After studying to become a doctor in a Western-style medical school in Nanjing in the 1910s, Lu Xun decided that the real diseases afflicting China were not physiological, but sociological. Thus, in order to truly work toward the health of the nation, he decided to diagnose the nation's maladies as an author rather than a physician. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he took the radical stance that the source of China's social and economic woes was the very framework of Chinese culture itself, in the Confucian value system and the ancient hierarchy of social allegiance. In stories like "A Madman's Diary" (his first story, published initially in the magazine New Youth), he exposed the reality underlying the polished politeness of Chinese society, that the system forced people to consume one another and work toward each other's downfall.

Most of his stories are metaphorical, requiring a decent background in modern Chinese history and some ability for literary analysis. I'm not even close to a complete understanding of many of them, but the moments of insight these stories have given me into Chinese history (and into my own life) have been among the most pleasurable moments of my life. This book is indispensible for anyone who wishes to understand modern China; Lu is perhaps the greatest Chinese author of the last two centuries.

I'm very critical of some Chinese writers like Amy Tan for their distortions of a life they haven't experienced. But this doesn't apply to Ha Jin, who survived the Revolution and was a soldier. I really like this collection of stories because Ha Jin excels in writing vignettes by injecting fresh details. Anyone who is curious about Communist China should read this book. Skip his novels though.

Ha Jin brilliantly evokes emotion in short stories that may take some an epic novel to create the same impact. His words are sunbeams bouncing on desolate land and you want to continue despite the heartbreak that you may only survive simply to survive. Never to fully live in the light. He is the most eloquent writer and he allows us to view a world not known to most Americans: China under Mao. Be swept away with words and emotions.

I picked up An Ocean of Words from a staff recommendations section of the bookstore. I am glad that I did. This book is a wonderful collection of short stories. This book was great.

The stories all take place on the border of China and the USSR during the early 1970s when the two communist countries actually came pretty close to war. The stories are actually a microcosim of Communist China as a whole.

The stories are wonderful and I highly recommend this book not just to sinophiles but to anyone who wants to read a great collection of stories.

Ha Jin excels in writing vignettes that are simply refreshing to the non-Chinese reader. There are, however, better choices. I recommend the other collections like Ocean of Words and Bridegroom, which are more original and better written. Skip his novels, they tend to drag with unnecessary descriptions.

I like to leave this lovely book in our bathroom at home, so when Arsenal are playing at home, my girlfriend has something to read. If you've got a wet paint warning, our your house has been left devestated by a jam raid, or maybe tuna town is inaccessbile by skin boat, or the Beetle is up on blocks, this is the book for you and yours. Thoroughly satisflying.

Some of these stories were very disturbing. The writing and structure of the stories is superb, however. Ha Jin creates great tension and excitement. A series of quick, intense stories that left me pondering. Can't wait to read In the Pond and Waiting.

Originally written in draft form around the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, Ha Jin's novel recreates those tumultuous times and the forces which built up and exploded in student protest--the stifling of true inquiry and creativity, institutionalized adherence to old-style, hard line bureaucracy, and an all-powerful state which manipulates every aspect of a person's destiny, from education and career path to place of residency and choice of spouse. With candor and a sense of immediacy, Ha Jin illuminates the pressures and frustrations of Chinese academic life, as seen by Jian Wan, studying for his Ph.D. entrance exams in literature, and by Prof. Yang, his mentor and academic advisor.

When Prof. Yang, who is also Jian Wan's future father-in-law, suffers a serious stroke, Jian Wan is the one who must tend him in the hospital. Half-crazed and irrational, Prof. Yang has moments of lucidity in which he speaks urgently to Jian and offers heartfelt advice, but most often Jian finds him singing songs from his childhood, recalling nightmarish events from the long-buried past, and reliving conversations and recent events which have dramatically affected both his personal relationships and his career.

As Jian listens to Prof. Yang, he finds himself examining his own life and goals with a more critical and discerning eye, becoming more and more disillusioned by the injustices he sees all around him, both within the academic community and in the countryside, where poverty is still rampant, the people are utterly powerless, and life is a hopeless search for a way out.

