This second in the “Red Princess” trilogy is an exciting and well-plotted mystery wrapped around a continued powerful in-depth look at modern China’s political, economic and social contradictions. The story begins in the impoverished Chinese countryside which was for a while the touted model of the Cultural Revolution, until it was once again abandoned to its fate and to the cruel exploitation of foreign investors and local opportunists. Then we are back in Beijing, where our heroine Detective Liu Hulan is called upon to investigate […]
Chinese/U.S. Relations Viewed Through the Lens of a Murder Mystery
Flower Net is the first of a trilogy by this author, whose Snow Flower and the Secret Fan blew me away when I read it several years ago. This book travels back and forth between the U.S. and China in 1997, and is an incisive political commentary couched in a splendid if somewhat gruesome murder mystery. Liu Hulan is a beautiful young Chinese detective who has had to fight hard to achieve her respected status, but has to contend with the fact that is a […]
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes with Feng Shui
I am definitely on a quest this year, to improve my health, my life, my surroundings. I have been making some changes around the house, trying to eliminate clutter and make our environment more eco-friendly as well as aesthetically pleasing. Our home life is still in a bit of disarray — this is a months-long project — but I am hopeful that by mid-Spring I will finally get my home as I want it, which will have all sorts of great effects on our lives. […]