Insight Text Guide Sue Tweg i n s i g Sky Burial Xinran h t Insight Publications
c o n t e n t s Character map iv Introduction 1 Background & context 2 Genre, style & structure 9 Chapter-by-chapter analysis 13 Characters & relationships 29 Themes & issues 42 Questions & answers 55 References & reading 58
iv CHARACTER MAP Shu Wen s parents and sister Loving Chinese family Shu Wen loses contact with them. Xinran Main storyteller, author and recorder She reconstructs Wen s quest. Nomad family Loving Tibetan family They help Wen search for Kejun and Zhuoma. cares for Kejun Wen s husband and doctor He dies in Tibet, is given sky burial and motivates Wen s search. loves Shu Wen Searcher and doctor She tells Xinran her story. become friends Zhuoma Wen s Tibetan friend She acts as Wen s translator. She is kidnapped, then found. offers advice to loves Old Hermit Qiangba He was saved by Kejun: knows about Kejun s death, and tells Wen. Wang Liang PLA officer He gives advice to Wen about writing and war. Tiananmen Zhuoma s servant He becomes a Buddhist lama. He helps Wen to find Zhuoma and to learn about sky burial.
1 INTRODUCTION Sky Burial explores the implications of the Chinese curse May you live in interesting times in the story of a Chinese woman doctor who went to Tibet for love and stayed there for over thirty years with nomads. The memoir was written by Xinran, a Chinese journalist with a special interest in women s history. Xinran first portrays Shu Wen as a young woman in Communist China, who joins the People s Liberation Army so that she can investigate her surgeon husband s reported death in Tibet. The twentieth century brought devastatingly interesting times to millions of ordinary people in Mao s China and Tibet. Tensions between the two countries are still active. They come to world attention frequently through news, books and films concerning the exiled Dalai Lama and Chinese control over Tibet. To get the most out of Xinran s book, we must understand how Sino- Tibetan politics affect the lives of ordinary people like Wen, her idealistic husband Kejun and her Tibetan friend Zhuoma. Although the story is simply and descriptively written, it contains more social and political content than might first appear evident. Xinran makes frequent indirect references to political events in her region during what Mao Zedong called the Great Leap Forward from the early 1950s onwards. Her main focus is on Wen s experiences in the isolated, timeless world of Tibetan nomads, and her sudden return to contemporary Chinese society. Sky Burial is a story about political, cultural, economic and spiritual encounters between two very different cultures. It is also concerned with the way individuals, experiencing changes beyond their control, survive or are consumed by often violent historical processes. The focus of Xinran s description of the interesting times is Wen, a woman whose life is remarkable because she endures hardship and undergoes enormous change. This was characteristic of many other people at that time too. Wen covers vast distances, becomes immersed in a foreign culture and finally discovers the answer to the puzzle about Kejun s fate in Tibet only to return to China where a new quest faces her, this time for her beloved sister. Xinran s book is itself a quest for Wen herself in 2004.
2 Insight Text Guide BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT China 1911-1994 In 1911, a revolution led by Sun Yat-sen (referred to in Sky Burial on pp.36 7) overthrew the imperial Manchu Qing dynasty and established a Nationalist government. Wen was born two decades later, at a time of ongoing military struggle between General Chiang Kai-shek s repressive government forces (the Kuomintang) and the emerging Communist movement, with its People s Liberation Army (also called the Red Army, founded by Mao Zedong in 1928). In 1934, thousands of PLA troops made the famous Long March, a 9,600 km, year-long retreat, which gave Mao Zedong hero status and military power. Most of the participants in the Long March did not survive, but their sheer courage and tenacity became the stuff of legend. Wen was seventeen in 1949, the year the Communists took control of the whole country (p.5) and Mao proclaimed the foundation of the People s Republic of China in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. The following decades were marked by continual warfare: from 1937 China was at war with Japan, then in 1949 the Korean War began. PLA troops started invading Tibet in 1950. The Chinese Communist view of the political situation in the region was summed up in Mao s October 10th Manifesto (1947), which includes the eight basic policies of the PLA. 1 The People s Liberation Army (PLA) Sky Burial describes the PLA as largely composed of illiterate young peasant men. They liberated Tibet but were terrified by stories of Tibetan cruelty. Educated officers are represented as holding more informed views but were still obedient to Party directives and discipline (for example, Wen s commander, pp.34 5). Mao formulated idealistic-sounding rules for the PLA, founded in response to repressive government terror but the PLA was just as violent. Mao Zedong was Chairman of the Chinese People s Revolutionary Military Commission and Zhu De was commander-in-chief of the PLA. 1 See the website http://www.marx2mao.com/mao/mla47.html