Filled with fascinating insights into the nature of life in a totalitarian state, the novel is both moving and enlightening, though it is sometimes didactic. In clear, efficient prose which avoids all frills and flourishes, Jian tells his story in the first person. The scope expands as the maunderings of Prof. Yang, along with his symbolic stories and recollections, reveal the history of the Chinese Revolution in personal terms. Numerous aphorisms constantly remind the reader of the universality of the characters' observations and of the author's themes: "We're all automatons without a soul," "Intellect makes life insufferable. It's better to be an ordinary man working honorably with your hands," "As a scholar, you're just a piece of meat on a chopping board," and "I want to take my fate in my own hands...I want to be a knife instead of a piece of meat."

The dramatic conclusion, full of ironies, is a bit preachy in its message, but few will fail to be moved by scenes from the Tiananmen Square massacre, which provides dramatic and powerful imagery of a China which will "devour her children to sustain herself. China is an old [female dog] that eats her own puppies." Mary Whipple

Winner of the PEN/Faulkner award and the National Book Award for his novel, "Waiting," Ha Jin left his native China for the US in 1985 and is now a professor of English at Boston University. With this third novel, set in 1989, at the time of the Tiananmen Square upheavals, he again demonstrates his command of the English language and the nuances of human behavior. His prose is spare and compact and charged with the sense that anything might happen.

The book opens calmly, even placidly, as the narrator, graduate student Jian Wan, explains that his mentor, Professor Yang, has suffered a stroke. Yang has been helping him prepare for the Ph. D entrance exams for classical literature at Beijing University, the foundation of Jian's meticulously planned future. He will pass the exams and join his fiancée, Professor Yang's daughter Meimei, in the city, "where we planned to build our nest." He will become a teacher himself and spend his life in scholarly pursuits, a spiritual aristocrat, rich in heart, as his teacher has counseled. Now, as the closest thing to a family member available, Jian has been assigned to nurse Yang, which he is glad to do, though uneasy about the lost time. "I was anxious - without thorough preparation I couldn't possibly do well in the exams."

A sober, conventional, conscientious young man, Jian's settled outlook is soon disrupted by more than inadequate study time. The professor is suffering a kind of dementia that at first seems nonsensical. But as the days pass, Yang focuses on events which seem to come from his past. An intellectual, Yang was a "target of the struggle" during the Cultural Revolution. He had been denounced, humiliated, his books burned. Once he had told Jian that during difficult times he would quote Dante to himself. " 'They could hurt me physically, but they could not subdue my soul.' " But now, his mind wandering, Yang's lofty sentiments have deserted him. One morning he belts out a rousing political rhyme. "His singing made my scalp itch as I remembered hearing Red Guards chant it in my hometown. By so doing, those big boys and girls had contributed their little share to the revolution; but that had been two decades before, and now the song was no more than an embarrassing joke." Additionally, Yang "would not have been entitled to sing such a progressive song together with the masses." How, Jian wonders, did he learn it?

Listening to his professor's ravings, Jian is unsure how much is real, how much made up. Yang bounces from oddly skewed parables to blissful descriptions of an adulterous affair. His moods swing from joy to savage recrimination. He makes bitter pronouncements on family and scholarly life, the political hypocrisy and expediency of communism and academic backbiting. He is sarcastic, angry, blubbering and regretful. Jian is often "shocked," sometimes repelled, but intrigued too. Could he have understood so little of his teacher's life? As he comprehends his professor's vast store of disappointment, he begins to question his own assumptions. Things have been kept from him - university maneuverings, petty jealousies and passions, a welter of unspoken thought. From Yang's dementia emerges a hopeless prospect, the uselessness of opposing political force; the shame of sacrificing personal integrity. Naturally this hopeless prospect dismays young Jian. He must act to prevent it.

Meanwhile the events at Tiananmen Square are building. Jian and his friends, far away, listen to the Voice of America, with mixed feelings. Meimei, in Beijing, never mentions the demonstrations, but exhorts Jian to study and concentrate on getting ahead. Jian, tossed one way and another, struggles to find his way through his doubts and the events conspiring against him. Eventually he goes to Beijing to take part in the demonstrations. And we all know how that turned out.

But rather than despair over the state's crushing fist, Jian's insight is personal. He did not go to Beijing for some great ideal, but to impress Meimei. Most revolutionaries, he reflects, joined the struggle to "escape an arranged marriage or to avoid debts or just to have enough food and clothes. It's personal interests that motivate the individual and therefore generate the dynamics of history."

