''China in Ten Words'' () is an essay collection by the contemporary Chinese author

Yu Hua Yu Hua (; born April 3, 1960, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province) is a Chinese author. Shortly after his debut as a fiction writer in 1983, his first breakthrough came in 1987, when he released the short story '' On the Road at Age Eighteen''. Yu H ...

, who is known for his novels '' To Live'', ''

Chronicle of a Blood Merchant ''Chronicle of a Blood Merchant'' () is a 1995 novel composed by Chinese writer Yu Hua. It is his third published novel after ''Cries in the Drizzle'' and '' To Live''. It is the story of a silk factory worker, Xu Sanguan, who sells his blood o ...

'', and ''

Brothers A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

''. ''China in Ten Words'' was first published in French, title
''La Chine en dix mots''
by the publishing house
Actes Sud
in 2010 and the Chinese version was later published in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

in 2011; an English translation b
Allan H. Barr
appeared the same year. The book is banned in China, but Yu Hua reworked some of his essays for publication in the mainland China market in the 2015 essay collection ''We Live Amidst Vast Disparities'' (). Structured around the ten two-character words,

’s essay collection narrates a personal account on momentous events, such as the

Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward (Second Five Year Plan) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social campaign led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1958 to 1962. CCP Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to reconstruc ...

Chinese Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

and

Tiananmen Square Protest The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

, while accentuating the proliferation of

graduate unemployment Graduate unemployment, or educated unemployment, is unemployment among people with an academic degree. Background Research undertaken proved that unemployment and underemployment of graduates are devastating phenomena in their lives. A high inc ...

social inequality Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It posses and creates gender c ...

and

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, in ...

in accompaniment with China’s rapid change into a modernized nation. Following

’s journey through his childhood days, during the

Mao Era Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

, to contemporary

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, he also unveils the beginning and escalation of China’s “copycat” and “bamboozle” culture, terms that one may associate with

counterfeiting To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

, infringement,

imitation Imitation (from Latin ''imitatio'', "a copying, imitation") is a behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's behavior. Imitation is also a form of that leads to the "development of traditions, and ultimately our culture. I ...

dishonesty Dishonesty is to act without honesty. It is used to describe a lack of probity, cheating, lying, or deliberately withholding information, or being deliberately deceptive or a lack in integrity, knavishness, perfidiosity, corruption or treacherousne ...

and

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

. The ten words are: people (人民), leader (领袖),

reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

(阅读),

writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically Epigraphy, inscribed, Printing press, mechanically transferred, or Word processor, digitally represented Symbols (semiot ...

(写作),

Lu Xun Zhou Shuren (25 September 1881 – 19 October 1936), better known by his pen name Lu Xun (or Lu Sun; ; Wade–Giles: Lu Hsün), was a Chinese writer, essayist, poet, and literary critic. He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. W ...

(鲁迅),

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

(革命),

disparity Disparity and disparities may refer to: in healthcare: * Health disparities in finance: * Income disparity between females and males. **Male–female income disparity in the United States **Income gender gap * Economic inequality * Income inequ ...

(差距), grassroots (草根),

copycat Copycat refers to a person who copies some aspect of some thing or somebody else. Copycat may also refer to: Intellectual property rights * Copyright infringement, use of another’s ideas or words without permission * Patent infringement, a v ...

(山寨), bamboozle (忽悠).

Words

People (人民): The populace of

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(中华人民共和国). Leader (领袖): The one who commands and guides a group, institution or nation. Reading (阅读): The act of decoding written language. Writing (写作): The act of

encoding In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...

language. Lu Xun (鲁迅): An influential writer and essayist of Chinese literature during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Revolution (革命): The

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

is marked as China's most momentous movement towards modernization. Disparity (差距): The gap in infrastructural development between

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and

villages A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

, income level between the rich and the poor and other aspects of the Chinese society. Grassroots (草根): Those belonging in the lower rungs of

social hierarchy Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political). As su ...

