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Brief Introduction
The Eighth Day of Martin Zhang, a gift for the coming New Year 2012, was published ceremoniously on the Acquisition Magazine, and even David Der-wei Wang, a professor of Harvard University, wrote an article to recommend it, saying that the author Rui Li has given out the most heart-attacking work among contemporary novels. The novel tells that Giovanni, a man born in a small town of Italy, came to China following Bishop Levin Montecorvino, and became deacon of the church after he was renamed Martin Zhang. The bishop swore that he would stand the cross on the temple on the ruin of Goddess of Sky-patching’s temple. It is human beings who bleed in the competition of gods, and on the Goddess of Sky-patching’s Day, the villagers who were praying for rain had conflict with believers of God. Martin was hit by the protectors of the goddess with stones and lost his conscious. He was wrongly recognized as dead and the head of the goddess’s protectors, Tianci Zhang, paid with his own life. Three days later, Martin woke up miraculously. After his recovery, he made up his mind to tell the truth regardless of the bishop’s dissuasion, and then was excommunicated and was regarded as “Judas, betrayer, the devil, the snake” by the believers of God. Even more, he was also regarded by the villagers as a murderer who killed Tianci. He prayed but was not saved. He walked out of the church and entered an unfamiliar land, where he was spit on and robbed. After seven days of begging, and on the eighth day, Martin was nearly frozen stiff when he entered the goddess’s temple by chance and slumped to the floor in a faint. Tianci’s wife, Wang, mistook him as her gone husband, and took this “homeless” “reincarnated soul boy” with warmth and kindness.
Book Review: Genesis of one man
——The Eighth Day of Martin Zhang (Extract)
By David Der-wei Wang
Rui Li is one of the most respectable writers in China of this time, whose works is few but excellent, always watching the desolation and ridiculousness in present China intently with great preciseness. This book, in particular, has pointed to the Boxers Event in 1900——the wildest and most shameful time of modern China. To him, the great pain thereof is the origin of China’s modern experience, and if not face it directly, we will be unable to consider the meaning of the 100-year-time from saving the nation to initiation.
However, it is not easy to tell about what happened one century ago, as there has already been too many statements established by usage. Rui chose the cases in North China and conducted his exploration. The story goes with two lines. Levin Montecorvino, bishop of Saint Squair, devotedly missionized in the Goddess River area. The young man, Giovanni, whom he brought with from Italy, was taken as his successor. He also took his coffin to China and was ready to die in China. Meanwhile, the temple of Goddess of Sky-patching still has endless stream of pilgrims, as the ancient ritual of asking for pregnancy was widely accepted by local people, which became the most serious anxiety of the bishop. The conflict between both sides became tenser because of the government’s policy of toadying to foreigners, and finally broke out since Martin Zhang was hit to death. To view at a sudden, this plot goes with the method of bisection, which we are familiar with: European religions versus local culture, science versus superstition, and behind which were the complicated interactions among the power of Western empires, Chinese folk culture and the Qing government. But Rui’s intention is more than this. He wanted to ask that whether the craze for Western churches is resulted from the break-up of “emotional structure” of Chinese society in the 19th century that give space to new religions, rather than the invasion of Western power, which can be seen from the Taiping rebellion; whether the religions are spontaneous self-devotion or impulsive indulgence; and whether the religions bring about sincere and rescue, or proud and prejudice.
These questions make up the bottom line of this novel. Rui watches more about humans as flesh and blood——no matter it was missionary who was especially blessed by God, or ordinary men and women——to see how they refine their positions under the collision of cultures and believes of China and the Western world. He therefore found that there is hardly a distinct difference between being blessed and abandoned, civilized and primitive; there can be only one step distance between surpassing and degenerating. If one of the modern symptoms is disenchantment, as called by Max Weber, then the relationship written by Rui between individuals and their belief becomes more complex.
