The Vagrants

The novel is about China by Yiyun Li. The story is set in the late 1970s when Beijing was rocked by the Democratic Wall Movement. The setting of the story reminds me of a patterns I am familiar with: rural to urban migration patterns in Third World, a world that will always be mine no matter where I am.

 

 

From vast farmlands owned by big landowners, tenants get to own a parcel. Small parcels of land are like plate waste from a landlord's dining table. Tenants migrate to urban areas or cities for better chances of livelihood such as some employment or other entrepreneurial activities. Livelihood options are based on one's own creativity and resilience.

 

The vagrants in the story are an older couple who subsist on scavenging and other odd jobs. The story depicts the time before China's one child policy where couples would not stop procreation until they have a son to carry the family's name. The story revolves on the characters of Nini, a crippled young girl; Bashi, an idle  son of a better off family; Old Hua and his wife; Teacher Gu and daughter Gu Shan; Tong, a boy who recently came to the city from the rural areas; and Kai, a radio announcer turned revolutionary.

 

Nini, born with deformities is the oldest of 6 daughters and tasked with child care responsibilities and doomed to be a spinster because no man would even consider her potential as a wife because of her ugliness. Her mother  who was  still trying for a son had at several times wished she'd thrown Nini as an infant because of her deformities and her gender. Old Hua's wife, who together with her husband, raised daughters they picked up from their scavenging, was kind to Nini finding treats for Nini who was always hungry. While Nini's parents worked, Nini was also tasked with preparing the family's meals. Bashi befriended Nini in the marketplace where Nini bought her families everyday needs.

Bashi, who was kind of a village bum or idiot was never taken seriously by potential parents-in laws. Bashi's friendliness to Nini soon became a mutual relationship unbeknownst to anyone. Teacher Gu who is aware that it was his daughter who caused the deformity of Nini was also kind to Nini.

 

As in any repressive societies, freedom of speech is curtailed. The story begins with an event, the execution of the daughter of Teacher Gu, once a revolutionary zealot who at 14 kicked Nini's mother who was eight months pregnant. Gu Shan was betrayed at 18 by her boyfriend who wanted a post in the army upon a remark she made. Her imprisonment led to her killing ten years after and tasked to cover the broadcast was Kai, once a classmate of Gu Shan and a wife of a distinguished man from a political family.