Linda Jaivin: THE MONKEY AND THE DRAGON. Text Publishing, Australia 2001. In recent months we have witnessed the granting of the 2008 Olympic Games to Beijing and the admission of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) into the World Trade Organisation. Taiwan has had democratic elections for some years. Trade has resumed between the two countries and the Taiwanese can move freely into China to visit relatives or do business though PRC citizens do not have this freedom. Simultaneously the PRC government still threatens military action to “reunify” Taiwan with mainland China, and the Nationalists in Taiwan still dream of regaining power on the mainland. This relationship is only recently civil and even phone calls and mail between the two States were for many years non-existent. The title THE MONKEY AND THE DRAGON refers to Hou Dejian (born in 1956, the year of the Monkey) and China, the Dragon. It is the story of an outspoken and courageous musician. Hou turned his back on a successful career as a songwriter in Taiwan and Hong Kong to follow the pull on his heart that so many Taiwan-born Chinese have felt. In the early 1980’s he defected to the homeland his family had fled over 30 years before. This action, seen as a public relations coup by the PRC, and as a supreme betrayal by the Taiwanese establishment, could have resulted in a long prison term or even a death sentence. The defection was a major media event which resonated for many years. A resident of Kings Cross, journalist Linda Jaivin’s account of Hou Dejian’s life is unusual in that it’s not a straightforward detached biography. In fact it could have been amusingly subtitled “My Life With Hou Dejian”. They met in 1981 in Hong Kong where Jaivin worked for Asiaweek magazine and they quickly became firm friends. Hou, on tour, had written “Heirs Of The Dragon” a song that was adopted by Chinese people everywhere as their anthem. She muses “It seemed entirely natural to have one of the most famous Chinese singer-songwriters in the world, whom I’d just met, bunking down on the floor of my room.” THE MONKEY AND THE DRAGON is the result of years of research, interviews with relatives, friends and enemies, and experiences shared with Hou Dejian. Early in their friendship Jaivin had an inkling that she would write a book about him and thus kept notes, letters, and anecdotes. We go back and forth in time and across countries reading of Hou Dejian’s family history, his development as a musician and pop star, through his time in the PRC, and finally to his current incarnation as a fengshui master. Interspersed are aspects of the history of China and Taiwan in the 20th century and even parts of Jaivin’s personal life which could seem incongruous yet they add to the informality of style. This book is very readable and informative. I’m not a great fan of recent Chinese history but as it is such a personal story I came to realise how similar we are to these people who can easily seem mysterious and alien due to their different looks and language. The humour, generosity, confidence, and humility in the tale have translated well into English.

Reviewed by Stephen Nicholas, 2 January 2002 Also published in CrossLines.