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A brief introduction to
The Mysterious Mountains
The Mysterious Mountains
is a sequence of Women and Bandits by Mr. Zongming
Zhang, a famous writer of Guizhou Province. This novel is
about humanity and personalities in the special transitional
times of China. As a representative work of Mr. Zhang’s, it
is recommended by professors and linguists as a candidate
for the Nobel Literature Prize. This novel blends the
essences of human nature in the east and west. It could be
regarded as a breakthrough in Mr. Zhang’s literary creation.
The novel gives an account of Henry a wealthy
British young man’s experiences in China following his love
failure in his native country. The Shanghai Battle happening
in the end of January, 1932 made Henry become a missionary
who preached the Gospel in the mountains of Guizhou
Province. He carried the dying, blood-stained Ah Cai on his
back to Shuangxiping Village, a most primitive, backward,
superstitious, beautiful and harmonious village in the
mountains of Guizhou Province. There she was saved because
of his “disgraceful acts” of cleaning her blood and washing
her body and dresses. He set up a Christian church in the
village.
Ah Cai gave her thanks to Henry with naked
worshipping and regarded him as a man that she would worship
and thank all her life. She got to know that Henry suffered
from impotence, and then through her mom’s help, decided to
cure him of the illness by a unique home-inherited
prescription of Miao nationality. Ah Cai and Henry got
married and had a mixed blood daughter. In the process of
exercising benevolence, saving lives, and stopping violence,
blood-shedding and slaughters, Henry became part of the
local community and established a lasting friendship with
them.
Would these people revenge the Kuomintang
armies and bandits tooth for tooth or eye for eye for their
crimes, shortly after the founding of P. R. China?
In the early spring of 1952 some remote
mountainous areas of Guizhou were still controlled by
bandits, and the PLA troops and Communist land reform teams
were not present there. Liu Lijing (disguised as Ah Song), a
camouflaged bandit head, and Dai Min (disguised as Ah Liu),
a camouflaged landlady, came to Shuangxiping in order to
escape abroad through the pass on the borders of Guangxi,
Yunnan, and Guizhou. Ah Song successfully saved Henry and Ah
Cai, who were kidnapped by the old times Kuomintang rulers,
and established a deep friendship with the locals.
Unfortunately, the new government did not allow foreign
missionaries to preach in China, though Henry married a
Chinese woman and had a daughter with her. Despite the
government’s orders, the local people opposed to the
expulsion of Henry and insisted on a “holy trial” for two
young land reform men. The conflicts, thus, were heated.
At this crucial moment, Yan Zhengfu came to
Shuangxiping with the government delegation. The Communist
policies were rigid then: Yan could yield to the villagers
rather than the priest. Facing the national tensions, would
Liu Lijing the bandit head incite the locals to fight
against the Communists? Would Liu force Yan to commit
another unforgivable mistake forbidden by the Communists?
These puzzles, age-old minority customs and untold village
stories would be worked out if you read this novel with
care.
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