''Mr Ma and Son'' (
simplified Chinese: 二马;
traditional Chinese: 二馬;
pinyin: Ėrmǎ; literally: "The Two Mas" or "Ma and Son") is a
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
written by
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
author
Lao She, first
serialized in 1929 in the journal ''
Fiction Monthly
The ''Fiction Monthly'' ( ''Xiaoshuo Yuebao''; Original English title: ''The Short Story Magazine'') was a Chinese literary journal published by the Commercial Press in Shanghai. First published in July 1910, its original editors were Yun Tieqiao ...
''. Lao She's third novel, it tells of the experiences of a Chinese father and his son in
London after taking over the
antique shop of his newly deceased brother.
Plot
The novel is divided into five parts. It chronicles the experiences of a Chinese widower, Ma Zeren (
simplified Chinese: 马则仁;
traditional Chinese：馬則仁), usually referred to in the text as Mr Ma, and his son Ma Wei (
simplified Chinese: 马威;
traditional Chinese: 馬威), as they journey to
London to take over an antique shop left by Mr Ma's deceased brother, located near
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
. They are recommended as lodgers to an English landlady, Mrs Wedderburn, by Mr Ma's English clergyman, Reverend Ely. In the course of the novel, Mr Ma and his son face anti-Chinese
racism of all kinds, while Mr Ma falls in love with Mrs Wedderburn and Ma Wei falls for Mrs Wedderburn's daughter, Mary.
The novel is an acerbic
satire revealing both the West's prejudice against the Chinese and China's "failure to stand up for itself in the world", according to academic Julia Lovell.
[Lao She, ''Mr Ma and Son''. translated by William Dolby and introduced by Julia Lovell. Penguin Modern Classics, Penguin Books, 2013, p. xi]
Characters
*Ma Zeren (
simplified Chinese: 马则仁;
traditional Chinese：馬則仁)
*Ma Wei (simplified Chinese: 马威; traditional Chinese: 馬威)
*Li Zirong (simplified Chinese: 李子荣; traditional Chinese: 李子榮)
*Reverend Ely (simplified Chinese: 伊牧师; traditional Chinese: 伊牧師)
*Mrs Wedderburn (simplified Chinese: 温都太太; traditional Chinese: 溫都太太)
*Mary Wedderburn (simplified Chinese: 玛力; traditional Chinese: 瑪力)
*Catherine Ely (simplified Chinese: 凯萨林; traditional Chinese: 凱薩林)
References
1929 novels
Chinese Republican era novels
Novels by Lao She
20th-century Chinese novels
{{1920s-satirical-novel-stub