Ha Jin's novels are multi-layered, deceptively simple stories with an undercurrent of tension and unease. The State looms over the individual with the powers of catastrophe and reward and the individual maneuvers within it as best he can. Though the bulk of "The Crazed" takes place in Yang's hospital room, Ha also takes us to Jian's Spartan dormitory quarters, meals with his friends and even a trip to the rural countryside, which contains more shocks for Jian. The struggles of daily life continually challenge the individual to small rebellions and betrayals, balanced against risk and integrity. Finally, Jian comes of age, a man less blinkered, but not without hope and plans for his future.

Professor Yang of Shanning University, China, is "The Crazed" of Ha Jin's new novel. Having just suffered a stroke, he is given to frequent rants, many pieces of which hint at a wretched life lived. His faithful graduate student and soon-to-be son-in-law Jian Wan is assigned by the university to attend to the professor's daily needs. In the sparse hospital room, he cannot help listening in on the rants. As he does, Wan tries to understand the deep sense of loss that his professor has suffered. It is later evident to the young graduate student that the professor has had to deal with much personal pain and a fruitless existence. "Every intellectual is a clerk in China", Professor Yang raves, "just a clerk, a screw in the machine of the revolution." The professor's unfortunate life eventually changes the course of at least three others.

Jian Wan himself is desperately trying to hold it all together-caring for his professor while his PhD qualifying exams loom around the corner. The fate of these exams will determine whether or not he can make it to Beijing to be with his ambitious fiancée, Meimei (Yang's daughter). At first, Jian Wan assumes he has no other choice than follow the scholarly course that has been charted for him. However, Yang's endless rants about the meaningless existence of a scholar, along with a transformative trip to the countryside, point him in another way. "As a human being, I should spend my life in such a way that at the final hour I could feel fulfillment and contentment, as if I had completed a task or a journey." Jian Wan says. He no longer wants to pretend to be a scholar, but live instead, a truly productive life. As Jian Wan tries to find a way out, he realizes he is powerless in a society that crushes all dissent. The final pages of The Crazed find Wan in the midst of the cathartic events of Tiananmen Square.

Ha Jin's sparse writing style, which was on wonderful display in "Waiting", is as effective as ever. His words are as clinical and precise as the hospital room in which much of the novel is set. The pace moves forward rapidly and well. Sometimes, I found that the professor's rants covered a lot of space in the text prolonging the suspense a bit too much. These sections set in the hospital with an almost unrelenting focus on the professor were a little claustrophobic.

Despite these small distractions, the main story comes through loud and clear in Ha Jin's wonderful book. The machinations of a government that can manipulate the smallest events in its citizens' lives are on awful display here. Jian Wan in the novel sees an image of China: "in the form of an old hag so decrepit and brainsick that she would devour her children to sustain herself."

In such a society, one wonders, who cannot help but be "crazed".

In the Pond is the story of Shao Bin, a poor factory worker in China, of his solitary struggle against corrupt senior officials in his attempt to secure a decent house for his wife and daughter in the Worker's Park. An accomplished artist and calligrapher, Shao Bin fights the well-connected political bigwigs with his sole weapon - the paintbrush. Consequently, the book is about how art and creativity can triumph over even the greatest political and social obstacles.

The simple style of the book is at once its strongest and weakest quality. The unemotional narration gives you the freedom to react in accordance with your own emotions, making one reflect on living in an oppressive and corrupt society. However, the casual tone of the book often fails to excite even at the most poignant moments in the story, often leaving the reader indifferent to Shao Bin's fate.

The book's salvaging point, besides its obvious veracity, is the unusual Chinese proverbs that Ha Jin has peppered it with (my favourite: making a pond out of a pee puddle!).

To conclude, I would recommend this book only to minimalists or those interested in the world of politics and art

Ha Jin won the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner award in 1999 for his second novel, "Waiting". He just as easily could have won the award for his first novel, "In the Pond", an equally stunning tale of life in China during the Cultural Revolution. Set in Dismount Fort (a locale that Jin has explored in other stories, notably in his fine collection, "Under the Red Flag", which won the 1997 Flannery O'Connor Award), "In the Pond" is a sparely written, profoundly witty and insightful tale of Shao Bin and his struggle for just treatment by Secretary Liu and Director Ma, the Party leaders who dominate his work and life.

