“An essential work for anyone interested in the society and history of modern China. This delightful translation makes it enjoyable reading.” — Chun-Shu Chang, University of Michigan
“The book is a must read for undergrads trying to understand China and is a good example of a Chinese family in transition.” — David Pong, University of Delaware
“A remarkable piece to introduce Chinese ancient tradition and how this feudal tradition encounters the democratic ideology.” — Mao Chen, Skidmore College
“An excellent translation in a style that lures one to continue.” — Dale B. Hepker, Walla Walla College
“An established classic and one of the most important novels written on 20th-century China. Anyone who wants to understand why communism was so appealing to the Chinese people in the 1930s and 1940s has to read this book.” — Thomas H. C. Lee, City College of New York
“Students respond very positively to both the plot and the vast amount of cultural materials it conveys about China at a time of great cultural change.” — Stan Mickel, Wittenberg University
“This book is a worthy choice for all classes in World Literature. It is bound to remain a readable and memorable classic of Chinese literature.” — Chimalum Nwankwo, North Carolina State University
“Pa Chin’s Family—one of the most celebrated novels of the May 4th Movement—continues to be indispensable reading. Its clash of the traditional and the modern, of age and youth, of Confucianism and individualism remains relevant to any understanding of how China struggled, and continues to struggle, to escape the constraints of stifling orthodoxy.” William N. Rogers, II, Center for Asian Studies
329 pages, $15.95 list
0-88133-373-5
978-0-88133-373-2
© 1972
paperback
eBook availability
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Family
From one of the most outstanding figures of modern Chinese literature . . . A moving, colorful novel that reflects a period of great turmoil in Chinese history. Originally written for and about educated Chinese youth in the 1930s, Pa Chin’s political ideas formed from three Western ideologies: international anarchism, Russian populism, and the French Revolution. These influences melded with his personal exposure to civil wars, the early existence of the Communist Party in China, the war with Japan, and the New Culture Movement to become the impetus for this inspirational novel.
Family is the story of the Kao family compound, consisting of four generations plus servants. It is essentially a picture of the struggle between the traditional and the modern, age and youth, Confucianism and individualism—old China and the new tide rising to destroy it—as manifested in the daily lives of the Kao family, particularly the three young Kao brothers. The complex passions aroused in Family and in the reader are an indication of the universality of human experience. Furthermore, anyone interested in the society and history of modern China will be captivated by both the plot and the vast amount of cultural materials displayed in this highly celebrated novel. Olga Lang’s introduction and Sidney Shapiro’s smooth translation elucidate the larger context of the times and the genius of Pa Chin’s writing.
About the Author: Pa Chin (Li Fei-kan) is one of the most outstanding figures of modern Chinese literature. He was very popular in China during the 1930s and 1940s, especially among the youth who were increasingly influential in Chinese political life in the twentieth century. Pa Chin wrote fiction, literary essays, and political articles, but his best works, and those that made him famous, were his novels describing the life of educated Chinese youth. The most successful of these has been Family, which forms the first part of his autobiographical trilogy, Turbulent Stream.
Family is the story of the Kao family compound, consisting of four generations plus servants. It is essentially a picture of the struggle between the traditional and the modern, age and youth, Confucianism and individualism—old China and the new tide rising to destroy it—as manifested in the daily lives of the Kao family, particularly the three young Kao brothers. The complex passions aroused in Family and in the reader are an indication of the universality of human experience. Furthermore, anyone interested in the society and history of modern China will be captivated by both the plot and the vast amount of cultural materials displayed in this highly celebrated novel. Olga Lang’s introduction and Sidney Shapiro’s smooth translation elucidate the larger context of the times and the genius of Pa Chin’s writing.
About the Author: Pa Chin (Li Fei-kan) is one of the most outstanding figures of modern Chinese literature. He was very popular in China during the 1930s and 1940s, especially among the youth who were increasingly influential in Chinese political life in the twentieth century. Pa Chin wrote fiction, literary essays, and political articles, but his best works, and those that made him famous, were his novels describing the life of educated Chinese youth. The most successful of these has been Family, which forms the first part of his autobiographical trilogy, Turbulent Stream.
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Editor’s Note
Introduction (Olga Lang)
Family
Preface to Chiliu (Turbulent Stream)
Preface to the Fifth Edition
Introduction (Olga Lang)
Family
Preface to Chiliu (Turbulent Stream)
Preface to the Fifth Edition