Wonderful Xinjiang: Propaganda or Proper Literature?

Home » Books, Headline, Travel June 7, 2010 12 Comments

Cover of Wang Meng's book Wonderful XinjiangWonderful Xinjiang
by Wang Meng
Review by Josh Summers

Hold on.  Is that a book about Xinjiang…published by Reader’s Digest? Those were my first skeptical thoughts while picking up ‘Wonderful Xinjiang’, especially considering its author.  The Han Chinese, especially those like Wang Meng who have served as part of the Chinese government, are not very well known for their objectivity.  In the end, my curiosity got the best of me, trying to figure out if Reader’s Digest could successfully condense China’s largest province into a 248-page, hardcover book.

First released in 2004, “Wonderful Xinjiang” is a publication that features colorful, artistic photographs depicting Xinjiang’s history and culture in still-life form, ranging from the nomadic families of the Yili grasslands to the crumbling remains of an ancient Silk Road building.

Accompanying these beautiful images are short poems and selected passages translated from the library of Wang Meng’s work.  Although this book was likely published to celebrate the notable achievements of this prolific author, it ends up appealing primarily to those who have first-hand experience traveling through Xinjiang.

Upon further research, I found out that Wang Meng is probably one of the most prominent contemporary Chinese writers I’ve never heard of. Born in Beijing in 1934, his personal story caught my interest starting in the year 1963.  As Wang gently puts it in the introduction of this book, his life was “thrown into great turmoil” when he was exiled to Xinjiang for publishing a controversial piece about the Chinese government.

As it turns out, their plan of “reform through labor” apparently worked.  Xinjiang’s beauty inspired Wang Meng to forget about the ideas that had caused him so much trouble in Beijing and instead focus on writing poems and novels.  He went on to publish almost 100 books, later became China’s Minister of Culture and in 2003 was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

…the writings were not marred by any political agenda…

Flipping through the pages of ‘Wonderful Xinjiang’ brought back good memories of various trips throughout the region and often the descriptions provided by Wang Meng effectively added depth to the photographs.  It was a relief to find that the writings were not marred by any political agenda but were instead the work of a man who truly appreciated Xinjiang and called it his home.  I can relate to that.

Unfortunately, Wang Meng cannot mask his identity.  Some people might find offensive the use of Chinese metaphors and allusions to describe a multi-ethnic province. Xinjiang’s environment, in many ways distinct from the rest of China, is at one point viewed by Wang as a scene “…in a traditional Chinese landscape painting.”

Personally, I was easily able to overlook this minor detail. What I was most troubled by, however, was the absense of photo location details.  Even after four years of traveling and studying the province, it took a lot of effort and a little bit of guessing to figure out the general location of each shot.  I can only imagine how frustrating it might be for anybody else less familiar with the province.

In the end I believe this book merits a place on the coffee tables of those travelers who aren’t satisfied with the souvenirs they took home on their visit to Xinjiang.  In contrast to the poorly translated, often terrible quality of “tourist” books I’ve seen while traveling, ‘Wonderful Xinjiang’ offers exactly what it means to: a politically-free, make-you-happy, nostalgic book about the province.

In other words…it’s the Reader’s Digest version of Xinjiang. (you knew that was coming, didn’t you?)

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Like this review? Consider buying Wonderful Xinjiang on Amazon.com!

12 Comments

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  • Liuzhou Laowai said:
    June 7th, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    I understand your scepticism.

    Several years ago I came across a Readers’ Digest book called “Beautiful Xiangxi” about West Hunan where I was then living. I thought it would be the usual nonsense, but it turned out to be truly beautiful. It is full of photographs taken by photographer Zhuo Ya in 1979 and captioned using words from Hunan writer Shen Congwen who documented life in the area in the early part of the 20th century.

    Beautiful Xiangxi on Amazon

    Lots of RD books turn out to better than one might expect. I’ll look out for “Wonderful Xinjiang” on my next trip back home.

    Thanks.

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    Josh says: June 8th, 2010 at 12:04 am

    Thanks for pointing that out. I didn’t know there were similar RD books about other areas of China. I was pleasantly surprised by Wonderful Xinjiang, but I’m still not quite sure who their intended audience was.

