The Crippled Tree

Last updated
The Crippled Tree
The Crippled Tree (book).jpg
Author Han Suyin
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreAutobiography, history
Publication date
1965
Media typePrint (book)
Pages448
ISBN 978-0-586-03836-9
OCLC 6492043
Followed by A Mortal Flower  

The Crippled Tree is a history and biography by Han Suyin. It covers the years 1885 to 1928, beginning with the life of her father, a Belgium-educated Chinese engineer of Hakka heritage, from a family of minor gentry in Sichuan. [1] It describes how he met and married her mother, a Flemish Belgian, his return to China, and her own birth and early life. [2]

The Crippled Tree is the first book of Han's six-volume epic cycle on the modern history of China through the lens of her family. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laozi</span> Semi-legendary Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism

Laozi, also romanized as Lao Tzu and various other ways, was a semi-legendary ancient Chinese philosopher, author of the Tao Te Ching, the foundational text of Taoism along with the Zhuangzi. Laozi is a Chinese honorific, typically translated as "the Old Master". Modern scholarship generally regards his biographical details as invented, and his opus a collaboration. Traditional accounts say he was born as Li Er in the state of Chu in the 6th century BC during China's Spring and Autumn Period, served as the royal archivist for the Zhou court at Wangcheng, met and impressed Confucius on one occasion, and composed the Tao Te Ching in a single session before retiring into the western wilderness.

<i>Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing</i> (film) 1955 film by Henry King

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing is a 1955 Deluxe color American drama-romance film in CinemaScope. Set in 1949–50 in Hong Kong, it tells the story of a married, but separated, American reporter Mark Elliot, who falls in love with a Eurasian doctor originally from China, Han Suyin, only to encounter prejudice from her family and from Hong Kong society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Han nationalism</span> Ethnicity-exclusive form of Chinese nationalism

Han nationalism is a form of ethnic nationalism asserting ethnically Han people as the exclusive constituents of the Chinese nation. It is often in dialogue with other conceptions of Chinese nationalism, often mutually-exclusive or otherwise contradictory ones. Han people are the dominant ethnic group in both states claiming to represent the Chinese nation: the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China. Han people also constitute a sizable ethnic minority or plurality group in a number of other countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore. In the modern era, ethnicity's role in the Chinese nation continue to color conceptions of Chinese culture, geopolitics, and history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-interest</span> Motivation in human action

Self-interest generally refers to a focus on the needs or desires (interests) of one's self. Most times, actions that display self-interest are often performed without conscious knowing. A number of philosophical, psychological, and economic theories examine the role of self-interest in motivating human action. Individuals may have a self-serving bias towards their self-interest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qinling</span> Mountain range in Shaanxi, China

The Qinling or Qin Mountains, formerly known as the Nanshan, are a major east–west mountain range in southern Shaanxi Province, China. The mountains mark the divide between the drainage basins of the Yangtze and Yellow River systems, providing a natural boundary between North and South China and support a huge variety of plant and wildlife, some of which is found nowhere else on earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art therapy</span> Creation of art to improve mental health

Art therapy is a distinct discipline that incorporates creative methods of expression through visual art media. Art therapy, as a creative arts therapy profession, originated in the fields of art and psychotherapy and may vary in definition. Art therapy encourages creative expression through painting, drawing, or modelling. It may work by providing a person with a safe space to express their feelings and allow them to feel more in control over their life.

Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences of others and without overt pressure from any specific party or institution of authority. Self-censorship is often practiced by film producers, film directors, publishers, news anchors, journalists, musicians, and other kinds of authors including individuals who use social media.

Rosalie Matilda Kuanghu Chou was a Chinese-born Eurasian physician and author better known by her pen name Han Suyin. She wrote in English and French on modern China, set her novels in East and Southeast Asia, and published autobiographical memoirs which covered the span of modern China. These writings gained her a reputation as an ardent and articulate supporter of the Chinese Communist Revolution. She lived in Lausanne, Switzerland, for many years until her death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ban Zhao</span> Late 1st/early 2nd century Chinese historian, philosopher and scholar

Ban Zhao, courtesy name Huiban, was a Chinese historian, philosopher, and politician. She was the first known female Chinese historian and, along with Pamphile of Epidaurus, one of the first known female historians. She completed her brother Ban Gu's work on the history of the Western Han, the Book of Han. She also wrote Lessons for Women, an influential work on women's conduct. She also had great interest in astronomy and mathematics and wrote poems, commemorative writings, argumentations, commentaries, essays and several longer works, not all of which survive. She became China's most famous female scholar and an instructor of Taoist sexual practices for the imperial family. Ban Zhao is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu by Jin Guliang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zhongyuan</span> Place in China

Zhongyuan (Chinese: 中原; pinyin: Zhōngyuán), the Central Plain(s), also known as Zhongtu (Chinese: 中土; pinyin: Zhōngtǔ, lit. 'central land') and Zhongzhou (Chinese: 中州; pinyin: Zhōngzhōu, lit. 'central region'), commonly refers to the part of the North China Plain surrounding the lower and middle reaches of the Yellow River, centered on the region between Luoyang and Kaifeng. It has been perceived as the birthplace of the Chinese civilization. Historically, the Huaxia people viewed Zhongyuan as 'the center of the world'. Human activities in the Zhongyuan region can be traced back to the Palaeolithic period.

