Beijing Coma

By Ma Jian

Book Overview

Dai Wei has been unconscious for almost a decade. A medical student and a pro-democracy protestor in Tiananmen Square in June 1989, he was struck by a soldier's bullet and fell into a deep coma. As soon as the hospital authorities discovered that he had been an activist, his mother was forced to take him home. She allowed pharmacists access to his body and sold his urine and his left kidney to fund special treatment from Master Yao, a member of the outlawed Falun Gong sect. But during a government crackdown, the Master was arrested, and Dai Wai's mother--who had fallen in love with him--lost her mind. As the millennium draws near, a sparrow flies through the window and lands on Dai Wei's naked chest, a sign that he must emerge from his coma. But China has also undergone a massive transformation while Dai Wei lay unconscious. As he prepares to take leave of his old metal bed, Dai Wei realizes that the rich, imaginative world afforded to him as a coma patient is a startling contrast with the death-in-life of the world outside. At once a powerful allegory of a rising China, racked by contradictions, and a seminal examination of the Tiananmen Square protests, Beijing Coma is Ma Jian's masterpiece. Spiked with dark wit, poetic beauty, and deep rage, this extraordinary novel confirms his place as one of the world's most significant living writers.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374110174
• ISBN13: 9780374110178
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 586 Pages
• Weight: 1.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Tiananmen and Beyond: A People's (Fictional) View

After being hit by a soldiers bullet in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, PhD student Dai Wei falls into a coma only to awaken ten years later in what is a very different China. While new freedoms have been won, the Communist Party will still not tolerate criticism and is ready to crack down on both real and perceived threats to its rule - "same as the old boss." The book drags at times (after all, dude's in a coma) but is a very worthwhile read, especially for a gweilo like me whose only real exposure to the Tiananmen uprisings was through newspapers and news reports. Beijing Coma: A Novel is a perfect companion read to Zhao Ziyang's Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang. It is a beautifully written book and I will definitely read more by Ma Jian.

Mind's eye view

This was a very strange book, but then all of Ma Jian's books, even his memoir Red Dust are out there on the edge. The premise was an interesting one- tell the story of 1989 from inside the head of one of its victims, now in a coma. I have read a lot of books on 20th century Chinese history, and even though this book was fiction, much of the picture of Tiananmen Square rang true. I found it fascinating how petty the student leaders became at times in this story. If this was in fact a somewhat accurate depiction, it adds to the real story of what happened. Ma Jian is a good storyteller, and even though this was a long book with a lot of characters and sub-plots, I enjoyed it immensely. Highly recommended.

A moving account of the tragedy of the Tiananmen generation

This is a deeply moving and intelligent, as well as well written novel of the tragic fate of the young Tiananmen square protesters of 1989. It does bog down with a bit too much detail of the day to day events among the different factions of youth jockeying for control of the protest, but quickly recovers as it alternates between the events of 1989 and the subsequent sad fate of the protaganist's ordeal by coma and that of his overwhelmed mother who is as tragic a figure as her son. If you have any interest in contemporary China, do not miss this epic account by a great, if exiled, Chinese writer.

Tianamen Redux

The perspective of a gravely wounded protestor is highly effective in telling a story set around the student anti-corruption and democracy movement and protests in China in the late 1980's. Ma Jian weaves a story that depicts the internal struggles of an individual amidst the external chaos swirling around the main character in his memories and present-day sensations. This is a beautifull crafted story that should be on everyone's bookshelf.

China same old same old

Bejing Coma is a delightfully written book telling one man's story of his childhood and upbringing in Mao's China and the immediate aftermath . What struck me was the amazingly law abiding behaviour of the Chinese and their stoical acceptance of authority .