    [Reply]

  • Adam Daniel Mezei said:
    June 7th, 2010 at 5:10 pm

    So would you consider it a good primer for those who are uninitiated in all things Xinjiang? Or would you recommend better titles than this? You hadn’t compared it to anything else you read previously…so I just wanted to ask.

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    Josh says: June 8th, 2010 at 12:08 am

    Good question. I think I kind of skipped around that idea in the review because it’s difficult to say.

    The problem is that there aren’t many good “tourism” books on Xinjiang. Even when you get into the province the books printed by the local tourism department are poorly done and not worth their exorbitant price (when converted, more expensive than this RD book!).

    I’m not particularly crazy about Wonderful Xinjiang, especially since there aren’t any captions saying where each photo was taken. However, since there aren’t any books to compare this to (not any that I’ve seen at least) it’s hard to say “This book isn’t worth your money”. It’s cheap, the pictures are good, and Wang Meng is a very respectable writer.

    Thanks for forcing me to clarify, Adam.

    [Reply]

  • Porfiriy said:
    June 8th, 2010 at 1:21 am

    My answer to the question you pose in the title is: neither; for me, it’s a coffee table book. Literally, because I have a copy and it’s sitting on the coffee table in the living room of my parents house. Re: the question posed by Adam, it’s not good for ‘initiating’ the uninitiated to the wonders that is Xinjiang, however, it IS good for when people visit my mom and dad’s house, and upon asking what I’m up to or where I am and getting the answer “Xinjiang,” the guests, naturally having no idea what that is, are referred to this low-text, lots o’ pictures book that is on the coffee table in front of them. It’s perfect for the, “Oh, that’s a pretty place your son is in right now!” casual usage. :)

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  • Crispus said:
    June 8th, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    This book looks pretty good. I spent nearly a month in Xin Jiang in 2007. It was a great trip especially taking about 4,000 photos in Old Kashgar.
    Information was scarce and I went on impulse when a Chinese friend the weather would be good in July. It was good, not so very hot and the people were friendly and helpful.
    Anyone thinking of going, just go! See it before it gets Hanified and looks a boring as the rest of renovated China.

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  • Frank said:
    June 9th, 2010 at 12:28 am

    “especially considering its author. The Han Chinese”

    You must be a white racist pig.

    For your information, there are many Han Chinese call Xinjiang home. Are they not human to you?

    Xinjiang is a multi-race region. It does not belong to any race. Han Chinese is one of the Xinjiang colored human race.

    [Reply]

    Josh says: June 9th, 2010 at 1:25 am

    Thank you for proving my point, Frank. I was counting on you and you came through like a charm!

    I was afraid this book would be regurgitating all the same crap that you keep throwing at me. Of course Han are part of Xinjiang! But you don’t have to continually say it as if you’re not quite convinced yourself.

    Thankfully this book celebrated Xinjiang as a “multi-race region” and refrained from toting the Party Line. You would do well to follow suit, Frank.

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    Frank says: June 10th, 2010 at 5:37 am

    Communist party did not serve the Xingjiang Han Chinese well. CCP does not treat Han Chinese the same as they are treating Uyghurs.

    CCP has a lot to learn from Americans.

    By the way, from all of your book reviews. This is the ONLY one written by Chinese. Did you realize that?

    Yet, you are not happy about that.

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    Josh says: June 11th, 2010 at 6:09 am

    And so far absolutely none that I’ve reviewed have been written by Uyghur…so you should be thanking me, right?

    Give me a break, Frank. Go pester somebody who actually has a problem with Chinese people. There are plenty out there, but I’m not one of them.

  • tez said:
    June 13th, 2010 at 11:41 am

    Frank you are an automaton and a propagandist. You always get the same responses here for making the same ignorant, biased, racist, comments.

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  • Frank said:
    June 13th, 2010 at 12:12 pm

    Xinjiang is your play ground. It is many people’s home.

    Comparing with Kyrgyzstan and some America made “stans”, Xinjiang is the safest place as long as the islamic racism is under control.

    Yes. Compare with other white pink people, you may have less problem with Chinese people.
    However, you do not care about the people there. You only care about yourself having good times. That is why you are just trying to be the holy spokesperson for all Xinjiang people.

    I hope you white folks can leave the people in Xinjiang alone.

    Whatever the responses you have means nothing to me.

    Please get out off China.

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