Book Review – Beijing Coma by Ma Jian

Viewpoints on China seem to be divided among those who cite human rights abuses, businesses and governments that are driven by economic potential, and apologists who acknowledge the former while following the latter. A visit to China confirms both the economic potential visually displayed on large avenues capped with a sophisticated skyline, and the sense that something is amiss. As protesters in Hong Kong are currently campaigning for democracy, the recent spat with Google along with last year’s story on “black jails,” portray a China still very interested in the control of its population. Although the excellent photo essay Anarchy in the PRC on the Foreign Policy web site displays an emergent and vibrant youth culture, the culture still exists within the confines set by the government. Culture is continually evolving, and the expectations of the people for more freedoms represent a constant tension. Despite having his work being banned in China, Ma Jian’s reflections on the government’s progress bears fruit when trying to analyze the New China.

Ma Jian’s “Beijing Coma” traces the events leading up to the Tiananmen Square massacre through the eyes of one of its victms. Dai Wei, shot in the head, and trapped in a coma remembers his life while China continues to undergo rapid change. Remembering his father’s imprisonment during China’s Cultural Revolution, he traces the brutality of life in China under a repressive government. He recalls hustling in China’s emerging economy and the beginnings of economic liberalization, and provides an account of being a Beijing Univeristy student during the Tiananmen Square movement.

Dai Wei, as head of security for the student movement, provides perspectives on the passionate, yet contentious student leadership, filled with power struggles and a doomed romanticism. Ma Jian’s writing captures the confusion and excitement of being in the movement, and the bulk of the novel recounts the hunger strike and days leading up to the Tiananmen Square massacre. The paranoia and ruthlessness of the government is exposed while the irrationality and anger of the students is pursued as well. The ending sequence of Beijing Coma is shocking for the violence used against students protesting for Democracy. Ma Jian, also a participant in the movement, creates an admirable telling of a tale China would like to forget.

Beijing Coma has two narrative streams, the flashbacks to the student movement, and Dai Wei’s life in a coma cared for by his mother. Trapped in his body, but able to hear, Dai Wei spends ten years in bed. Visited by friends, he discovers the sudden economic changes China undergoes, while hearing which friends have become wealthy and which continue to suffer under China’s regime. As a student protestor, his mother is forbidden to seek official medical care for her son and is routinely visited by the security bureau. Her search for alternative treatments eventually leads her to the Falun Gong, once again exposing the family to the government’s repressive practices. With the family apartment about to be bull – dozed for a new shopping mall in preparation for the Beijing Olympics, the sense of progress and need for cohesiveness at all costs is given, while Beijing Coma’s dark humor and tragic telling of China’s modern history lingers.

In one earlier passage Dai Wei muses on the history of his iron bed, painted with a new coat of paint every generation only for the paint to chip and reveal the rusting iron underneath. China’s language and veneer have changed, but the government’s desire for control has not. Hopefully, there is room for change. Last year’s National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009 – 2010) shows a consideration and potential commitment to human rights that didn’t exist before. As China adopts the language of human rights, an opportunity to find new lines of non – confrontational dialogue exists.

China cares about its image abroad, its use of soft diplomacy has been written about several times elsewhere. What matters however, is whether China can stand the test of what its citizens think. One of Beijing Coma’s lessons – the more things change, the more they stay the same should be remembered, while those in China looking for basic freedoms as enshrined in the Human Rights Action Plan should be supported.

Beijing Coma by Ma Jian