Rui focused on two characters. From one point of view, Giovanni Martin came to China, and got a new name Martin Zhang, which is neither Western nor Chinese, implying the transition of his identity. From another, it seemed quite fair that Tianci Zhang killed a man and paid with his own life. However, Martin woke up miraculously three days later. How did his “resurrection” happen? The author did not tell at once. The thing is that, the miracle which could have been written intensively seemed to occur at a wrong time. “Time” and “opportunity” entered into the gods’ world, making the history tenser than ever before. Bishop Levin Montecorvino decided to accept the mistake over shoes over boots, and therefore killed Tianci in the name of murdering. When God’s will is mixed with Machiavellian dues ex machine, where shall Martin go?
The person that provided a contrast with Martin is Wang, Tianci’s wife. When she knew that her husband was sentenced to death, the only thing she could do is to deliver a boy for the Zhangs’ family, and thus came the secret coitus in the prison. Perhaps there is some reader believe that this plot is much too weird, but this is Rui’s foreshadowing. Maybe Wang is undereducated, but what she did was based on a series of religious belief and knowledge system. In order to carry on the family line, an esoterica spread among local women named Eighteen Love Method, imparting necessary sex skills; the reason that the temple of the goddess could stand for hundreds of years is also related to the most ancient worship for reproduction. However, Tianci did not leave a baby before he died, and Wang had nothing. Where shall she go? Rui’s story begins just at this time. Martin, who came back to his life, deadlocked with Bishop Levin Montecorvino, and was expelled from the church; Wang, losing her husband and her hope for having a children, turned to be crazy from sadness, and began to wander around. Both of them were at the most isolated point of their life, which could not be even worse. What Rui wanted to say is that the two people did not lose their faith after losing the protection of their institution of religion or ethic. However, does belief necessarily bring about rescue? Or what is the price and meaning for being rescued?
We therefore came to the climax of this story. In a stormy night, a deadly Italian missionary who was expelled met with a Chinese widow who was crazy for having a kid at the entrance of the temple. In this night, at the hall of heathenism, Martin fell into a woman’s arms, going against the doctrine of his own belief. What happened there, and how? It cannot be exposed, but what can be is that Rui has given out the most heart-attacking work among contemporary novels.
The Eighth Day of Martin Zhang, a gift for the coming New Year 2012, was published ceremoniously on the Acquisition Magazine, and even David Der-wei Wang, a professor of Harvard University, wrote an article to recommend it, saying that the author Rui Li has given out the most heart-attacking work among contemporary novels. The novel tells that Giovanni, a man born in a small town of Italy, came to China following Bishop Levin Montecorvino, and became deacon of the church after he was renamed Martin Zhang. The bishop swore that he would stand the cross on the temple on the ruin of Goddess of Sky-patching’s temple. It is human beings who bleed in the competition of gods, and on the Goddess of Sky-patching’s Day, the villagers who were praying for rain had conflict with believers of God. Martin was hit by the protectors of the goddess with stones and lost his conscious. He was wrongly recognized as dead and the head of the goddess’s protectors, Tianci Zhang, paid with his own life. Three days later, Martin woke up miraculously. After his recovery, he made up his mind to tell the truth regardless of the bishop’s dissuasion, and then was excommunicated and was regarded as “Judas, betrayer, the devil, the snake” by the believers of God. Even more, he was also regarded by the villagers as a murderer who killed Tianci. He prayed but was not saved. He walked out of the church and entered an unfamiliar land, where he was spit on and robbed. After seven days of begging, and on the eighth day, Martin was nearly frozen stiff when he entered the goddess’s temple by chance and slumped to the floor in a faint. Tianci’s wife, Wang, mistook him as her gone husband, and took this “homeless” “reincarnated soul boy” with warmth and kindness.
Book Review: Genesis of one man
——The Eighth Day of Martin Zhang (Extract)
By David Der-wei Wang
Rui Li is one of the most respectable writers in China of this time, whose works is few but excellent, always watching the desolation and ridiculousness in present China intently with great preciseness. This book, in particular, has pointed to the Boxers Event in 1900——the wildest and most shameful time of modern China. To him, the great pain thereof is the origin of China’s modern experience, and if not face it directly, we will be unable to consider the meaning of the 100-year-time from saving the nation to initiation.
