In the pond
Subtitle: a novel
By: Ha Jin.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Zoland Books
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 178
Subjects: City and town life -- Fiction; Working class -- Fiction; Communes (China) -- Fiction; China -- Fiction
Genres: Fiction.
Description: Set in the northern provincial commune town of Dismount Fort, In the Pond tells the story of Shao Bin, a worker at the Harvest Fertilizer plant who aims above his station. Passed over on the list to receive a larger apartment, while those in favor with the party are selected ahead of him, Shao Bin chafes at his powerlessness until he hits upon a solution: placing a satirical cartoon in the provincial newspaper.

In the Pond is a close, unsentimental depiction of life in a small factory town: the maneuvering, posturing, petty jealousies and injustices of an ordinary man who tangles with the party bosses. In this first novel, as in his short fiction, "Ha Jin captures the particularities of life in China, yet we recognize his characters intimately.