In the Pond is the first novel written by Chinese-American author Ha Jin. It tells the story of one man's struggle against the Chinese system of oppression; an episodic novel centering on one central character, Shao Bin, the novel expresses many of the author's feelings about his country of birth. A worker in a fertilizer factory, Shao Bin was constantly looked over and denied a decent apartment by the corrupt plant managers who never put him on the list of families who were entitled to better housing. His struggle for justice forces him to go up against the system but ultimately leads him to Beijing and a position he can be proud of.
The view of the communist regime in China held by the book's central character is also the view held by the novel's author. Ha Jin is an unlikely novelist; born Xuefel Jin, in China, in 1956, he was only fourteen when his education was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution, and when he became a soldier in the People's Liberation Army he was illiterate. Teaching himself to read by studying the dictionary, he decided to return to formal education and eventually pursue a doctorate at Brandeis University, which brought him to America. Watching the massacre of protesters in Tiananmen Square from the USA he decided to use his talent as a writer to highlight the systemic oppression in China and this, his first novel, was well received. Subsequent novels, Waiting and War Trash, both received the PEN/Faulkner Award. This is the most well-known of his novels despite being the least awarded and helping to put a human face on the suffering of the people in China.
The novel has been praised for its ability to convey the complexity of the political and social issues it explores, through the story of one man's struggles. The novel also touches on themes of power, corruption, and the human cost of political oppression. Ha Jin's writing style has been described as spare and unadorned, which serves to heighten the impact of the novel's powerful themes. The book has been translated into many languages and widely read and discussed in China, where it was first published in 1998. The novel has been compared to works by other Chinese-American authors such as Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston and has been cited as an important work of Asian-American literature. The novel is considered a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the political and social landscape of China during the late 20th century, which is a period of great change and turmoil in the country's history.