Sky Burial 3 Portraits of these great leaders (as Wen regards them) hang in Wang Liang s office, alongside the army s rules (p.19). Kejun, a young revolutionary idealist who abides by the eight principles, is perplexed that the Tibetans are hostile to PLA invasion, since he s read only Chinese Communist Party propaganda about Tibetans welcoming liberation (p.134). 2 The Cultural Revolution 1966-1976 The Cultural Revolution was Mao s last move to purge society of what he saw as capitalist, anti-socialist tendencies. An earlier purge, in 1957, sent many with incorrect views to agricultural work: perhaps that s why the woman teacher Wen meets at Wendugongba (pp.103 7) moved or was ordered to Tibet in the 1960s. Persecution throughout China was brought under control only after Mao s death in 1976. Students under PLA influence became known as Red Guards ; public criticism and beatings by Red Guards were called being struggled against. Wen discovers this history through a PLA officer in Lhasa (pp.149 50). It is a sad irony that Wen was fortunate to be in Tibet throughout this period, when Chinese professionals (including doctors and teachers) were imprisoned, tortured and executed for bourgeois capitalist tendencies (like owning books or showing interest in history and traditional culture). 1980s and 1990s reform and opening-up Wen returns home in 1994 to find the urban environment totally changed (p.155) and massive social reorganisation, industrialisation and building programs underway. Many Chinese people at this time were searching for lost family and friends; many were displaced victims of repressive social policies during the Mao years and following the Tiananmen Square crackdown on dissidents in 1989 (under Deng Xiaoping, a failed reformer). Tiananmen Square is a site of public gatherings at significant political moments. In May June 1989, students and workers came together in a 2 More information about the PLA is available at http://www.marx2mao.com/mao/tmr47. html, and Mao Zedong s Proclamation of the Chinese People s Liberation Army is at: http://www.marx2mao.com/mao/pla49.html
4 Insight Text Guide pro-democracy occupation of the square, but were brutally suppressed by PLA troops. Another sad irony is that Tiananmen is the name Zhuoma gives man she loves, intending to evoke positive memories of China. 3 Xinran and women s history Xue Hue was born in 1958 and took the name Xinran, meaning with pleasure, when she became a journalist. In 1988 she began her radio program, Words on the Night Breeze, which gave women listeners an opportunity to tell their stories. These formed the basis for her first book, The Good Women of China (2002), about exploited women in Communist China. Her interest in women s history has a personal basis, revealed in that book. Her parents were imprisoned as reactionaries, which led to her being taken as a baby to live with her grandmother and sent with her brother to a school for polluted children. She met her mother for the first time when she was five. References to Chinese literature Collected Essays of Liang Shiqiu This is the influential book given to Wen by her father. Liang Shiqiu (1902 1987) was an academic, political critic, defender of human rights, teacher and translator of Shakespeare into Chinese. He was educated in American universities, and became chairman of the English Department at Beijing University before moving to Taiwan in 1949 as professor. Journey to the West (Monkey King) Zhuoma was told this epic story as a child by Chinese envoys (p.37); Wen is reminded of it as she watches the lamas horse opera (p.122). It contains strong parallels to her life story. The Monkey King is a 400-year-old Chinese legendary character based on an ancient, true story of a rebellious monk, Xuan Zang (from the Chinese Tang Dynasty, 602 664), who travelled to India then brought back and translated central Buddhist texts. It is a story about a long search, transformations, endurance and defiance of authority, all in a 3 See David & Peter Turnley, Beijing Spring, Stewart, Tabori and Chang, New York, 1989.
Sky Burial 5 Buddhist context. The Monkey King is a hugely popular character in contemporary China. 4 Q Research The Three Kingdoms, another Chinese popular classic, with political significance (referred to on p.36). Princess Wencheng Zhuoma tells Wen the story of the Chinese Princess Wencheng (p.72), and Kejun also refers to it to explain his good motives to Tibetans (p.140). Wencheng is an essential, peaceful link between China and Tibet, known historically to both cultures. Barbarian tribes were united by Songtsen Gampo, who took two Buddhist wives (a princess from Nepal as well as Princess Wencheng from China) to ensure peace at the borders. Chinese influence in Tibet 1950s-1990s In 1950, 40,000 PLA troops invaded Tibet, defeating a small Tibetan army at the battle of Chamdo. The building of roads and military bases followed in the 1950s, using Tibetan labour, not all of which was voluntary. In 1958, Kejun and Wen entered a country that was being forcibly liberated and reclaimed as Chinese territory, despite an ancient peace treaty that declared: Tibetans shall be happy in Tibet and Chinese shall be happy in China. Since 1951, PLA troops have occupied Tibet s capital city, Lhasa. In 1966, Chinese Red Guards entered Tibet to participate in destroying Four Olds (old thinking, old culture, old habits, old customs). Monasteries were looted and destroyed; lamas were displaced, tortured and killed. Chapter 9 encapsulates the massive changes that took place over more than three decades. Strategically important but difficult to enter or control, Tibet is also known as Shangri La, Roof of the World, with Lhasa called the Forbidden City. It is the home of genuine Buddhist spirituality and the key, exiled figure of the Dalai Lama the head of Tibet s theocratic (god-ruled) society. However, Chinese settlers now form the majority population in Tibet. Over 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed and nearly all Buddhist 4 See the websites http://www.wku.edu/~yuanh/china/monkey.html and http://www.chinaon-site.com or just Google search for Monkey King.