<i>A Many-Splendoured Thing</i> 1952 novel by Han Suyin

A Many-Splendoured Thing is a novel by Han Suyin that was a bestseller upon publication in London in 1952 by Jonathan Cape. The book was made into the 1955 film Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, which inspired a popular eponymous song. In her 1980 autobiographical work, My House Has Two Doors, Suyin evinced no interest in watching the film even in Singapore, where it ran for several months. Her motive in selling the film rights was to pay for an operation in England for her adopted daughter who had pulmonary tuberculosis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zhao Erxun</span> Qing dynasty politician and historian (1844–1927)

Zhao Erxun, courtesy name Cishan, art name Wubu, was a Chinese political and military officeholder who lived in the late Qing dynasty. He served in numerous high-ranking positions under the Qing government, including Viceroy of Sichuan, Viceroy of Huguang, and Viceroy of the Three Northeast Provinces. After the fall of the Qing dynasty, he became a historian and was the lead editor of the Draft History of Qing.

<i>A Mortal Flower</i>

A Mortal Flower is an autobiography by Han Suyin. It covers the years 1928 to 1938: her growing up in China and her journey to Belgium and her mother's family. Also her marriage to a rising officer in the Kuomintang and the retreat to Chungking in the face of the Japanese invasion of China.

<i>My House Has Two Doors</i>

My House Has Two Doors (1980) is one of a multi-book autobiography by Han Suyin. It tells of her life from 1948 to 1980, including the real-life love-affair that was the basis for her 1952 novel A Many-Splendoured Thing. She went from Hong Kong to Malaya, where she witnessed the Communist insurgency she described in her 1956 novel And the Rain My Drink. She also tells of her return to China and her impression of the early years of Communist rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falconiformes</span> Order of birds

The order Falconiformes is represented by the extant family Falconidae and a handful of enigmatic Paleogene species. Traditionally, the other bird of prey families Cathartidae, Sagittariidae (secretarybird), Pandionidae (ospreys), Accipitridae (hawks) were classified in Falconiformes. A variety of comparative genome analysis published since 2008, however, found that falcons are part of a clade of birds called Australaves, which also includes seriemas, parrots and passerines. Within Australaves falcons are more closely related to the parrot-passerine clade (Psittacopasserae), which together they form the clade Eufalconimorphae. The hawks and vultures occupy a basal branch in the clade Afroaves in their own clade Accipitrimorphae, closer to owls and woodpeckers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Light-Life Movement</span> Organisation within the Catholic Church

The Light-Life Movement, also known as the Oasis Movement, is an organisation within the Catholic Church. The group originated in Poland thanks to the efforts of Franciszek Blachnicki.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Han Kitab</span> Collection of Chinese texts synthesizing Islam and Confucianism

The Han Kitab are a collection of Chinese Islamic texts, written by Chinese Muslims, which explains Islam through Confucian terminology. Its name reflects this utilization: Han is the Chinese word for Chinese and kitab means book in Arabic. They were written in the early 18th century during the Qing dynasty by various Chinese Muslim authors. The Han Kitab were widely read and approved of by later Chinese Muslims such as Ma Qixi, Ma Fuxiang, and Hu Songshan.

<i>The Mountain Is Young</i> Novel by Han Suyin

The Mountain Is Young is the fourth novel by Chinese-Flemish author Han Suyin. A love story set in Nepal, it was first published by Jonathan Cape, Ltd. London in 1958. It became a New York Times bestseller in Fiction that same year. It was republished by Penguin Books in 1962, by HarperCollins in 1987 and by Rupa & Co. in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese people in Belgium</span>

Chinese people in Belgium or Chinese Belgians are Belgian citizens of Chinese ancestry. There is a small ethnic Chinese community in Belgium, compared to neighbouring Netherlands, Germany and France.

Han chauvinism is a political ideology that speaks out for the ethnic Han Chinese people and its uniqueness throughout human history. Han chauvinists believe that the current influence from the West has downgraded the development of China's own cultural customs, and in response, it has become instrumental in leading the increasingly traditionalist movement, which was launched in 2001. Participants come together both online and in person in cities across China to revitalize their vision of the authentic “Great Han” and corresponding “real China” through traditional ethnic dress and Confucian ritual.

References

  1. Lee, Vicky (December 2007). "Locating and Constructing the Self in Han Suyin's The Crippled Tree". Asian Englishes. 10 (2): 46–63. doi:10.1080/13488678.2007.10801212. ISSN   1348-8678.
  2. Wang, Yusi; Cao, Qing; Nitschke, Claudia (2023-07-03). "The Relational Self: Maternal Inheritance and Eurasian Identity in Han Suyin's The Crippled Tree". Life Writing. 20 (3): 563–581. doi: 10.1080/14484528.2022.2151847 . ISSN   1448-4528.
  3. Kowalska, Teresa (2000). "Tea, Ivory and Ebony: Tracing Colonial Threads in the Inseparable Life and Literature of Han Suyin". Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 40: 21–32. ISSN   0085-5774.