Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Sijie, Dai. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. 2002. 184p. ISBN 9780385722209. Available at FIC DAI on the library shelves as well as an audiobook on Overdrive.

In the 1960s, China underwent a convulsing period of its history called the Cultural Revolution. Chairman Mao unleashed legions of fanatics determined to uproot bourgeois and counter-revolutionaries throughout the country. Those who had the misfortune to be educated or better off than the average were forcibly made to present excuses and to apologize. They were also oftentime sent away for re-education into Communist ideas.

The narrator of this story, along with his best friend Luo, are children of professional families. Luo’s father is a famous dentist and even worked on Mao’s teeth. The narrator’s mother is a famous doctor. Having been declared enemies of the people, they are sent to a mountain to work as peasants in the local fields, where their re-education will instill in them pride in their Communist heritage. Arriving on site, they discover that the peasants are backwards and uncultured. The narrator almost loses his violin, his only possession, but Luo manages to convince the village headman that it is used to play music to glorify Mao.

The two of them settle into a hard working routine, until their talents as storytellers are discovered. Suddenly, they are dispensed from work to attend movies in the closest town, two days’ travel away, and then return to the village to retell the story to everyone. One of the most highly sought person in this region is the seamster, who comes around and creates clothes for the residents. His daughter, also a seamstress, is said to be beautiful. Luo and the narrator eventually meet her and they fall desperately in love.

During one of their trip to town they meet with Four Eyes, who is also on the mountain to be re-educated. His mother is a famous poet, and Four Eyes has made the cardinal sin of taking books with him. Though he has tried to keep them hidden, the boys discover them and eventually badger Four Eyes into lending them a thin book by Balzac. Luo and the narrator decide that they will read this book to the Little Seamstress.

By consuming these foreign and illegal novels in China, they are doing more than corrupting their ideas. They are opening their souls and their sight to other worlds beyond their desperate circumstances. And once out, it is hard to tame desire back into its cage. As the three of them grow ever closer, hard choices will have to be made, and not everyone can live happily.