Chronicle of a Blood Merchant Paperback – November 9, 2004

Yu Hua has a writing style like no other. The ability to create emotions so human and globally understandable is amazing. As the mother of a daughter adopted from china, I have become interested in Chinese history and culture and have been reading many books on the subject. Yu Hua elicits emotion from the reader with the compelling scenarios and characters. So touching, so sad, yet so memorable and worth the read.

Blood is certainly one of the most graphic and potent of literary symbols: a life-sustaining fluid, a product of injury or death, a signal of feminine fertility and virginity, a salable commodity, a gift of life via transfusion, and a genetic and metaphorical bond among children, parents, their extended families, and prospective descendants. Each of these meanings plays a significant role in CHRONICLE OF A BLOOD MERCHANT, Yu Hua's harrowing tale of one father's relentless efforts to survive and provide for his family under the most difficult of circumstances.Set in a small town in mainland China, CHRONICLE OF A BLOOD MERCHANT follows three decades in the life of Xu Sanguan, a cocoon deliverer in a local silk factory, as he marries Xu Yulan, fathers three children (more of less named One, Two, and Three), learns that he has been cuckolded, is in turn unfaithful to his own wife, and helps his family survive the Cultural Revolution, ruinous famines, the "sending down" of two sons to the countryside, and the critical illness of his oldest son, the one he has long known is not his own. Along the way, Xu Sanguan learns to sell his blood at a local hospital as a way to raise emergency funds. Symbolically, of course, Yu Hua is portraying the burdens and hypocrisies of a system in which the lowly and honest can only barely survive by resorting to the extreme measure of selling their energy, their strength, and in some cases, their very lives.This novel works for several reasons. First, the language is simple and direct, almost choppy and childish at times, a reflection of its uneducated protagonists. Second, the author has created a small cast of characters whose fates are inextricably linked to one another, and among whom actions both good and bad eventually create unplanned or unintended consequences. In particular, the relationship between Xu Sanguan, Xu Yulan, their son Yile, Yile's blood father He Xiaoyong, and He's wife, creates a series of alternating and humorous interdependencies. Third, Yu Hua has skillfully recreated the peasant atmosphere of Chinese village life, complete with gossiping and public lamentations, traditions and superstitions, the importance of connections (guanxi, as the Chinese call it) with higher-ups, and horrific misinformation about human health and personal care.Finally, CHRONICLE OF A DEATH MERCHANT is a story of fatherly devotion and filial piety. Xu Sanguan is so devoted to his family that he nearly sacrifices his own life to ensure theirs. The last fifty pages describe Xu Sanguan's horrifying physical descent to the edge of death, slowly yet so inevitably that I wanted to shout at him to stop. I was reminded of the similar, sick to the stomach sense of dread I felt watching Morgan Spurlock's SUPER SIZE ME. Curiously, one is about eating and intake, while Xu Sanguan's danger arises from the blood he is selling to raise money.While I would not classify this book as one of China's great novels, CHRONICLE OF A DEATH MERCHANT is an engaging story, sometimes sad and sometimes humorous, filled with memorable characters. Perhaps more important, it offers a biting critique of an ineffectual and often capricious government system, told from the viewpoint of those who understood it least and suffered at its unfeeling hands the most. Intentionally or otherwise, Yu Hua traces the roots of a rampant blood-selling practice in China's poorest provinces that has created an epidemic of HIV and AIDS cases. This is a book well worth reading for anyone interested in Mao's era, in China's current day HIV health crisis, or simply in a heroic family saga.

Contrary to the expectations created by title, this isn't so much about any particular blood merchant, but a man who, first by happenstance, and then by necessity, seeks the services of the blood merchant(s). I was a little disappointed in this, hoping for a glimpse into this aspect of Chinese life, even if only a fictional glimpse, but as a regular reader of Yu, I enjoyed the story nonetheless. Yu's stories provide a glimpse into the life of everyday Chinese and what they've experienced over the decades since Mao's "creation" of contemporary China, even though the big events--Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution--are often in the background. If you are a fan of Yu, you'll enjoy this.

This book is the story of Xu Sanguan, who worked in a silk factory in a small town, and of his wife, family and neighbors and all that happened to them during the events in China in the middle of the twentieth century. On very important ocasions in his life he sold his blood. It is a good story.The book is very emotional, it made me laugh and cry. I especially remember the relationship with his son Yile.Some of the events that happen are terrible. And yet, after finishing the book I feel optimistic. I think it is because so many characters are good. I mostly remember love, and not hate. They want to help, they understand and they forgive.

I feel like the bones of this story are good, but the translator did the bare minimum. I feel like a few of the events portrayed in the story are unrealistic.

Set during the Cultural Revolution in China, Ya Hua provides a fitting narration of the people and the times. I found this book satisfied not only my curiosity of history in Mao's China, but the scales of social classes as well. I was particularly fascinated how the weight of one persons action encumbered an entire family. A lengthy book that is well worth the time.

it is okay

Excellent read, truly a realistic insight to 20th century life in China.

great

A great book, I read it in one breath. Such a good style of writing and unforgettable characters. I will buy more books of this amazing author.

Looks like second hand book, disappointing.

This is one of those books that really teaches you something and makes you think without being boring. Quick and fun to read.

If you are interested in life in China over the past 50 years, and want to find out through powerful stories, this author has it.