https://padlet.com/alyssa_koh/thevagrants A Novel by Yiyun Li en-us 2017-01-02 17:54:29 UTC 2023-04-06 18:38:35 UTC hello@padlet.com alyssa_koh https://padlet.com/alyssa_koh/thevagrants/wish/144991666 2017-01-02 17:56:56 UTC https://padlet.com/alyssa_koh/thevagrants/wish/144991666 alyssa_koh https://padlet.com/alyssa_koh/thevagrants/wish/144991712 The government in Muddy River is a totalitarian government. That means that the government has total control over its inhabitants and their way of life. For example, they have assigned jobs and work units.

"If the judges had chosen Gu Shan instead of Kai as the winner in the singing and dancing contest in second grade, Shan might have been the one sent to theater school in the provincial capital." (page 112)]]> 2017-01-02 17:57:54 UTC https://padlet.com/alyssa_koh/thevagrants/wish/144991712 alyssa_koh https://padlet.com/alyssa_koh/thevagrants/wish/144991962 At this point in time, Muddy River is led by Communism. The people do not have the ability to participate in government, nor do they have civil because the government is run by the state. During the time period in which this book is set, the Chinese leader Mao Zedong died two years ago. With that, his Cultural Revolution also came to a close. To replace him, the Gang of Four (four Communist officials led by Madame Mao/Jiang Qing who had held power during the end of the Cultural Revolution) took over power and fell only a month after Mao Zedong's death. At this time, Communist China was moving towards a governmental system that had more in line with Socialism than Communism. This was to get away from the Cultural Revolution spurred by the former leaders. Also, around this time was when China and the Soviet Union had split from being allies due to ideological differences. 

"Two years earlier, Chairman Mao had passed away and within a month, Madame Mao and her gang in the central government had been arrested, and together they had been blamed for the ten years of Cultural Revolution that had derailed the country." (page 10)]]> 2017-01-02 18:02:58 UTC https://padlet.com/alyssa_koh/thevagrants/wish/144991962 alyssa_koh https://padlet.com/alyssa_koh/thevagrants/wish/145407909 During this book's time period, the economy is shifting from a period of very slow economic activity and uncertainty of modernization to a new economy. This improved economy focused on foreign trade and on growing their agriculture and industries. The way goods and services were given out was no longer by the government (private entrepreneurs and a free marketing system were used instead,) which caused a change in domestic commerce. New currency - the silver yuan - was used as well during this time which was issued by the People's Bank of China.  There are peasants, like the ones in the fictitious Muddy Creek, and wealthier families who usually were close with some of the Communist leaders. The peasants lived in rough conditions, and the poverty population was around 250 million people. 

"Dogs got stolen and eaten all the time, his father had said the night before, and there was no reason to cry over it; the world would become a crowded place if digs, or, for that matter, little children, did not disappear." (page 271)

"The flour paste had not dried or frozen yet, and Nini scraped the paste off the announcement and stuffed all five fingers in her mouth." (page 17)

]]> 2017-01-05 03:17:24 UTC https://padlet.com/alyssa_koh/thevagrants/wish/145407909 alyssa_koh https://padlet.com/alyssa_koh/thevagrants/wish/145409009 The city of Muddy River (the setting of the story) is a heavily populated and relatively new city developed to industrialize the rural area. It had many small factories, a city square, a main street, a department store, a cinema, two marketplaces, many smaller shops, and rows upon rows of connected houses. This is similar to the actual way China is architecturally designed. Everything in China during this time period was based off of Communism, but there were still implemented Chinese traditions such as the Ching Ming Festival. Everyone spoke the same language, but since China is such a widespread area there were many different dialects. One of the main things affected by Communism in China was the education, which taught children Communist beliefs. Many customs such as Communist songs were known throughout the newly-formed republic.

"In a block on the western side where the residential area gradually gave way to the industrial region, people slept in row houses similar to the Gus', oblivious, in their last dreams before daybreak, of the parents who were going to lose their daughter on this day." (page 10)

"The stadium was half-full when the Red Star Elementary arrived. 'Communism is Good,' a song Tong remembered by heart, was broadcast through the loudspeakers, and he hummed along."(page 85)]]> 2017-01-05 03:42:09 UTC https://padlet.com/alyssa_koh/thevagrants/wish/145409009