Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang
If you think you already are familiar with the Chinese Exclusion Act and its consequences, this novel will make you realize hat there is so much more to learn about its history through voices that, unfortunately, will never be heard. This book falls into the category of historical fiction but it also carries elements of spirituality and lyricism that give it emotional weight.
The novel opens in 1882. Lin Daiyu, a young girl of 13, suddenly finds herself alone. Essentially orphaned – her parents have disappeared—she is sent away from her fishing village by her grandmother to the nearby city of Zhifu and told she has to make it on her own, but she will carry a new identity as a boy, Feng. It is a desperate move to save her life. The tone of the novel is set: survival hinges on her ability to learn skills she needs to survive while also learning about who she is and striving to be true to herself.
Her name, Lin Daiyu, is taken from a Chinese myth. In the legend, a boy falls in love with Lin Daiyu but she is a sickly girl and his family objects to their son’s love. On their wedding day, his family disguises another girl under heavy veils as Lin Daiyu. When Lin Daiyu learns of this deceit, she falls ill and dies. The boy, unaware of the switch, goes through with the marriage. Upon learning the truth, he goes mad. The real Lin Daiyu clearly does not like her name as it represents weakness to her. As the novel unfolds, a deeper meaning to the name and the legend is revealed.
One of the first skills Lin Diayu, now the boy Feng, learns is calligraphy. Master Wang, her teacher, explains: “Calligraphy is not only about the methods of writing but also about cultivating one’s character.” It is not just a practice but a philosophy. He asks his students “What makes good handwriting?” After listening to several good answers, Master Wang responds, “All true But you are forgetting the most important of them all: to be a good human. In calligraphy, you must have respect for what you are writing and who you are writing for. But above all, you must have respect for yourself.” We learn, along with Feng, that calligraphy is made up of the Four Treasures of the Study: the ink brush, the ink stick, the paper, and the ink stone and learning how to use them, to balance them properly. Throughout the book, Master Wang’s lessons return to Lin Daiyu. As she practices over and over to write the characters properly, their deeper meaning is revealed to her. The lessons prepare her to face the challenges that lie ahead.
One day while in the fish market, Feng (Lin Daiyu) is kidnapped. Thus begins a long, horrific journey to America where she ends up in a brothel in San Francisco. Today’s news brings us disturbing and tragic stories about child trafficking, but author Jenny Zhang’s description of the life through Lin Daiyu’s third identity, Peony, raises it to a different level of understanding.
All the characteristics of human interaction—friendship, trust, betrayal, courage, perseverance—are at play in the brothel. Peony manages an escape, and in the book’s final section , she once again takes on another identity, as a boy named Jacob, in Idaho. Master Wang said calligraphy is about the Four Treasures of the Study. He instructed his students to make the writing a reflection of you, your spirit, who you are. The author, Zhang, transforms the art of calligraphy into the title of the book, Four Treasures of the Sky. Lin Daiyu is similarly transformed throughout the book leaving the reader to ask what meaning are we to take away from her life and from this extraordinary book.
Review by Ting-Yi Oei, Education Director