a small street parade. Discuss the juxtaposition of each character’s life in China with his or her new experiences in America. How do they each react in this new environment?

Sasha believes that “moving on” (p. 69) is an American concept that suits her well. Do you agree that Americans have a unique ability to start fresh and forget the past? Do you see this optimism reflected in other cultures, or would you agree that it is an American outlook? Later, Sasha says Americans are “born to be themselves, naïve and contented with their naivety” (p. 78). Describe the insights behind this appraisal. Do you agree or disagree? What does this story reveal about Chinese and American psyches, and how do these revelations resonate throughout the entire book?

At the end of “The Princess of Nebraska,” what do you think Sasha decides to do about the baby?

For “Love in the Marketplace”

Why does Sansan love the movie
Casablanca
so dearly? In what ways does it encompass “all she wants to teach the students about life?” (p. 95)

Discuss Sansan’s sacrifice. Did she act virtuously or foolishly? What lies beneath her fierce attachment to the notion of her own “nobleness” (p. 102)? Later, why is Sansan so tenderly affected by the beggar in the marketplace, and his “promise”?

For “Son”

Think about Sansan in “Love in the Marketplace,” Han in “Son,” and Mr. Shi’s daughter in “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.” How are the children of this generation in China, now adults, breaking away from the traditions of, and duties to, their parents?

What moves Han to reveal the long-kept secret of his sexuality to his mother? Were you surprised by her reaction? Is Han’s mother as “traditional” as he believes?

For “The Arrangement”

Why does Ruolan’s mother refuse a divorce? What is the “arrangement” that she has worked out with Uncle Bing and Ruolan’s father?

Uncle Bing says he’s “one of those fools who puts a magic leaf in front of his eyes and then stops seeing mountains and seas” (p. 143). What does this mean? Have you ever fallen victim to a similar preoccupation?

For “Death Is Not A Bad Joke If Told The Right Way”

What does Mrs. Pang mean when she says “Nobody knows who he will become tomorrow?” (p. 152) What does this sentiment reveal about life in China?

Discuss the importance of Mr. Du’s orchids. Why is Mr. Du happy when they go out of fashion? What do the orchids mean to him?

Do you think Mrs. Pang have been proud of Mr. Pang at the end of his life, as the girl believes?

For “Persimmons”

Describe the view of life and death that the villagers hold. Is existence controlled by fate? God? Man? Consider, also, their attitude toward the possibility for justice.

For “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers”

Describe the emotional barriers to communication in “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.” Are Mr. Bing and his daughter able to express their feelings? Why? Does language hinder or promote their abilities? How does the power to communicate in a new language make one “a new person” (p. 199)?

Yiyun Li sets many of her stories in her homeland of China. What is the spirit of the people like there? What mood pervades the workers’ lives? How would you describe the way characters such as Granny Kang, Mr. and Mrs. Su, Sansan, and Mr. Du, respond to adversity?

Discuss your impressions of the world and the characters that Yiyun Li has created. Draw comparisons and contrasts between the stories in the collection as a whole. Which story is the most memorable or the most powerful for you and why? What themes are woven throughout the entire collection? What images or feelings emerge when you think of the collection as a whole?