This book is said to be the most read book in China after Mao's Little Red Book, which was the obligatory handbook for Chinese during the Cultural Revolution.
“WOLF TOTEM” is worth reading for many reasons, and excerpts from the book as well as the film adaptation are relevant to include in teaching in citizenship education and similar subjects.
Overview - which also gives you 7 reasons to read the book and / or watch the movie!
1. “Wolf Totem” is a surprising story from the Cultural Revolution in China 1966-1976;
2. “Wolf Totem” is a description of an indigenous people's ecological understanding;
3. “Wolf Totem” is also a book about an ecological disaster: “Desertification” of grasslands;
4. The book's Chinese success, and the scandal that escaped the attention of censors;
5. The author behind the pseudonym is a champion of democracy;
6. “Wolf Totem” has been translated into the movie “The Last Wolf” in 2015;
7. The messages are universal.
The text on this lengthy book has many layers like onions. The book was published in Chinese in 2004 and in the English version 2008 (527 pages).
The English translator Howard Goldblatt has said: "Jiang Rong had several things in mind: To educate , to promote and to entertain" (source)
1. "Wolf Totem" is a surprising story from the Cultural Revolution in China 1966-1976
In the beginning of the book, Zhen has just been admitted to Beijing University, but like all other students during the Cultural Revolution, he is sent out into the countryside to be re-educated, unlearn bourgeois norms, and learn to serve the people (as it was called then). Chen chooses to be sent to join the nomads in the desert of Inner Mongolia because he hopes that there will not be as much control of his attitudes there as elsewhere, and that he will be allowed to keep his box of world literature, which he loves.
Life turns out to be much harsher than he could have imagined. As a shepherd, you must not only take care of a large flock of sheep, but also protect them day and night from the wolves, which are life-threatening for both humans and animals. He also discovers that the nomads do not have a simple understanding of the wolf as an enemy, but they also worship the wolf as a totem, that is, a spirit. This totem maintains the balance of the entire nomadic culture, so it is vital to respect it.
Along the way, Chen is almost adopted by the old man Bilgee who is the most knowledgeable and experienced in the entire tribe, and with him Chen experiences how dangerous the wolves are to the sheep, the horses, and the nomads themselves. At the same time, he becomes more and more fascinated by the wolves' strength, their wisdom and their ability to cooperate, plan hunting strategies, and often survive against all odds.
Chen becomes so preoccupied with knowing more about the wolves that he steals a just newborn and still blind wolf cub from a female wolf's cave. The wolf cub fights against being captured from day one, and even though it learns to react to the name "Little Wolf", he refuses to be tamed. The nomads that Chen lives with find it completely wrong to keep a wolf trapped, but they do see that everyone learns a lot about wolves thereby. Chen becomes attached to the wolf, and he to him, but by nature he is so freedom-seeking that the problems grow and grow. It ends badly, but how it ends should not be revealed here.
"Wolf Totem" is a book about nomadic culture with the wolf in the center. “If you don’t know wolves, you can´t understand the spirit and character of the nomads, and you´ll certainly never be able to appreciate the differences between nomads and farmers or the inherent qualities of each”.
2. “Wolf Totem” is an example of an indigenous people's ecological understanding
It is a story about the harsh life of the nomads on the Mongolian steppes where the winter lasts 6 months and is incredibly cold, and where the other 3 seasons each are short. Even the summer is almost unbearable due to the heat and the mosquitoes that plague humans and animals.
Through a concrete story, we readers get an insight into how nomadic culture is based on a deep knowledge of the interplay between all living things: If the wolves become too many, then they will hunt hard to get food, and catch many of the nomads' horses and sheep. Therefore, the nomads may have to hunt the wolf and reduce the number even though they honour them as totems, but the wolves must not become too few, because then there will be too many marmots and especially mice. These animals live by grazing the same steppes as the nomads' sheep, and if there are too many of them, there will not be enough grass for the sheep.
