Lazy Man in ChinaThis is a China book you read through in one go …ne Chung Ma
Read Chapter: Old Peking New Beijing
Published by Pandanus in 2004, the twenty-first anniversary of Helene’s posting as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s first female foreign correspondent, it recalls a nervous ABC male news chief warning, ‘There’s a lot riding on your appointment.’ John Martin, the self-dubbed lazy man, accompanied her and worked as ‘the token Australian and the token man’ in the Australian embassy aid section. His images are shot through with colour, ironic humour and insight as Old Communism gives way to New Capitalism. He didn’t live to see the China that she experienced in 2002, the cosmopolitan China of BMWs, new rich, new poor and a Tiananmen Square emptied on the thirteenth anniversary of the massacre by a World Cup soccer game viewed on giant screens.
Others have written about China today, but Lazy Man in China records the experiences and impressions of two discerning and talented observers during the past 20 years in a manner that is both memorable and thoroughly diverting, not least with the help of its many apt illustrations. This is … a fascinating, beautifully produced book. Ralph Elliott, a Professor of English at the Australian National University This is one person's wry and perceptive account of China at the end of its era of Mao-style Communism ... a fascinating insight into Chinese life and culture at a time when the country was going through major social and political changes. Bruce Elder, The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 October 2004 While an engaging historical read, Lazy Man in China is also a bittersweet love story … a good read for those wanting an insight into the massive changes happening in one of the world’s most powerful countries. Kate Stowell, Eureka Street, May 2005 John Martin’s … letters are appropriately punctuated by Helene’s own comments, on occasions correcting some political or historical detail her partner had got askew. Her comments are also enlightening in offering views of her own journalistic commitments … the huge toll taken on her by an almost inhuman work load as she traipsed all over China to cover stories, often with him as the offside onlooker commenting on the often comic, but frustrating red-tape of a country changing yet still tied down under communist hard-line rule. The letters also document the depths of the most unusual relationship that Helene and John shared, at once wistful and powerful. Susan Ballyn, Universitat de Barcelona A duet in letters and commentary spanning over two decades. Lazy Man in China tells of a conjugal life involving work, travel and discovery in China; it is the story of a life set against the backdrop of a country experiencing radical economic transformation and social upheaval. This is also a book that gives voice to a double nostalgia — both for the 'old' new China and for a partnership rent by loss. It speaks of the past and the present; it is a touching memoir and a particular Australian account of a unique time. Professor Geremie R. Barmé, The Australian National University This is a China book you read through in one go, drawn by the writer/editor's need to catch and hold images of a Beijing of 20 years ago and of the love of her life who went there with her, reluctantly (and who a decade later she lost to cancer). From his letters to family and friends and her connecting comment she presents a very intimate China reportage that is personal and conversational, with often unfashionable private judgments that could be made without having to be careful. It is at once a wistful love story ... and a dialogue between her and her late partner about China as they found and judged it then, like oral history. Its fascination is in how it brings back the foreigners' 'China life' of that time, and the way foreigners' perspectives and judgments were formed, and what they were supposed to see, and what they saw and thought. This will be its value for those who study China, or who just want to know. Dr Stephen FitzGerald, AO
Read Chapter: Old Peking New Beijing Return to top  All material © 2008 Helene Chung. All rights reserved. helenechung.com Pronunciation: He-lane and Chung as in hung |
