Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Individual Identity Under Communism
Class and Communism
Freedom of Expression vs. Propaganda
Political Oppression, Isolation, and Divided Communities
Storytelling, Family Connection, and History
Summary
Analysis
In 2016, Li-ling takes another trip to Shanghai, where she begins reading the self-criticisms that weighed down Kai’s suitcase when he left China for the first time in 1978. In these, he denounced Zhuli and Sparrow, and, most of all, tried to give up his love for music. Li-ling feels angry when she reads the criticisms, but she pities her father when she remembers to consider his perspective.
In this moment, Li-ling learns that the way Kai likely achieved the social prominence he had in China was through completely renouncing everything that was important to him. He committed to destroying his own identity and his most personal relationships.
Themes
Li-ling has plans in Shanghai: she finally has a lead on her search for Ai-ming and her quest to understand what happened to her family. On WeChat, China’s online chatting service, she has been able to contact Tofu Liu, Zhuli’s friend from the Conservatory. Now an old man, Tofu Liu invites Li-Ling into his apartment, where he shares with her the story of how he and other members of the Conservatory were affected by the Cultural Revolution. He tells her that not a single piano survived, and that he himself was sent to a re-education camp in the Northwest. There, Tofu worked in a coal mine—an industry in which he had no skill—and many of his coworkers were seriously injured or died. In the camp, the only books they could read were written by Chairman Mao himself. They had to participate in daily self-criticism sessions.
Here, Thien exposes readers both to stories of isolation and separation and of union. Tofu Liu, like so many of his contemporaries, was separated from his family under the cruel and repressive government. However, the fact that he opens his home to Li-ling, a total stranger, based solely on their mutual connection to Zhuli suggests that although he was forced to live away from many people he cared about, his relationships, like his friendship with Zhuli, live on in his heart. It is through moments like this that Thien highlights human resilience and the strength of community even under extremely adverse circumstances.
Themes
When the Cultural Revolution ended, Tofu Liu went back to Shanghai, where he was able to rejoin the Conservatory, telling his former teacher that he wished to continue playing music, “Because music [is] nothing […] and yet it belongs[ed] to [him].” He said that despite everything, he believed in himself. To this day, Tofu still has a recording of Kai playing the piano, which he plays for Li-ling. Before leaving, Li-ling shows Tofu Liu a photo of Ai-Ming, and he mistakes her for Zhuli. Li-ling takes the recording of her father playing piano with her.
In this moment, Tofu Liu makes the choice that Zhuli would have made had she survived the Cultural Revolution. By saying that music “is nothing” and yet “belongs to him,” Tofu Liu seems to imply that to him, it doesn’t matter if music has any significance other than being something that he greatly enjoys. Rather, what’s important to him is that he be able to feel fulfillment through creative expression.
Themes
