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1926 Newbery Medal Winner A lot of reviewers point out the cultural appropriation in this book. I guess the only problem I have with it as a modern reader is the way that the material is presented as "Chinese" stories for children, and that the publisher description states that the tales embody the "wise and practical philosophy that has influenced Chinese life for thousands of years." In other words, I don't really have a problem with the fact that the author wrote these stories, just with the way that they were marketed. There is language in the publisher description like "The ability to create and tell stories was a natural part of Arthur Christman's being, which, combined with his love of Chinese folk material, has made possible these classic tales..." This passage suggests to me that the publisher is indeed stating that Christman created the tales, but it's rendered again problematic by what follows: "...strong in humor and rich in Chinese wisdom." So yeah. These aren't Chinese stories and they have nothing to do with ancient Chinese wisdom or philosophy. At most, they were written by a dude who was really interested in China, hung out with Chinese people, and enjoyed writing stories. I know. I don't like the way it was marketed either. However... the stories are really fun. They contain a lot of irony and amusing characters, and even some depictions of female characters who take on a "male" role or out-smart men (such Chai Mi in "The Rain King's Daughter" and Radiant Blossom in "Many Wives.") I also liked "The Moon Maiden," about a prince who dressed up as a princess so that he could get kidnapped by dragons and defeat them. I didn't really find anything offensive about the stories themselves except for one mention of the word "blackamoor," which is a word for a dark-skinned or African person. Another story mentioned some passing "coolies," which is apparently an offensive word for unskilled laborers in some Asian countries (it seemed to make sense in the context, though, because it was describing said unskilled laborers--it wasn't being used as an epithet. It sounds like in modern times it would be inappropriate to use even as a description, though). Some of the characters were portrayed as foolish or dumb, but those ones often ended up saving the day, and their foolishness wasn't depicted as being due to their ethnicity. I thought it was a fun read for what it is. Cultural appropriation and a sprinkling of offensive words are somewhat balanced by an attempt to insert Chinese language (not sure how accurate it is), some strong female characters, and a little cross-dressing. Not to mention water demons that get turned into rubies and trapped in a jade bottle in the titular "Shen of the Sea," come on, that was freaking cool. If I read it to kids, I would probably explain that these stories don't actually come from Chinese folklore; they are just made up. Another book might even be a better choice because of that, but I don't think this one is necessarily all bad.

2022-11-14 18:03