Black Ice is a novel set in China, a personal account of the turbulent
years of Mao's continuous revolution, including the social and political
upheaval of the Cultural Revolution.
This is a Chinese story which brings to life the suffering, the adventure,
the crushing losses, the unvanquished idealism of the otherwise anonymous
heroes and heroines of China's post-war period.
Black Ice tells the story of Mo Bing, from her under-cover work in
Shanghai as a Communist Party cadre during the Civil War, through
her denunciation and fall from grace during the Cultural Revolution
to her rehabilitation and retirement in the early 1990s.
Significant parts of the story include the experience of Mo Bing's
husband as a soldier and prisoner of war during the Korean War. The
Cultural Revolution, and the Red Guard movement feature strongly through
Mo Bing and her son.
Life can never be exactly the same for Mo Bing and millions of her
compatriots when Marshal Lin Biao, Mao's 'closest comrade-in-arms'
flees after being accused of attempting to assassinate Mao.
Shaken by the Cultural Revolution, as were many of her generation,
Mo Bing develops as a survivor, her survival based on faith in herself,
her undying idealism and her personal integrity.
With Black Ice, Trevor Hay and Fang Xiangshu continue their collaboration,
building onto their earlier introduction of a distinctly Chinese aesthetic
style into Australian literature. |