Book Review John Pomfret
Millions of people were persecuted in the brutal party struggles that occurred across China during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. During this period, schools closed, family relationships were torn apart, and anyone who made money was an enemy of the country. China’s young, mistreated individuals were encouraged to denounce and even murder their elders. These individuals made up the “lost generation”, those whom had their education halted and were sent down to live in rural communes. But who exactly were these individuals and how did they adjust their lives to China’s rapid transformation?
Author and writer John Pomfret may hold the answer. Pomfret was one of the first Americans allowed to be an exchange student in China. He attended Nanjing University, one of the oldest and highest ranking universities in China, with the Class of 1982. His book Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China follows the lives of five of his classmates consisting of four men and one woman. These classmates grew up during the Cultural Revolution, began their post-college careers just prior to the infamous Tiananmen Square massacre, and watched their country’s economy flourish under the reforms during the 1990s. Pomfret recounts each of their individual stories in a very energetic fashion. The reader gains insight into each individuals decisions and their ways of navigating through the substantial political shifts that offered both great opportunity and danger.
Pomfret begins Chinese Lessons with the arrival at his dorm at Nanjing University. He humorously tries to fit his 6-foot-2-inch structure into a 5-foot-10-inch bed. The beds are constructed with gunmetal frames and rice-husk mattresses. The pillows are also packed with rice husks. There are eight wooden desks that are huddled together in the middle of the floor, with a stool for each desk.
The students who Pomfret converses and builds relationships with offer a personal, funny, and extremely honest account about the outcomes of different events that they had experienced. It is especially rewarding when Pomfret describes how China is today compared to how it was in the past. The book definitely hits a high note when Pomfret recounts actually being in the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. Chinese Lessons does not just recount the stories about the author’s classmates; it is very much a personal memoir as well, and succeeds by thoughtfully using the author’s stories to improve and complement the larger one. Pomfret married a young Chinese woman, so he had first-hand experience with the full, sophisticated evolution of China, from clandestine gatherings to the unrestrictive periods of the internet. Pomfret’s extensive reporting experience in China also adds depth and detail throughout Chinese Lessons.
In these intimate stories of Pomfret’s classmates’ lives, what appears is a fascinating but frightening representation of a “corrupted”