The Missionaryand His Daughter

传教士和他的女儿

Zongming Zhang

张宗銘 著

Translated by Tangjin Xiao

肖唐金 译

Preface by the author

China is entering an era of opening-up and reform. No longer is there a strong antipathy against the social injustice as in Mr. Lu Xun’s times of the 1930s. No longer is there a strong fear for being wronged as rightists or reactionaries as in Mr. Mole Guo and Mr. Jin Ba’s times of the 1960s. The time has come for a writer like me to have the literary works translated into English, which are to be read by the people all over the world. The time has come for a writer like me to bid for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

My literary creation has covered three decades. Once I told an international friend of mine that I had three wishes to be realized in my life. First, it is my wish that my works can give an account of the hard times from the founding of the People’s Republic of China to the conclusion of the Great Cultural Revolution. Through these works the readers can bear in mind the unforgettable history involving the Chinese Communist Party and the poor people. Second, it is my wish that I can vote for the Chinese local leadership. The vote will go to the leaders involved through their promise for their planned work and my trust in their competence. Third, it is my wish that I can win the Nobel Prize for Literature in my life. With the publication of my English version works and the recommendations from professors of literature and linguists I hope the luck will visit me one day.

A brief introduction to The Mysterious Mountains

The Mysterious Mountains is a sequence of Women and Bandits by Mr. Zongming Zhang, a famous writer of Guizhou Province. This novel is about humanity and personalities in the special transitional times of China. As a representative work of Mr. Zhang’s, it is recommended by professors and linguists as a candidate for the Nobel Literature Prize. This novel blends the essences of human nature in the east and west. It could be regarded as a breakthrough in Mr. Zhang’s literary creation.

The novel gives an account of Henry a wealthy British young man’s experiences in China following his love failure in his native country. The Shanghai Battle happening in the end of January, 1932 made Henry become a missionary who preached the Gospel in the mountains of Guizhou Province. He carried the dying, blood-stained Ah Cai on his back to Shuangxiping Village, a most primitive, backward, superstitious, beautiful and harmonious village in the mountains of Guizhou Province. There she was saved because of his “disgraceful acts” of cleaning her blood and washing her body and dresses. He set up a Christian church in the village.

Ah Cai gave her thanks to Henry with naked worshipping and regarded him as a man that she would worship and thank all her life. She got to know that Henry suffered from impotence, and then through her mom’s help, decided to cure him of the illness by a unique home-inherited prescription of Miao nationality. Ah Cai and Henry got married and had a mixed blood daughter. In the process of exercising benevolence, saving lives, and stopping violence, blood-shedding and slaughters, Henry became part of the local community and established a lasting friendship with them.

Would these people revenge the Kuomintang armies and bandits tooth for tooth or eye for eye for their crimes, shortly after the founding of P. R. China?

In the early spring of 1952 some remote mountainous areas of Guizhou were still controlled by bandits, and the PLA troops and Communist land reform teams were not present there. Liu Lijing (disguised as Ah Song), a camouflaged bandit head, and Dai Min (disguised as Ah Liu), a camouflaged landlady, came to Shuangxiping in order to escape abroad through the pass on the borders of Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou. Ah Song successfully saved Henry and Ah Cai, who were kidnapped by the old times Kuomintang rulers, and established a deep friendship with the locals. Unfortunately, the new government did not allow foreign missionaries to preach in China, though Henry married a Chinese woman and had a daughter with her. Despite the government’s orders, the local people opposed to the expulsion of Henry and insisted on a “holy trial” for two young land reform men. The conflicts, thus, were heated.

At this crucial moment, Yan Zhengfu came to Shuangxiping with the government delegation. The Communist policies were rigid then: Yan could yield to the villagers rather than the priest. Facing the national tensions, would Liu Lijing the bandit head incite the locals to fight against the Communists? Would Liu force Yan to commit another unforgivable mistake forbidden by the Communists?

These puzzles, age-old minority customs and untold village stories would be worked out if you read this novel with care.