Review of Red Dust
By Jason Waller, May 09, 2002

Confucius said that by thirty a man should have taken his stand. For Ma Jian, his thirtieth birthday was his nadir. He was divorcing his wife, had just uncovered his girlfriend's infidelity, and was about to lose his job.

Red Dust By Ma Jian
English (trans. Flora Drew)
Paperback, pp.304
Pub. Chatto and Windus 2001
Available from the Shanghai Foreign Languages Bookstore, and online at the usual outlets
Confucius said that by thirty a man should have taken his stand. For Ma Jian, his thirtieth birthday was his nadir. He was divorcing his wife, had just uncovered his girlfriend's infidelity, and was about to lose his job. Red Dust is the basis of what was to follow in order to explain the past.
Set in 1983 and the three years thereafter, Red Dust chronicles the travels of the author, who searches for answers, reason, and personal belief. As Deng Xiaoping’s modernizations kick in, Ma sets of on a journey of discovery around the country.
It's part travelogue – taking in familiar places on paths less traveled, useful for those pondering their next venture around the motherland – and part memoir noting his introspective search for self-realization. At each turn, Ma has to live life on the back foot, bending the truth and becoming different personas. His is a tale of how people become stronger after surviving despair, growing through testing times.

On the road, he meets with dust storms in Gansu, faces death in the desert, and eventually comes under attack from the harsh Tibetan winter. Through an often unfortunate and unreal journey the reader is taken through the mind of a lost soul, his thoughts, reading material, poetry and snapshots of his relationship with others.

What could let this tale down is the protagonist himself, a man trying to rid himself of his old political baggage by revolting the system, but in all essence using it to his advantage; the connections and cheating the ignorance of many. However, this is brutal honesty within a unique and powerful structure not only about one man but his allegiances and country.
Contact the reviewer on: editor@cityweekend.com.cn

Last Updated: September 7, 2004