However, it is not easy to tell about what happened one century ago, as there has already been too many statements established by usage. Rui chose the cases in North China and conducted his exploration. The story goes with two lines. Levin Montecorvino, bishop of Saint Squair, devotedly missionized in the Goddess River area. The young man, Giovanni, whom he brought with from Italy, was taken as his successor. He also took his coffin to China and was ready to die in China. Meanwhile, the temple of Goddess of Sky-patching still has endless stream of pilgrims, as the ancient ritual of asking for pregnancy was widely accepted by local people, which became the most serious anxiety of the bishop. The conflict between both sides became tenser because of the government’s policy of toadying to foreigners, and finally broke out since Martin Zhang was hit to death. To view at a sudden, this plot goes with the method of bisection, which we are familiar with: European religions versus local culture, science versus superstition, and behind which were the complicated interactions among the power of Western empires, Chinese folk culture and the Qing government. But Rui’s intention is more than this. He wanted to ask that whether the craze for Western churches is resulted from the break-up of “emotional structure” of Chinese society in the 19th century that give space to new religions, rather than the invasion of Western power, which can be seen from the Taiping rebellion; whether the religions are spontaneous self-devotion or impulsive indulgence; and whether the religions bring about sincere and rescue, or proud and prejudice.
These questions make up the bottom line of this novel. Rui watches more about humans as flesh and blood——no matter it was missionary who was especially blessed by God, or ordinary men and women——to see how they refine their positions under the collision of cultures and believes of China and the Western world. He therefore found that there is hardly a distinct difference between being blessed and abandoned, civilized and primitive; there can be only one step distance between surpassing and degenerating. If one of the modern symptoms is disenchantment, as called by Max Weber, then the relationship written by Rui between individuals and their belief becomes more complex.
Rui focused on two characters. From one point of view, Giovanni Martin came to China, and got a new name Martin Zhang, which is neither Western nor Chinese, implying the transition of his identity. From another, it seemed quite fair that Tianci Zhang killed a man and paid with his own life. However, Martin woke up miraculously three days later. How did his “resurrection” happen? The author did not tell at once. The thing is that, the miracle which could have been written intensively seemed to occur at a wrong time. “Time” and “opportunity” entered into the gods’ world, making the history tenser than ever before. Bishop Levin Montecorvino decided to accept the mistake over shoes over boots, and therefore killed Tianci in the name of murdering. When God’s will is mixed with Machiavellian dues ex machine, where shall Martin go?
The person that provided a contrast with Martin is Wang, Tianci’s wife. When she knew that her husband was sentenced to death, the only thing she could do is to deliver a boy for the Zhangs’ family, and thus came the secret coitus in the prison. Perhaps there is some reader believe that this plot is much too weird, but this is Rui’s foreshadowing. Maybe Wang is undereducated, but what she did was based on a series of religious belief and knowledge system. In order to carry on the family line, an esoterica spread among local women named Eighteen Love Method, imparting necessary sex skills; the reason that the temple of the goddess could stand for hundreds of years is also related to the most ancient worship for reproduction. However, Tianci did not leave a baby before he died, and Wang had nothing. Where shall she go? Rui’s story begins just at this time. Martin, who came back to his life, deadlocked with Bishop Levin Montecorvino, and was expelled from the church; Wang, losing her husband and her hope for having a children, turned to be crazy from sadness, and began to wander around. Both of them were at the most isolated point of their life, which could not be even worse. What Rui wanted to say is that the two people did not lose their faith after losing the protection of their institution of religion or ethic. However, does belief necessarily bring about rescue? Or what is the price and meaning for being rescued?
We therefore came to the climax of this story. In a stormy night, a deadly Italian missionary who was expelled met with a Chinese widow who was crazy for having a kid at the entrance of the temple. In this night, at the hall of heathenism, Martin fell into a woman’s arms, going against the doctrine of his own belief. What happened there, and how? It cannot be exposed, but what can be is that Rui has given out the most heart-attacking work among contemporary novels.