6 Insight Text Guide monasteries destroyed, although some were rebuilt after Mao s death. Recently, Tibetan cultural sites like the Potala Palace in Lhasa have been restored to attract foreign tourists. 5 Q Look at a detailed map of the region, noting which countries border Tibet this shows its political vulnerability and ancient importance as a trade route. Tibetan religion Buddhism is more a lived way (dharma) to enlightenment than a religion, although beliefs, prayers, rituals and ceremonies are part of its practice. The aim of a Buddhist is to live attentively and peacefully, with wisdom and compassion. Buddhists try to understand Buddha s teachings and to put them into practice. They do this through the way they respond to events and their spiritual practices especially meditation and the recitation of om mani padme hum (the great mantra). They attempt to transcend the cycle of birth, death and rebirth brought about by cause and effect (karma) that entraps the unenlightened mind. 6 Tibetan Buddhism is a mystical mixture of Indian Buddhism and indigenous shamanic Bön religion. Spirituality is expressed through symbolic objects and ritual activities. Symbolic objects include prayer flags, mani stones, prayer wheels and thangka pictures of spirits. Ritual activities include the recitation of sacred texts (sutras) and meditative mantras; the giving of khata scarves as respectful symbolic gifts; rituals to engage with personified energies that defend dharma; and reverence for Buddha and the Bodhisattva, Chenresig, the Compassionate One. Wen learns about most of these rituals throughout her journey. Chenresig (Indian Avalokiteshvara; Chinese Kuan Yin) A Bodhisattva is a person who has become enlightened (has achieved nirvana, and so does not need to endure further rebirths), but chooses to keep being reborn to help the world. Chenresig s name means he who gazes upon the world with suffering in his eyes. The legendary King 5 For more on Sino-Tibetan relations, useful websites include http://www.freetibet.org/info/ facts/fact18.html, http://www.freetibet.org/info/facts/fact18.html, http://www.friends-oftibet.org.nz/occu.htmll and http://www.freetibet.org/info/file/file19.html 6 For further reading, see Alistair Shearer, Buddha: the intelligent heart, Thames and Hudson, London, 1992
Sky Burial 7 Gesar is regarded as Chenresig s champion, sent down to earth to rid mankind of evil spirits and demons, subdue all violence and help the weak (p.122). Om mani padme hum (Diamond Mantra of Chenresig) Meaning hail to the jewel in the lotus, this is the habitual daily mantra for Tibetan Buddhists. It is written on rolls of paper in prayer wheels, carved on mani stones and on people s lips at all times. Wen says this to herself at key points in the narrative. 7 Tibetan death rituals and sky burial The traditional practice of sky burial, disposing of the dead honourably and without waste, is gradually revealed through the narrative, because its details are shocking to non-tibetans. The correct ritual must be observed to guide the spirit to its next rebirth. Lamas chant to help the spirit make this transition, especially through dangerous intermediate spaces or bardos. If the spirit is waylaid by demons (grotesque personifications of fears and illusions) it may lose its way and become a ghost, or be shocked into a less enlightened rebirth. Sky Burial explains the procedure and its meanings in detail (pp.127 8). The Dharmaraja ceremony (which Wen sees at the Wendugongba monastery, pp.100 1) models the terrors and illusions that might be experienced, so that fears can be released with a calm mind during the transition, and the person can proceed to a rebirth that is nearer enlightenment. Qiangba describes the significance of proper ritual. Because the ritual is interrupted, the Tibetans refuse to believe that he s alive when he comes back with Kejun (p.139). 8 Tibetan nomads Nomadic family groups in Tibet are isolated yet self-sufficient traditional herders of yaks, sheep and cattle. They move seasonally between high 7 The Dalai Lama discusses the meaning of the great mantra at http://www.tibet.com/ Buddhism/om-mantra.html 8 See Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Rider, London, 1995, for more on bardos; the sky burial ritual is discussed at http://www,tibet.ca/en/ wtnarchive/1999/7/14_1.html and at http://www.tibet.ca/en/wtnarchive/1996/2/22_ 1.html