Book Review: Sheng Keyi's Fields of White
“One February morning, I woke up to something alarming that had happened overnight – the whites of my eyes had grown larger than my irises, tiny black bubbles swimming in a vast white mass. Imagine if you were walking down a narrow street and came face to face with a big dog. It was the sort of look you would see in its eyes. I stared into the mirror for a moment. I pursed my lips and tilted my head as I tried to think of what might have caused this startling change.”
That’s the cheery opening to Man Asia Prize nominee Sheng Keyi’s Fields of White, translated by Shelly Bryant, a new e-book-only offering from Penguin China. In the 1980s, Japan’s salarymen became famous for working themselves to death, drinking and smoking into the small hours after grueling days at work. Today, white collar workers in China face some of the same issues, with baijiu-fueled nights mixed with social pressures and for some, complications they create themselves such as extramarital affairs.
Kind of a Bright Lights, Big City for 21st century China, the world of the bailing is Sheng’s canvas for Fields of White. Thirty-one-year-old Wu Zhongdong is the protagonist and victim of the story, making his way with a sales career, a wife, a mistress, a string of bills, and some developing health problems.
Fields catches Wu at the moment when it’s clear he’s gone too far. His wife and mistress know about each other, and the client he’s attempting to bed, Duoli, is a rare source of wisdom and guidance in his life. He missed being fired from his job by a single order from her, and he has a tough time getting along with colleagues.
It’s packed with bits of contemporary China that readers who have been here for even a year or two will recognize. The story isn’t set in any particularly city, but will certainly resonate with Beijing readers.
Fields of White is neither an uplifting nor inspiring read, but it could push salespeople off their career paths. “I should reiterate that we in sales are virtually able to hold our urine in any condition – hot, cold, skinny, fat, drinking spirits, wine or beer. We never worry about kidney disease. In order to survive, we have to sacrifice certain organs – our lungs to smoking, our hearts to drinking and our genitals to prostitutes,” Sheng’s Wu says.
While the ending seems farfetched, it’s an engaging and quick read, one that may push readers with language skills to want to read the original Chinese version, or to Sheng’s most famous work, Northern Girls. If nothing else, it will make you raise an eyebrow towards your company’s sales department, especially on days when they arrive at the office looking worse for wear.
Fields of White is available now on Amazon.com.
Photo: Courtesy of Penguin China
