Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Hundred Flowers, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Redemption
Journeys and Growth
Suffering, Strength, and Resilience
Home and Family
The Promises and Failures of Communism
Summary
Analysis
Wei wakes up in the boardinghouse, momentarily disoriented. Then he hears Tian’s soft snoring, and he remembers that he’s in Luoyang. The bed seems the right size for a child, like Tao. The thought of his grandson brings tears to Wei’s eyes. When he was Tao’s age, China was a different country, a country that could have caught up with the rest of the world. A country the Communist Party hated, condemned, and destroyed. One that Tao will never know except through stories and art. In the dim morning light, the room is even dingier than Wei remembered. He looks around dismally until Tian rises and begins to boil water for their morning tea.
Wei misses Tao. But Tao also reminds Wei of the opportunities Tao—and the country—have lost with the Communist Takeover. Generally, children represent the future. But for Wei, Tao tends to represent the past, either in the form of Wei’s regrets about the choices he made with Sheng or in the form of Wei’s fears for the future of the country as it rapidly tries to forget its past. But then Tian prepares the small comfort of morning tea. Yet again, in the face of almost overwhelming sorrow and loss, a relationship provides hope.
Themes
For breakfast, Wei and Tian share food that Wei bought in Guangzhou on the morning he left. Wei thanks Tian. He now realizes how unprepared for the trip he was and doesn’t know how he would have made it without Tian’s help. Tian accepts Wei’s thanks, saying he knew that there was a reason for him to return to Luoyang just then. He’s glad to know that something good will come out of his trip. As Wei watches Tian clear the table, he thinks about how much time he’s spent trying to save the past. Now he looks to the future, ready to give whatever remains of his life for Sheng’s benefit.
By offering some of his own food to Tian, Wei makes a reciprocal gesture confirming the importance of their relationship. Tian assures him that they have both benefitted, albeit in different ways: Wei has received the help he desperately needed to navigate the world outside the villa, while Tian has found peace and closure in helping reunite Wei with Sheng. In this small way, Tian defies the Communist Party’s ability to break up relationships.
Themes
