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The Bathing Women

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The Bathing Women
AuthorTie Ning
Original titleDa Yu Nü
Chinese: 大浴女'
TranslatorHongling Zhang and Jason Sommer
LanguageChinese
GenreSemi-autobiographical, historical novel, bildungsroman
PublisherCharles Scribner's Sons
Publication date
2000
Publication placePeople's Republic of China
Published in English
2012
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages368 pp.
ISBN1476704252


The Bathing Women (Simplified Chinese:大浴女, Pinyin: Da Yu Nü, literally "Big-Bath Woman") is a novel written by Chinese author Tie Ning. Published in Chinese in 2000 and receiving a English translation in 2012, The Bathing Women focuses on the development and personal growth of several characters as they live in the turbulent times of The Cultural Revolution. The plot focuses on several controversial themes such as gender inequality, guilt and misogyny. [1]

Plot Summary

The Bathing Women focuses on the main character Tiao, a Beijing publisher who on chance begins an affair with the older married actor Feng Jing, her sister Fan and her long term friend Fei, as they grow up in the chaos of The Cultural Revolution. The novel is set simultaneously in the 1960s and 1980s China.

The novel confronts the themes of misogyny, gender roles and double standards of Chinese culture.

Characters

  • Tiao- Central character of the novel. Born in the Fuan Province, Fei grows up during The Cultural Revolution she is introduced as literary agent for a large Chinese book publishing company that specializes in memoirs of Chinese celebrities.
  • Fan- Tiao's younger sister. As a child Fan admired her older sister, but as an adult she grew cold and selfish. Fan marries an American man named Davis and moves to America.
  • Fei- Tiao's highschool friend who was born in Beijing. Fei's mother conceived her out of wedlock leading to both of the woman to be socially ostracized. Fei is portrayed throughout the novel as being strongly independent and unconcerned about social taboos, such as during her youth when she routinely practices casual sex despite the strong stigma associated with it. Throughout her life Fei enters into several abusive relationships.
  • Youyou- Friend of Tiao's and Fei's. A amateur cheg, Youyou takes pride in cooking new recipes she learns from prohibited Russian magazines. She is described as having a chubby build caused likely from her excessive consumption of her own dishes. Later in the novel she opens her own small stir fry restaurant in Beijing.
  • Dr. Tang- Fei's uncle and guardian, who adopts her after the death of his sister. Tang plays a major role in the novel by entering into an affair with Tiao's mother, Wu, which results in the birth of his illegitimate daughter, Quan. Years after dissolving his relationship with Wu, Tang is caught mid-act having an illegal affair with a promiscuous nurse, instead of being captured Tang commits suicide by jumping off a coal chimney.
  • Wu- Tiao's mother who enters in to an affair with Dr. Tang.
  • Feng Jing: Famous actor who rose to success after portraying the tragedy of the victims of The Cultural Revolution. Feng is extremely callous manipulating Tiao with promise to marry her once he divorces his present wife.

Reception

The Bathing Women generally received mixed to positive reviews from Western critics.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Julia Lovell of The Guardian writes,"...compared with recent offerings by writers such as Mo Yan or Yu Hua, Tie Ning's command of psychological realism is practically Jamesian. Her portrait of the conceited Fang Jing is agreeably sharp. She is an acute, sympathetic observer of Chinese society, skilled at capturing the discomforts, hypocrisies and uncouthness of everyday life, and the way that guilt and grievance corrode relationships." Though Lovell also notes that she considers the book to be conforming with the historical interpretation of China as established by the Chinese Communist Party.[7] Japanese Nobel Prize laureate Kenzaburo Oe praised the novel stating,"If I were to pick the ten best literary works in the world of the past ten years, I would definitely rank The Bathing Women among them."[8]

In contrast, DAWN contributor Zara Khadeeja Majoka gave a far more negative review of the book stating, "On the whole, the reader is neither able to muster any great empathy for the characters nor relate to them in any significant way. The novel is cluttered with many ‘almost’ moments; moments when you almost feel something for a character or almost understand their motive but then soon enough an unnecessary tangent, a gross magnification of the obvious or a dreaded cliché rears its head and you’re back to feeling frustrated."[9]

References

  1. ^ Ning, Tie (2000). The Bathing Women. Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 1476704252.
  2. ^ Sophie Chen Jin (December 9, 2012). "Book review: The Bathing Women by Tie Ning". The South China Morning Post. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  3. ^ Sophie Chen Jin (December 9, 2012). "Book review: The Bathing Women by Tie Ning". Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  4. ^ Andrew Chin (April, 10 2013). "Book review: The Bathing Women by Tie Ning". City Weekend. Retrieved October 31, 2016. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Hephzibah Anderson (February 14, 2013). "THE BATHING WOMEN". The Daily Mail. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  6. ^ Jason Beerman (December 21, 2012). "The Bathing Woman by Tie Ning: Review". The Toronto Star. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  7. ^ Julia Lovell. "The Bathing Women by Tie Ning – review". The Guardian. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  8. ^ Ning, Tie (2000). The Bathing Women. Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 1476704252.
  9. ^ Zara Khadeeja Majoka (July 14, 2013). "Review of Tie Ning's The Bathing Women". Dawn (Newspaper). Retrieved October 31, 2016.


Category:2000 novels Category: 2000 in fiction Category:Books about the Cultural Revolution Category:Books about Maoist China Category:Chinese historical novels Category: Feminist novels Category: Novels set in the 1960s Category: Novels set in the 1990s Category:Novels set in Beijing Category:Novels set in China

Tie Ning- The Bathing Women article

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