, especially economically disadvantaged people. Copycat (山寨): The

of well-known and

trademarked A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others. ...

commodities with inferior quality. Bamboozle (忽悠): A word encompassing various connotations, such as enticement,

entrapment Entrapment is a practice in which a law enforcement agent or agent of the state induces a person to commit a "crime" that the person would have otherwise been unlikely or unwilling to commit.''Sloane'' (1990) 49 A Crim R 270. See also agent provo ...

deceit Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight o ...

misrepresentation In common law jurisdictions, a misrepresentation is a false or misleading '' R v Kylsant'' 931/ref> statement of fact made during negotiations by one party to another, the statement then inducing that other party to enter into a contract. The m ...

and

(p.137).

Reception

''China in Ten Words'' has been reviewed extensively, and mostly positively in the English-language press, including by prominent China experts such as

Perry Link Eugene Perry Link, Jr. (; born 1944) is Chancellorial Chair Professor for Innovative Teaching Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages in College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at the University of California, Riverside and Emeritu ...

and

Jeffrey Wasserstrom Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom is an American historian of modern China. He is Chancellor's Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine. Wasserstrom's research interests began with the role of student protest and have grown to include the ...

, and in outlets such as ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''. James Fallows, writing in ''The Atlantic'', characterised the collection as "an outstanding set of essays on the general topic of why modern China is the way it is, each essay centered on a Chinese word or phrase.... Very much worth reading." Laura Miller wrote in ''Salon'' that "Yu Hua has a fiction writer's nose for the perfect detail, the everyday stuff that conveys more understanding than a thousand Op-Eds.... Perhaps the most bewitching aspect of this book is how funny it is.... He comes across as an Asian fusion of

David Sedaris David Raymond Sedaris (; born December 26, 1956) is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "Santaland Diaries.” He published his first co ...

and

Charles Kuralt Charles Bishop Kuralt (September 10, 1934 – July 4, 1997) was an American television, newspaper and radio journalist and author. He is most widely known for his long career with CBS, first for his "On the Road" segments on '' The CBS Evenin ...

." Lagaya Misha assessed it in the ''New York Times'' as "an uneven mixture of memoir and polemic, farce and fury, short on statistics but long on passion. ''China in Ten Words''...is a cautionary tale about the risks of subterfuge, of trying to sneak something past one's father — or, perhaps, one's ever vigilant government." Scholars from across the

literary Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...

and

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

fields have also expressed profound interest in

’s essay collection and established their individual interpretations of ''China in Ten Words''’

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

narratives. One such scholar proposes that ''China in Ten Words'' is not intended for the

mainland Chinese Mainland Chinese or Mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC), ...

audience with its blatant intent to criticize Communist China. She also states that “bamboozled” (忽悠), used in the contemporary setting, is intended to illustrate China’s market capitalism despite its

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

orthodoxy. Another scholar propounds that

’s decision to publish ''China in Ten Words''’ Chinese version in

accentuates the political repressiveness of the

PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

in comparison to the ROC. She asserts, “Yu uaappears to place more trust in Taiwan’s government than in China’s to protect his freedom and rights.” Attention is also drawn to the social endemics of contemporary China arising as a result of the growing

(差距) between the wealthy and the impoverished.

Character/Event Parallels

A list of the several real-life incidents and people Yu Hua mentions in '' China in Ten Words'' that is referenced in his other works, such as '' ''Brothers'''', '' ''The Seventh Day'''', ''

'', and '' To Live''. Leader (领袖): 1990s Beauty Contests: “Silver-haired Beauty Contest”, “Tipsy Beauty Contest” and “Artificial Beauty Contest” (p.13)Yu Hua. 2012
''China in Ten Words''
Translated by Allan Hepburn Barr. New York: Anchor Books. and Baldy Li’s “National Hymen Olympic Games" in ''Brothers'' (p.475).Yu, Hua. 2010
''Brothers''
Translated by

Eileen Cheng-yin Chow Eileen Chengyin Chow () is a sinologist, Chinese translator and University Teacher. She works for the Duke University and for the Shih Hsin University in Taipei, Taiwan. She graduated in Literature from Harvard University and studied her Ph.D i ...

and Carlos Rojas. New York: Anchor Books. Around 2010-2012: Mass

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

and

demonstrations Demonstration may refer to: * Demonstration (acting), part of the Brechtian approach to acting * Demonstration (military), an attack or show of force on a front where a decision is not sought * Demonstration (political), a political rally or prote ...

against "

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...

