A DICTIONARY OF MAQIAO
By HAN SHAOGONG
Translated by Julia Lovell. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. 323 pages, $27.95

reviewed by Hsiao-ping Wang

A Dictionary of Maqiao, originally published in China in 1996, is a novel styled in the form of a dictionary. This unusual format consists of 116 entries of indigenous words and phrases used by the inhabitants of Maqiao, a fictitious remote rural village. Each entry can be viewed as an extensive index of how individual villagers express their views on the vagaries of life. The author, Han Shaogong, was born in Hunan in 1953 and has been considered one of China's most popular novelists since the mid-1980s. What enables him to write about the villagers' struggle at the bottom of the social order is his own experiences during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), when, like so many educated young people of his generation, he was sent to live in a rural village. During his six years there, he became an insider in the local community, while maintaining the critical edge of an outsider. Hence, he is able to portray village life at the grass-roots levelboth the harsh experiences and the amusing touches.

Han Shaogong's time in the countryside educated him in the subtleties of language. There he learned that the process of understanding a new word is not just an intellectual exercise but is related to both one's perception and the context of the specific expression. Sometimes misconception stems not from lack of information, but from the choiceconscious or notof listeners who succumb to formidable players in the hierarchical structure. For instance, the entry "speech rights" is such a case, though this term does not have a synonym in Mandarin. In Maqiao, the village Party Secretary says that since city folk do not know how to weave, they do not have enough cloth for pants and therefore wear shorts that are about the size of the palm of one's hand. Baffled by this remark, the transplanted, educated youths from the city try to explain to the unworldly villagers that city dwellers wear short shorts because they are considered stylish and are comfortable for sports. To their surprise, no one takes them at their word because they do not have "speech rights"the villagers believe the Party Secretary (who dislikes urban life) rather than the young people who come from cities. The significance of this episode is far more provocative than the actual topic: it is that the truth is not the major concern for those who have subordinated their beliefs to a wielder of power in the social hierarchy. In this example, the differing opinion of the educated youths is perceived as a challenge to the local authority, for it weakens his dominance. Thus the author demonstrates the pervasive impact of power politics on average minds, for ordinary people often pay more attention to the identity of a speaker than to the validity of the speaker's words.

Despite the austerity of life in Chinese society, laughter is still part of the everyday experience of villagers. While preparing for a propaganda performance, a key singer says he does not want to sing about hoes, rakes, and manure because he feels these items are not appropriate for the stage. In response to his objection, the cadre from the Cultural Center spits out the remark "What do you know? This is art." The singer replies, "Well, why don't I make it even more artistic by hauling a bucket of shit around?" The playful comment points to flaws in the standard formulathese mundane materials might work for ideological rhetoric, they but do not capture the farmhand's heart. However, the singer's objection does not result in a change in the line in the song, as he represents merely an underprivileged man, one whose opinions carry no more weight than those of a "little elder-brother" (a term that refers to an elder sister in the Maqiao vocabulary). By the same token, in Maqiao, "little younger-brother" means younger sister. Does the prefix of "little" (in this group of terms) suggest that women are considered of little consequence in the village? On close examination, it seems that the intricate eclipse of gender-specific terms (i.e., sisters and aunts) is not intended to obliterate females in a physical sense, but rather to undermine their rightful claims to their proper names in the patriarchal order, as if they could be reduced to nonexistence. Therefore, the so-called correct way to name them is through the referential terms established in the male system. These examples show that language is rarely objective or neutral and is always a battleground for competing forces.

Several well-known critics, such as Nan Fan and Zhou Zhengbao, have brought A Dictionary of Maqiao to the attention of literary specialists and general readers alike. Han Shaogong's novel has won wide acclaim, and deservedly so; through his treatment of language, he not only vividly portrays village life in rural China, but also inspires readers to rethink what they are accustomed to taking for granted.