Lijia Zhang used to feel like a frog trapped in a well. But the frustration of her circumstances compelled her to leap out of the confines of industrial China toward cross-cultural consciousness.
At age 16, Zhang secured a job in a factory building missiles for China’s “Glorious Cause.” At age 22, Zhang’s colleagues mocked her for teaching herself English. In 1989, with a developing palate for Western culture, she rallied her coworkers to demonstrate in support of the Tiananmen Square protest for democracy.
This month, the Beijinger blog ranked Zhang’s memoir, Socialism is Great!, among the hippest achievements the city of Beijing has yielded since 2007.
“What I have learned most from Lijia is how important it is to have a can-do spirit,” said Ian Johnson, Zhang’s mentor and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of China for the Wall Street Journal. “Lijia is very honest — she doesn’t hold anything back.”
Currently participating in the UI International Writing Program, Zhang will read from her memoir at Prairie Lights Books, 15 S. Dubuque St., at 4 p.m. Nov. 1. Fellow IWP writer Osman Pius Conteh of Sierra Leone will also read. Admission is free.
Now a multifaceted international journalist, Zhang continues to call China home. Despite prevalent Western perceptions of a tight-lipped Chinese media, she feels the liberty to write on nearly any subject she prefers. She admitted, however, that probing Chinese ideology in any form of expression remains taboo.
When the New York Times reviewed Socialism is Great!, Zhang bought a copy of the paper at a Chinese newsstand, only to discover a gaping hole where the review should have been. Upon further investigation, she discovered all of her reviews had been cut out because the articles mentioned the politically sensitive Tiananmen Square protest.
She still dreams of democracy for China. The former missile producer is proud of the meteoric progress her nation has accomplished in the last 20 years, and she is confident about its future.
“People in the West seem afraid of China,” Zhang said. “I want to be the bridge [between China and the Western world].”
As a result of her former marriage to an Irishman and her extensive exposure to both Europe and the United States, she has witnessed a significant amount of ignorance about China. She believes Westerners often possess a skewed perception of Chinese culture.
“I have found that there is no voice in the British or European governments for the Chinese,” she said. “I want to become the first Chinese [member of the European Parliament].”
Johnson distinguishes Zhang from other Chinese memoirists’ work he has read. Unlike the usual pathos-driven, downtrodden accounts of Chinese culture, especially during the Cultural Revolution, he appreciates Zhang’s fresh perspective.
“Her [outlook] is not so negative,” Johnson said. “Her book is a paradigm to help readers see and understand China’s rise” since the ’80s, when China began to open its borders and flourish.
In her own home, Zhang encourages her two daughters to talk to strangers and experience the world outside of themselves.
Calluses may scar Zhang’s hands as reminders of her past, but this former “rocket factory girl” does not suffer any pain. No matter which direction she travels in her life, she said, she will always pursue one ambition:
“I just want to be happy.”