Name of Captivating Character: Hai Ang
The reason she is captivating: brave, long-suffering, resilient, loyal, strong willed
Book and Author: The Daughters of Shangdong by Eve Chung
Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, Chinese Civil War
Mood: Anguish
Content Considerations: violence by Mao Zedong's Red Guards upon the Chinese citizens
Hai Ang is the oldest daughter of the Ang family. When the family learns that the Nationalists are running away to Taiwan, they know that the advancing communist army will kill them because they are wealthy. Hai's grandmother hatches a plan to flee their village but refuses to allow Hai's mother to come. She is left behind with her daughters. Barely a day goes by before the communists reach the village. Because Hai's mother has helped everyone in the village with money and was pleasant to them even though the Ang family were rich. This was unusual for the era. Because she was nice to them, all of the villagers supported the remaining family members when interrogated by the communists. While the family estate was taken over by the communists, the communists allowed Hai and her family to live with another villager.
Poor Hai was publicly interrogated by the Red Guards and was struck several times. She sustained a life long injury to her knees from having to kneel for hours by the guards. Hai actually passed out before she was allowed to go home.
The Ang family began to travel to a port where they could get a ship to Taiwan and meet up with the rest if the family. This involved walking for days and weeks. A few times they were lucky to travel in a truck that was passing by on the road. Hai endured a lot of pain and suffering in order to be free. Parts of her story were hard to read. I don't believe that I could have gone through anything like this. She sure was a strong woman.
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