A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

by

Yiyun Li

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A Thousand Years of Good Prayers Summary

Mr. Shi, supposedly a retired rocket scientist, comes to the United States to visit his recently-divorced daughter in a small town in the Midwest. She is hesitant to let him visit, but he convinces her that he wants to see the U.S. for his 75th birthday. Mr. Shi is enjoying his visit despite the fact that his daughter does not seem to want to spend time with him. He spends time alone while she is at work, and makes a friend: an Iranian woman whom he calls “Madam.” Despite the fact that they both only speak minimal English, he feels that they can understand each other and they meet regularly in the mornings on a park bench.

However, Mr. Shi struggles to communicate with his daughter. They have dinner together after work, and he always cooks for her, but she usually eats little and does not want to have conversations with him. Mr. Shi worries that his daughter’s divorce, from another Chinese man, was her fault. Mr. Shi worries that his daughter is getting too old to find another husband. He worries that she is unhappy because of her quietness, and she reminds him that he had been quiet for much of his life despite seeming happy.

Mr. Shi tells Madam of his daughter’s unhappiness and her divorce, and explains that every good relationship is the result of hundreds or thousands of years of good prayers. Mr. Shi believes that Madam’s vibrancy could help his daughter improve her situation, but his daughter still denies that she is unhappy. Mr. Shi believes that his daughter asks him too many direct questions and says that good women, like his wife had been, are more deferential. He believes that his wife would have been better at helping their daughter heal.

The next night at dinner, Mr. Shi’s daughter informs him that she wants him to go on a tour of the U.S. with a Chinese-speaking travel agency. The daughter answers a phone call, and Mr. Shi hears her speaking loudly and enthusiastically in English and laughing often, which makes him uncomfortable. His daughter admits that she was speaking to a lover, who was the reason her marriage ended. She explains that she feels good speaking to him in English, and that she never felt comfortable speaking to her ex-husband about her feelings in Chinese. As their argument escalates, Mr. Shi’s daughter tells him that she and her mother knew that he was lying about being a rocket scientist. She tells him she will book a tour for him.

The next morning, Mr. Shi goes to say goodbye to Madam. He admits to Madam that he had not been a rocket scientist for a long time: early in his career, he had developed an emotionally intimate relationship with a woman who was his card puncher, Yilan. His superiors believed that they were having a romantic affair, and they forced him either to admit the relationship or lose his job. He refused to admit it and was demoted. He never told his wife out of loyalty to her, but she found out through gossip. He realizes through recounting the story to Madam that even though nothing physical happened in his relationship with Yilan, he was in love with her. He tells Madam that sacrifice is what makes life meaningful.