Description
Born in Taiwan, raised in the scholarly traditions of ancient China but forced into the Japanese educational system, Hu Taiming, the protagonist of Orphan of Asia, ultimately finds himself estranged from all three cultures. Taiming eventually makes his mark in the colonial Japanese educational system and graduates from a prestigious college. However, he finds that his Japanese education and his adoption of modern ways have alienated him from his family and native village. He becomes a teacher in the Japanese colonial system but soon quits his post and finds that, having repudiated his roots, he doesn't seem to belong anywhere. Thus begins the long journey for Taiming to find his rightful place, during which he is accused of spying for both China and Japan and witnesses the effects of Japanese imperial expansion, the horrors of war, and the sense of anger and powerlessness felt by those living under colonial rule. Zhuoliu Wu's autobiographical novel is widely regarded as a classic of modern Asian literature and a groundbreaking expression of the postwar Taiwanese national consciousness.
Author: Zhuoliu Wu
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 02/22/2008
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.65w x 0.52d
ISBN13: 9780231137263
ISBN10: 0231137265
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Historical | General
- Fiction | Literary
About the Author
Zhouliu Wu (1900-1976) was a famous journalist and one of Taiwan's leading literary figures, well known for his realistic, politically charged short stories and novels, including The Fig and Formosan Weeping Forsythia.