Evening star., 1948-11-14
Reviewed by
CARTER BROOKE JONES.

It seems that no matter what
happens to a country, certain
bourgeois segments of its society
keep going, to an extent, in their
usual way.
This is a novel of China written
bv a Chinese and translated by
Helena Kuo. The authors describe
the doings of some minor govern
ment officials in Peiping and their
families social sphere not un-
known in Washington, and not so
different from our own kind as you
might think. China has been beset
by foreign invaders and by civil
wars almost ever since any one llv-
ing can remember. And yet you
get the impression from Lau Shaw
that the government people he
writes of have kept at their routine
work, regardless of what was hap
pening in the next province, and
will stay with it so long as there's S
any sort of government to hire them.
It is true that the author does not
Ak the period of his story, but 1t
obviously occurs during some recent
year. The international picture is
avoided, and the characters do not
seem greatly concerned over any
thing beyond their homes, their
wives and children, what they eat
and drink and their chances of
stepping into a better job when
somebody dies or is fired. That pic
ture is not unfamiliar; it is not con-
fined to Peiping.
White Collar Glass.
The government clerk, Lao Lee;
his colleagues and friends are Of a
white-collar class in China which
we haven't heard much about.
We've had novels of the humblest,
like THE Good Earth" and in
Vulnerable stories of rich man.
darins. Lao Lee and his circle are
far from affiuent, and yet they live
in what they consider comfort. They
eat and dress decently, and they
have spending money, though the
curious mixture Of luxury and prirn-
tive appointments in their apart
ments and houses seems strange to
Western eyes.
The novel is primarily a story of
j Chinese marriage. And, despite GER
tain differences in custom and lore,
the vagaries of the institution must
be pretty much the same every
where, since the traits of human
beings are not matters OF race or
convention.
Moves to Peiping.
Lao Lee has left his wife and two
children in the country. He Is think
ing of getting divorce, because he
and his wife seem to have nothing
in common. A colleague, a char
acter known as Big Brother Chang,
renowned as a matchmaker, talks
Lee out of it, persuades the shy.
inarticulate clerk instead to bring
his family to Peiping. In the cap
itai, Mrs. Lee, a countrywoman who
has never seen city, Is lost, she
does not even know what to say to
any one, but under the tutelage of
several government wives, she soon
gains assurance. She is aStonlShed
to find Peiping women not only
counseling with their husbands, but
telling them when to come in and
when not to go out. I'm the cOun-
try she naturally had not spoken to
her husband in front of other peo-
plea woman never did"
The Lees and their friends are
involved in various complications,
some amusing, others dramatic. The
nearest the author comes to touch
ing on a current menace Is when
Chang's son, Celestial Truth, is ar
rested by the secret police on sus-
picion of being Communist. The
strange mingling of the ancient and
the modern in Chinese character,
and the collision of Western and
Eastern influences in Peiping, are
brought out cogently. The story is
told with humor and with sharp
observation.
Lau Shaw has written some 20
volumes of novels, short stories and
plays. "Rickshaw Boy" his first
novel published in this country, was
q Book of -the-M Month Club selec-
ton in 1945.