Books Set in Asia: China

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, by Lisa See (2017)

This novel follows Li-Yan, a young girl of the Akha people, one of the 55 ethnic minorities of China. The Akha people live in a remote part of southern China and make their living through the farming of tea.  The novel delves into the customs of the Akha people.

Li-Yan falls in love with San-pa, a young man from a neighboring community.  Her parents are not keen on San-pa, claiming that he is lazy and a bad match.  Li-Yan is studious and has an opportunity to become the first in her village to attend college.  San-pa ostensibly leaves the community to earn money so that he and Li-Yan can marry.

After he leaves, Li-Yan finds herself pregnant.  A baby out of marriage, however, is considered a "human reject" in the Akha tradition, and must be killed.  Li-Yan and her mother, however, buck this tradition and the baby is dropped off at an orphanage, along with a tea cake, in a neighboring city.

Later, when San-pa returns to marry Li-Yan, they return together to the orphanage to reclaim their child.  They learn, however, that the baby was adopted by an American couple.

The novel then follows Li-Yan and her yearning for her lost daughter.  Li-Yan ultimately becomes a successful tea merchant.  We also get snippets of the daughter's struggle living in California with white parents.

I enjoyed this novel and, having recently returned from an extended trip to China, was intrigued to read about much of the descriptions of China to be exactly as I experienced.  I gave this novel 4 stars because at a certain point the thread of the story became a bit too far-fetched.

Read:  December 10, 2017

4 Stars