All the King's Women: A Captivating Hong Kong Family Saga - Perfect for Book Clubs & Asian Literature Enthusiasts

"All the King's Women" is a delightful and deeply disturbing, or better let's say illuminating, fresco of what a very rich traditional Chinese family was at the beginning of the XXth Century. Mimi Chan, the Author, after a lifetime passed, teaching English literature at the Hong Kong University, has put her talent to narrating her husband's family history. And a very interesting family it was. At the end of the 1800 some particularly intelligent and business wise Chinese became compradores, import/export entrepreneurs , and made incredible fortunes. The King, so called by all his family, was one of these and lived according to the traditional Chinese customs, that today appear so amazing. Traditional Chinese families recognized the presence of many wives, legitimate and concubines, that all lived together with the intent of begetting as many sons, in the first place, and daughters as possible. The King had nine of these wives, that begat him a plethora of children. Now Mimi Chan has found an original way of narrating the family's history, through eight tales of eight different women of the household. Reading these stories we get an insight on the vicissitudes of these women, some wives, some sisters, some daughters of this "imperial" man. And the picture we get is that of a society in which women had absolutely no power, except that given them by the fact that they had given birth to a male child, could not follow any specific interest, did not have the necessity to do anything except fulfill their master's wishes. But notwithstanding these premises, all the women we meet in Chan's stories are completely themselves, do not feel belittled by these customs and are able to make their life livable. The sense of humor and reality instinct of all these characters is almost heroic according to modern feminist standards. After many years, the King suddenly dies and all his women have to face a changing world that cannot take care of such a big, complex and one income family, and most of them manage to survive very well relying on their inner strength. The time span goes from the end of the 1800 to the present and the story of eight different destinies accompanies the modernization of Chinese culture. The location is Hong Kong were many rich traditional Chinese families emigrated because of the uneasy times of the Republic and later the Communist government, and where ancient customs survived until relatively modern times.Chan adopts a special style of writing that starts from a principal tale that is interrupted by comments made from other family members. The impression is that of the gossip that used to be common in group of women taking tea in the afternoon or speaking around a kitchen table while cooking together. This way not only we have the story but also the impression it makes on others and we feel as though we were also part of this complicated and branched family. The book is short and reads very quickly and the final impression is of having known deeply such a different cultural tradition, but most of all the admiration for these women whose main virtue was surely endurance and good humor.