A worker in the Harvest Fertilizer Plant by day, Shao Bin is a remarkably talented and creative artist by night, a self-educated and self-styled intellectual whose talent goes unrecognized by Liu and Ma. When Shao Bin and his wife, Meilan, and their young infant daugher are passed over for a decent apartment because Shao Bin refuses to make gifts and payments to his bosses, he begins a campaign of satirical cartoons and attacks on the corruption of Liu and Ma. Liu and Ma, in turn, mercilessly persecute and humiliate Shao Bin. The result is a seemingly endless series of attacks and counterattacks, thrusts and parries. Each time, Shao Bin succeeds in escalating the struggle to another level, his lonely battle against the local Party bosses eventually widening to the highest levels of the Party.

Like the humble lives of his characters, Ha Jin's prose once again sparkles in its simplicty and purity. And like human nature everywhere, Ha Jin's narrative wittily captures the pettiness, the foibles, which often motivate day-to-day behavior. In Shao Bin, Ha Jin has created an irrepressible and deeply human hero. Like his other work, "In the Pond" is another little gem of English prose, another simple tale of what it's like to be human.

Ha Jin won the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner award in 1999 for his second novel, "Waiting". He just as easily could have won the award for his first novel, "In the Pond", an equally stunning tale of life in China during the Cultural Revolution. Set in Dismount Fort (a locale that Jin has explored in other stories, notably in his fine collection, "Under the Red Flag", which won the 1997 Flannery O'Connor Award), "In the Pond" is a sparely written, profoundly witty and insightful tale of Shao Bin and his struggle for just treatment by Secretary Liu and Director Ma, the Party leaders who dominate his work and life.

A worker in the Harvest Fertilizer Plant by day, Shao Bin is a remarkably talented and creative artist by night, a self-educated and self-styled intellectual whose talent goes unrecognized by Liu and Ma. When Shao Bin and his wife, Meilan, and their young infant daugher are passed over for a decent apartment because Shao Bin refuses to make gifts and payments to his bosses, he begins a campaign of satirical cartoons and attacks on the corruption of Liu and Ma. Liu and Ma, in turn, mercilessly persecute and humiliate Shao Bin. The result is a seemingly endless series of attacks and counterattacks, thrusts and parries. Each time, Shao Bin succeeds in escalating the struggle to another level, his lonely battle against the local Party bosses eventually widening to the highest levels of the Party.

Like the humble lives of his characters, Ha Jin's prose once again sparkles in its simplicty and purity. And like human nature everywhere, Ha Jin's narrative wittily captures the pettiness, the foibles, which often motivate day-to-day behavior. In Shao Bin, Ha Jin has created an irrepressible and deeply human hero. Like his other work, "In the Pond" is another little gem of English prose, another simple tale of what it's like to be human.

Ha Jin, who wrote the award-winning book "Waiting," has a nice collection of short stories in this book. The thing that I loved about this book is that it illustrated beautifully what communist China is like socially, economically, and politically. I would recommend this easy read just for that reason. The stories themselves were not that intriguing; many of them did not even seem to have a plot, but again the insight on Chinese culture made it worth the read.

My favorite story in the book is entitled "Saboteur." It provides the reader with an O. Henry-style ending, with the climax not coming until the very last sentence.

In this collection of twelve short stories ("The Bridegroom"), Ha Jin manages to portray a deep sense of what life is like in general, and perhaps more interestingly, what life's like in Communist China. Like his brilliant novel "Waiting", these stories are set in modern day Muji City, China. These stories provide more than mere insight into Chinese living, they speak to the human condition.

More than a few are about revenge and what leads humans to enact it (the brilliant "Saboteur" about a man who's imprisoned for speaking out against the police, the curious "In the Kindergarten" about a little girl's method of dealing with unfairness, and the closing "After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town" about employees of an Americanized chicken restaurant and their quest for a (misplaced) sense of justice). Others leave the reader with the sense that the protagonists got what they deserved and mostly deal with relationships ("Flame" tells the story of a longtime flame's promise of revenge and a woman's desire to see him again, "Broken" is a curious tale about an employee's fascination with a former co-worker reassigned for lascivious behavior, and "The Woman from New York" is commentary about what happens when a mother leaves a family and tries to return four years later). A personal favorite, "An Official Reply" is a well-told commentary on intellectuals and trustworthiness. All in all, a fine collection of stories that allows the reader to vicariously experience an unfamiliar culture (for those not living in China). Highly recommended.

