A Hundred Flowers Themes

When A Hundred Flowers begins, elderly Wei is grateful for the relationships he has with his son, Sheng, his daughter-in-law, Kai Ying, his grandson, Tao, and his friend Song. But he takes them for granted and does little to care for those around him. Instead, he loses himself in his own world of history and academic research. When Sheng selflessly takes the blame for his father’s criticism of the Communist Party…

For generations, the Lee family has lived in the same villa. When he was a boy, elderly Wei explored the city of Guangzhou with his nanny, but for the past decade—since he retired from his University position to avoid the attention of the Communist Party—he has barely left its walls. When his son, Sheng, is arrested and sent to a labor camp in Luoyang, 1,000 miles to the north, the family struggles to…

As A Hundred Flowers explores the changing shape of the Lee family, it describes the power of a family to provide love, healing, forgiveness, and sanctuary in the midst of a chaotic and sometimes painful world. Importantly, the book highlights that a family is not limited to blood relations but can be found in any relationship that involves mutual care and loyalty. Wei and Song grew up before the Communist Party takeover, and their experiences…

A Hundred Flowers is set in 1958, nearly a decade after the Communist Party seized control of the Chinese government. Kai Ying recalls the Party’s claims that it wanted to set the people free from the abuses of the past, including a punishing landlord system that disenfranchised many poor Chinese people. But the novel shows that by 1958, the Party has failed to deliver on many of its promises. Vital supplies like food and fuel…