, moral collapse, the polarization of rich and poor and pervasive

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

," (p.17) reflected in Television report in ''The Seventh Day'' (p.23).Yu, Hua. 2015
''The Seventh Day''
Translated by Allan Hepburn Barr. New York: Anchor Books. Reading (阅读): Savage house lootings during the

(p.25): The

Red Guards Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...

ransacked and raided Song Fanping’s house in ''Brothers'' (p.77). Great Famine (1959-62): Starved students have resorted to eating leaves off trees (p.26). In ''To Live'', villagers ate pumpkin leaves and tree bark (p.137), while city-folks in ''

'' lived on wild vegetables (p.117). Yu, Hua. 2004
''Chronicle of a Blood Merchant''
Translated by Andrew F. Jones. New York: Anchor Books. Writing (写作): Yu Hua’s father labeled “

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the ...

’s brat” and “runaway landlord” because of his father’s landowner status prior to 1949 (p.44). Song Fanping, in ''Brothers'', is implicated during

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

because he was born into the landowning class (p.77). Huang Shuai and

’s

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

exchange and shenanigans (p.52) mirrors Writer Liu and Song Gang’s situation in the metal factory in ''Brothers'' (p.224). Revolution (革命): China’s frenzied

steel production Steelmaking is the process of producing steel from iron ore and carbon/or scrap. In steelmaking, impurities such as nitrogen, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur and excess carbon (the most important impurity) are removed from the sourced iron, and ...

during the

removed peasants from tilling farms to melting steel (p.78). All pots and pans were shattered and used to make steel in ''To Live'' (p.101).Yu, Hua. 2003
''To Live''
Translated by Michael Berry. New York: Anchor Books. Forcible evictions and building destruction in 2011, while some were trapped and killed during the process (p.88). In ''The Seventh Day'', Zheng Xiaomin’s parents were buried alive during government

demolitions Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...

(p.22).

’s classmate is sent to the mountains and villages, along with other high school graduates, for further education, and dies from

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pa ...

(p.92). In ''

'', Yile also contracts a form of hepatitis after he is sent to the countryside (p.206). Grassroots (草根): ''

''’s Blood Chief Li inspired by the Blood Chief

met in his childhood (p.117). “Garbage King” who went from

rags-to-riches Rags to riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype in literature and popula ...

from collecting and buying cheap trash and reselling them at a higher price after sorting them (p.112). In ''Brothers'', Baldy Li’s success story also begins with his

scrap Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...

business in front of the government building (p.377). Copycat (山寨): Gaffer Shen,

’s dentist mentor, worked with

on the streets under an

oilskin Oilskin is a waterproof cloth used for making garments typically worn by sailors and by others in wet areas. The modern oilskin garment was developed by a New Zealander, Edward Le Roy, in 1898. Le Roy used worn-out sailcloth painted with a mixt ...

umbrella with

forceps Forceps (plural forceps or considered a plural noun without a singular, often a pair of forceps; the Latin plural ''forcipes'' is no longer recorded in most dictionaries) are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Fo ...

mallets A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and proport ...

and other tools spread on a table (p.133). ''Brothers''’ Yanker Yu is also a “copycat dentist” who works in a small town (p.60).

Publication

External links

Publisher website
for English translation (

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

). An Interview with Yu Hua on ''China in Ten Words'',

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

's "Yu Hua talking about his new book ''China in Ten Words''"Archived a
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and th
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References

{{reflist Chinese books Essay collections 2010 non-fiction books Works by Yu Hua