I was delighted with these 12 short stories by Ha Jin. What a refreshing change to read about another culture, especially life in contemporary China. I learned a lot about the Chinese socialist form of living, and the different traditions and beliefs of their people. It certainly makes me appreciate more the freedom & wealth that we take for granted here in the United States. The author uses a flat writing style of simple sentences that it takes a while to adjust to. The stories do seem to end rather abruptly at times. However, this is only a small complaint from me. I stayed glued to the book until I finished it.

My favorite story, of course, was the title story, "The Bridegroom." A model husband joins a secret men's literary club and is arrested for the crime of loving other men, homosexuality. "The Woman From New York" was another favorite, about a Chinese woman who finds out things are just not the same in her hometown after an extended stay in New York. She finds she is not welcome anymore in her former life.

I think these stories held my attention and proved so interesting for the mere fact that it opened up a whole new world for me in understanding how other cultures think and rationalize everyday living. I thank my friend, Grady, for recommending this wonderful book, and now I am recommending it to you. You won't be disappointed!

Ha Jin is probably better known as the author of a critically acclaimed novel, Waiting, than for his poetry. Xuefei Jiin uses the pen name of Ha Jin, and this book of poems arose from his experiences in the Chinese Army during the Cultural Revolution. Many of the poems can be applied to situations other than China at that time, such as "Because We Dare Not be Ambitious." How many of us have expressed the desire to be president as did the child in this poem? But no matter where one lives, children can be cruel and Ha Jin acknowledges this when he ends this poems with the child being ridiculed for his dream. Some of his poetry is easy to understand and relate to as a non-Chinese person. But some pertain only to Chinese Army experiences during those turbulent times, and for those who did not live throught this period, the poems may not be as meaningful. Many of the poetery in this volume deserve more than a cursory reading and are poems which can be read again and again, and each time more insight is gained. This is a book which is recommended for those lovers of poetry who want something beyond simple verse.

This book offers a fresh, rare look at life deep inside Communist China. There are no formulas for the plot: it's original and the self-effacing perspective of the narrator intrigued me. Waiting is a book without ego. At first the narrative style seemed to read like a translation. But I realized that the author's technique was really an extension of the cultural distinctions about which he described in the novel. He made the culture of Mao inside China come alive for me. The characters were roundly drawn and credible, and the story line, while quite simple, offers an exquisite beauty in the irony of its denouement. Jin impressed me with his sincerity, honesty, vivid portrait work and originality. We are fortunate to have such a well-drawn look at such an inaccessible society by someone who understands it so well. His accomplishment in crafting such moving literature in his second language speaks volumes for his intelligence and creative sensibility. I eagerly await his next novel.

I believe I can understand the negative comments this book has received, but I do not agree with them. Having several Asian friends, I was fascinated by the glimpse into Chinese culture--not only the political landscape, but family relations. I think people may be expecting something more grandiose from this book since it is an award winner. Rather, this book is like its main character, subtle. The narrative is straight forward, and the story is literally about "waiting," waiting for a period in your life to begin. I think what this book gives us, besides a wonderful peek into Chinese society, is a lesson to find what we love in life and revel in it. This is not a book to "polish off quickly." Rather it is one to read and think about each word, and the way those words are presented. I loved it. I finished the book several weeks ago, and I still think of Lin, and wonder if he will ever really know happiness.

It really did. I bought Waiting because of the attention it had been getting, winning and being nominated for major literary awards. Because I usually read African-American literature, I usually don't have a lot of opportunity reading other literature. I have to be very selective. My discussion board was down this past week, so I stole the moment to read Waiting. I adored it. I can't say what I was expecting, but the book floored me. Beautiful, beautiful prose. Words like subtle, and graceful comes to mind. Three lives; Lin Kon, Shuyu and Manna Wu are bound together through their individual concept of love and what one has to do to obtain and keep it. Where we are use to stories in which the main characters leap head first into passionate affairs and lustful relationships, Ha Jin chose to focus on a love affair where the participants had to be patient and restraint. There are moments of great beauty and an insight into human nature. Truly a novel not to be missed.