Exclusive interview with author Duncan Jepson and a review of his new novel about a woman’s struggle with family duty in 1930s China
Rating: 3 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“Like many I have observed that it is Asian women who are often most affected by sacrifices made for their family by surrendering their individuality and self,” says All the Flowers in Shanghai author Duncan Jepson.
“The story is a reaction to some of my experiences as a Eurasian. Two aspects of life are emphasized regularly in an Asian upbringing…the importance of family and respect for tradition.”
All the Flowers in Shanghai is set in 1930 Shanghai. Feng, the younger daughter, spends her time with her grandfather. In a few years she will be caring for her parents as they age. Her older sister is being groomed to marry well, attending parties and socializing. She will marry the first son of the rich and powerful Sang family, many steps above her parents in the social ladder. After her sister dies of cancer, Feng must step into her sister’s shoes and marry her sister’s intended or the family will loose face. Feng marries, becomes pregnant, and realizes that if unborn child is a girl her daughter will live the same restrictive life. How can she deal with all the changes going on around her?
Jepson has spent time in Shanghai since 1994 and watched the city emerge from the isolation of the Mao years. He’s traveled around China since 1981. “I had a good relationship with my Chinese grandmother and my mother who would speak of their views on this subject, the latter very positively [see the essay at the back of the book], and the former with some regret as to her lack of opportunities. I remember my grandmother explaining that only the boys in her family had received education but she would sit in the room next door, which was only divided by a paper wall and listen to the lessons the boys were given. She became more capable in certain subjects than they were.”
Jepson says he didn’t look at many documents but did read a lot of books in his research for the book. He viewed footage of the time that he found at sources such as the British Film Institute. He also found many photographs from that time.
“I have found readers’ desire for historical details, such as the events of WWII and the Communist revolution, very surprising,” says Jepson. “The book is written in the first person. The view of the world is solely that witnessed by the narrator, Feng. In the 1930s most Chinese lived in grinding poverty with little formal education. There was no nationwide media as there was at in the US or UK at that time. Women were mostly at the bottom of the social order and expected to obey. At that time there was constant warlordism and it would be difficult to say there was a Chinese nation as Westerners would understand it.”
“My Western perspective has often been frustrated by the idea of the sacrifice of the individual for the family and the preference for tradition over originality,” says Jepson. “But, my Asian side understands that when balanced, a focus on family and tradition can provide an almost unbreakable support and commitment. I wanted to explore this conflict.”
“My point in the book is to show that women were often forced to lead, and unfortunately readily accepted, very narrow and restricted lives,” says Jepson. “I have included a female character who is educated and worldly, as there were some, and she does recount to Feng the world outside. But Feng can’t really understand what is being communicated because she has no frame of reference or context, quite simply education and being informed were not viewed as important for women. I would say to readers that what I have tried to describe is the thinking of the time and how it changed, I believe this history is as important to understand as the events.”
The story opens at a time when Chinese women started to question their status, one that was dictated by men but often reinforced by women themselves through the generations. “Issues such as sexuality, self-worth and individual rights were largely unknown, in fact one could say they are only being properly explored now,” says Jepson. “In the early twentieth century such matters were largely unheard of for woman and it was not until the beginning of the Communist revolution in the late ’40s that this status quo changed. Shanghai in 1930s, with its jazz and western dress, was a starting point.”
“That all people are individuals and should have a choice is a fundamental assumption by the vast majority of Westerners,” says Jepson. “But, this is not the situation for so many Asian women who assume and expect to be second. The main character, Feng, who narrates the story, innocently follows tradition, putting the family ahead of herself. As she develops emotionally through experiences, both natural and forced, she starts to question her life, often reacting to situations as she has been treated and so the abused becomes the abuser. What interested me was how far a person must be pushed before they reject such a life and the consequences of realizing so much has been lost and taken away.”
Jepson’s editor is Wendy Lee at Harper Collins New York. “She is a novelist herself and has been an understanding and thoughtful editor,” says Jepson. “Working with my publisher has been very easy and uncomplicated and I am grateful for their support.” The editorial process was done by email. Jepson has yet to meet his editor. Jepson’s agent is Marysia Juszczakiewicz, who runs the Peony Agency (www.peonyliteraryagency.com).
“Much of the book launch and promotion has taken place via the web and it has been interesting to watch readers, blogs, forums and reading groups comment on the book,” says Jepson. “It’s a world I had not previously entered and whether I have agreed with the comments or not, it has been exciting to watch people describe and share their reactions. The death of reading and books seems to have been greatly exaggerated.”
Jepson is currently completing his third documentary film, A Devil’s Gift, about social inequality. Jepson is a director and producer of five feature films. He also produces documentaries for The Discovery Channel Asia and National Geographic Channel. He’s the former editor of the Asia-based fashion magazine West East and is a founder and managing editor of the Asia Literary Review.
Jepson recently completed a graphic novel, working with an illustrator in China. A lawyer by profession, Jepson lives in Hong Kong.
All the Flowers in Shanghai by Duncan Jepson. Paperback: 320 pages, Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Original edition (December 20, 2011), Language: English, ISBN-13: 978-0062081605 $14.99
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