The whole nomadic way of life is about doing the right thing in terms of maintaining the ecological balance. Chen is attracted to the great knowledge of the older nomads in particular, about the interplay between all living things and the desert itself, as he tries to acquire this knowledge by learning from the experienced nomads through their myths and their daily lives. In doing so, Chen experiences the exact opposite of what the Cultural Revolution stood for, namely that old traditions should be eradicated. If the nomads become permanent residents at one place all year round, the very fragile ecological basis of nomadic existence will be destroyed. It is concretized in this section on page 476:
Bilgee, the elder, says: “Take the pastureland, for example. Each seasonal pasture has its separate function. The spring birthing pasture has good grass, but it's short. The livestock would die if a winter snowstorm covers the grass. We cannot settle there.
There's tall grass on the winter pastureland, but it wouldn´t last long if the livestock grazed there through the first three seasons.
The summer pasture has to be close to water, or the animals would die of thirst. But those are all in the mountains and the animals would freeze to death in the winter.
We move to an autumn pasture for the grass seeds, but would there still be seeds left if the livestock stayed to graze in the spring and the summer?
Every pasture has several downsides and one advantage. The whole point of nomadic herding is to avoid the downsides, and make good use of the advantage.
If we settle in one spot, we will face all the downsides, with no more advantage. Then how do we keep herding? ”
3. “Wolf Totem” is also a book about an ecological disaster: “Desertification” of the grasslands
In the book's concluding chapter, Chen, the book's main character, sits in Beijing 20 years after his time on the steppes, writing while a storm from Inner Mongolia whips sand against the windowpane: Large parts of Inner Mongolia have become deserts since the 1970s. This “desertification” has happened because thousands of farmers moved to Inner Mongolia, where the former nomadic steppes were turned into cornfields and enclosures with livestock. Unfortunately, it went as the nomads feared. After some years of intensive agriculture, large parts of Inner Mongolia became barren sandy areas.
As part of the colonization of Inner Mongolia by the Chinese farmers, the wolves were exterminated and the ecological balance was disturbed.
At the end of the book, the former students go back and visit the nomads of their own age with whom they lived in the decade of the Cultural Revolution. They now live in areas with enclosures that have not yet become desert, they drive pickups and raise livestock. So it is also a book about the downfall of a nomadic culture.
4. The book's Chinese success, and the scandal that it escaped the attention of censors
The book's fame went like wildfire through China. The book has sold more than 2 million copies, but it is also believed to have been copied in many millions of copies (I have read guesses of from at least 6 to 15 million copies). It is not the description of the values of nomadic culture that captures the Chinese mostly. It is the inspiration from the enthusiastic description of the wolf's characteristics that provides inspiration. The wolf's strength, wisdom, fearlessness and ability to both cooperate, compete, and be indomitable even when fighting alone have led many Chinese to say: This is how I want to be characterized, too!
The book has inspired the use of the wolf as a metaphor in both the banking world ("wolf strategies"), among diplomats ("diplomat wolves") and even by officers in the Red Army.
5. About the author behind the pseudonym:A champion of democracy
It became a major scandal in China when it turned out that the author behind the pseudonym was one of the student leaders who were arrested after the student uprising at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989, and kept in jail without trial until late 1991.
After the release, those in power discovered that the Chinese censorship had been circumvented by the use of a pseudonym. It is now said that it is impossible to have anything published in China under a pseudonym.
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| The writer about his 10 years of experience in Inner Mongolia (4 m. YouTube) click |
Only when the author received the first Man Asian Literary Prize in 2007 did he come forward with a name and a photo to the award presenters. But when he said in an interview that he experienced oppression and that a lack of democracy will in the future get China to resemble Germany during the Nazi era, he became very unpopular among those in power. Lü Jiamin, which is his real name, has never been allowed to get a passport and travel outside China.
Lü Jiamin had been sent to Inner Mongolia in 1967 as a student from Beijing University, and he lived as a nomad for 11 years. In 1978, he returned to Beijing University to study economics, and he later came to teach in the same place. As early as 1971, Lü Jiamin began to get ideas for what he later wrote in the book. He worked intensely for six years to write the book in secret.
