China Mountain Zhang

Maureen F. McHugh grew up in Ohio and has lived in both New York and China. She returned to her home state to write science fiction which has received a multitude of nominations and awards. Her fourth novel is due out shortly. China Mountain Zhang was McHugh's first novel and seems to epitomize the idea of writing about what you know. It is an expansion of two previously published short stories, one becoming the primary narrative and the other being used in counterpoint. Thanks to Duncan Lawie for reviewing this fine book. China Mountain Zhang author Maureen F. McHugh pages 310 publisher Tom Doherty Associates (Tor) (1993) rating 7.5 reviewer Duncan Lawie ISBN 0312860986 summary Solid world building and a Chinese perspective combined into an original and interesting work.

The future Earth of China Mountain Zhang is dominated by Chinese communism. Nations in the communist sphere -- including the former USA -- are subject to a hierarchy which puts Chinese citizens, and China itself, ahead of all else. Even those who look Chinese get preferential treatment. The protagonist, Zhang, looks fully Chinese but this is partly a result of genetic adjustment. He takes advantage of this lie, but fears the revelation of his impure bloodline. He is also homosexual, and this is an additional source of paranoia on his part. In mainland China, homosexuality is a capital offense but, like the free market economy, it is tolerated in the United States.

Zhang is a negative character, inherently ill at ease with himself, reactive and self destructive. His story is a search for self belief. The opening chapters have a grey outlook on New York under the communist regime, imbued with the gloom of Zhang's self denial. The following section, set in Northern Canada, transforms the novel into a book with hope. The key point is a powerful, elegiac passage in which Zhang is confronted by the Arctic Winter. Here in the blank wastes and the long night he must also face himself. The rest of the book explores the repercussions on Zhang's life of these events.

This primary narrative is intercut with the counterpoint of other perspectives. At first, these apparently unconnected threads make the shape of the novel more difficult to determine, though they are loosely tied into the main story as the novel progresses. These "sidebars," set in New York and on Mars, offer additional context, helping to create a more rounded picture of the world in which the story takes place. It is here that the shape of America's future history is outlined: global warming and a new great depression signalled the end for the capitalist state, while integration into the communist perspective recapitulated the early brutalities of Communist China.

Too often the feeling of impending doom collapses into the most likely unpleasant reality. This fits with the underlying study of a depressive episode, but the story of Zhang's coming to terms with himself and the resulting changes in his character is neatly told. McHugh has an excellent command of mood and of language. The conflation of the original short stories is a little uneasy, though not so much that the twin sources are obvious. The inclusion of Chinese and Spanish effectively reinforces the non-Anglo background of most of the novel. This complex context seems more fully realized than many other science fiction attempts in recent years. By comparison, she colours the tropes of Martian colonisation and global warming with a light brush, allowing the echoes to be heard from many other novels without conscious borrowing. The unusual perspectives can make this a difficult work to access but China Mountain Zhang is well worth that effort.

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