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| Lü Jiamin and his friends at the nomads |
6. “Wolf Totem” has been translated into the movie “The Last Wolf” in 2015
The story in the book was turned into a film by French director Jean-Jacques Annaud. The film is the result of 3 years of training wolves and over a year of filming in Inner Mongolia during all 4 seasons. The film does a lot to show the nomadic culture, the nomads' daily life, and the controversies with the invading farmers. The beauty of the steppes and the characteristics of the wolves are also at the center. The wolves become almost the main characters in the film, although the Chinese actors also do an excellent job.
In relation to the book, a lot is cut away, and the ending gets a kind of happy ending for the captured wolf, which is totally different from the book. A love story is also created which has no basis in the film.
Nevertheless, the film is highly recommended. The nomadic life, its harsh conditions but also its beauty are reproduced so that it provides a great experience. The wolves' admirable qualities are shown both in their cruelty and indomitability.
Resources:
- “The Last Wolf”” 1 hour 58 minutes at ViaPlay and other pay sites.
- “The Last Wolf”” movie trailer, English version Click
- “Der Letzte Wolf” movie trailer, German version Click
- “Dernier Loup” movie trailer, French version Click
- “Meet the cast behind Wolf Totem” & hear them introduce the themes of the film Click
(3 min., YouTube)
7. The messages are universal
In China, the book is read primarily as a call to the Chinese to develop their inner wolf, and thus also to fight for individual freedom. It is also an indirect critique of Confucianism, an authoritarian school system and the system's demands for unconditional obedience that have created a nation of sheep.
But the messages are not just for the Chinese. Penguin's manager for China, Jo Lusby, has put it this way: "It's a very accessible novel that explores a specific time and place that's rather exotic and unusual," she said. "That said, the themes that it touches upon are truly universal."
Here is a selection of these universal themes:
- Criticism of man's impulse to tame nature;
- Respect for indigenous peoples' rights and ecological understanding based on their myths;
- Obedience versus freedom;
- What does it take for a culture to change?
Reference and resources:
The book: Jiang Rong (2008): Wolf Totem. Translated by Howard Goldblatt. Hamish Hamilton – an imprint of Penguin Books https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/299261/wolf-totem-by-jiang-rong/9780143115144/readers-guide/
Introduction by the writer to his years of experience in Inner Mongolia ( 4 min., YouTube video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NRy_JdAmBc&authuser=0%2522%20%255Ct%20%2522_blank
Introduction to the book Wolf Totem: A Novel | ReadingGroupGuides.com
https://www.readinggroupguides.com/reviews/wolf-totem-a-novel
Discussion Questions Wolf Totem: A Novel | ReadingGroupGuides.com
https://www.readinggroupguides.com/reviews/wolf-totem-a-novel/guide
Listen to a sample of of the Audible audio edition (introduction & page 1-2) https://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Totem-Novel-Jiang-Rong/dp/B001KOTUA6
Book reviews and articles:
Best-seller urges Chinese to release their inner wolf - Telegraph
Jiang Rong tells Jonathan Watts about working as a shepherd | Books | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/nov/22/china.features11
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Beijing's Unwanted Best Seller - SPIEGEL ONLINE
Jiang Rong's *Wolf Totem*
https://www.curledup.com/wolftotm.htm
Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong | The Life Outdoors
http://thelifeoutdoors.com.au/books-ideas/book-review-wolf-totem-by-jiang-rong/
Jiang Rong: The hour of the wolf | The Independent
The Chinese Identity in Question: “Descendants of the Dragon” and “The Wolf Totem” | Cairn.info
https://www.cairn.info/revue-de-litterature-comparee-2011-1-page-93.htm#
A Defense of Jiang Rong’s Wolf Totem Timothy Weston
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1170&context=chinabeatarchive
'Wolf Totem' celebrates love for nature
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/2015-02/16/content_19602927.htm
Wolf Totem and the Post-Mao Utopian: A Chinese Perspective on Contemporary Western Scholarship | MCLC Resource Center
http://u.osu.edu/mclc/book-reviews/yiyan-wang/
Before the film by J.J. Annaud, the controversial book “Wolf Totem”
https://mychinesebooks.com/film-jj-annaud-controversial-book-wolf-totem/
Wolf Totem: The Movie They Forgot to Make
https://paper-republic.org/ericabrahamsen/wolf-totem-the-movie-they-forgot-to-make/
All links retrieved September 24, 2021.
