Author Jennie Liu writes of teens in contemporary China

Asheville-based author Jennie Liu’s latest project, Girls on the Line, is a young adult novel about two teenage girls coming of age in contemporary China. She’ll launch the book at Malaprop’s on Wednesday, Nov. 7.

While Liu is the daughter of Chinese immigrants, she says she really didn’t find a passion for her own heritage until she went to college. During an interview in the children and teens section of Pack Memorial Library (“I have two kids,” she says. “I truck down here a couple of times a week.”), Liu explains. Her parents allowed her and her siblings to pursue their own interests, and while she did read a lot as a teen, “I probably spent more time trying to assimilate into the white culture.” In college, however, her attitude changed, inspired in part by reading authors such as Amy Tan, but also by what her sister, an Asian studies major, had discovered about their family’s history.

“Growing up, we lived in very tight quarters, but we didn’t know each other very well,” she says. So it was a revelation for Liu to read her sister’s thesis about their father’s experience fleeing the Japanese occupation of northern China in the Sino-Japanese War.

As the Japanese advanced, Nationalist Chinese leaders put out a call to save the children caught in the conflict. This campaign manifested as a poorly planned march across China.

“My father was the only son, and his parents pushed him to go on this journey, which turned out to be horrible,” Liu says. “It ended up being mostly on foot, so he just went hundreds and hundreds of miles with 300-500 children they collected along the way — with not enough resources, not enough food, no place to stay along the journey and, really, no place to land.”

After the defeat of the Japanese, the civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists forced Liu’s father out of the country. While he ended up surviving and, to an extent, thriving — he worked as a doctor in Taiwan, northern Africa and finally in the U.S. — his escape meant that he spent most of his adult life separated from his family. It meant, too, that he never saw his parents again.

Liu, who had aspirations to be a writer from an early age, soon decided she wanted to turn her father’s story into a novel. This proved to be a daunting task: She spent years researching Chinese history and spent time interviewing her father about his experience. Despite these challenges and the demands of parenting and her career, Liu completed the novel and landed an agent for it. But, as sometimes happens, the novel didn’t find a publisher.

Undaunted, Liu pursued her next project, a story about contemporary China. Intrigued by what she knew of Chinese orphanages, Liu says she “just started wanting to write a story about the people who don’t get adopted.”

This idea developed into the plot of Girls on the Line, in which two young women, Luli and Yun, raised together in an underresourced provincial orphanage, have just begun their adult lives by taking jobs at a local factory. But then Yun becomes pregnant by her disreputable boyfriend, and the two girls struggle to meet this challenge on their own terms. They navigate the trauma and stigma of their orphan childhoods, China’s restrictive family planning policies, the lawlessness that plagues rural China (including trafficking in wives and children) and the ever-present demands of propriety and family.

The novel deals squarely with the reality of being young in China without status, money or the support network that a family provides. Still, it’s fast-paced and suspenseful, and it has what Liu describes as a hopeful ending. And yet she also admits, “It’s kind of a dark book.” She says that as she wrote it, “One thing I definitely was thinking about over and over is that when you’re disadvantaged, you’re in such the muck of it you don’t even have the luxury of hoping for a better life.”

If readers take anything away from the book, Liu wants it to be an understanding that she hopes will evoke empathy in the U.S. — a nation she believes has come to prioritize self-interest above all else.

“People are just looking out for themselves and not thinking about people who are disadvantaged,” she says. “But it’s just not that easy when things are generationally stacked against you — institutionally, generationally, societally stacked against you.”

WHAT: Jennie Liu launches her novel Girls on the Line, in conversation with Joanne O’Sullivan
WHERE: Malaprop’s, 55 Haywood St., malaprops.com
WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 7, 6 p.m.

I'm a bit ashamed to say I've never read a book set in modern China before this one.: This was an absolutely fascinating book. It didn't try to sugar coat things, and there was no true happy ending, but that was perfect for this story. I'd be very interested in reading more from this author.

Luli and Yun grew up together in a Chinese orphanage. Neither had hope of ever being adopted, Luli because her grandfather hoped to one day be well enough to take her back and Yun because she had cursed birthmarks. The two were tasked with feeding and caring for others in the orphanage, the two couldn't wait to age out of the orphanage and try their hand at living on their own. Yun aged out first and found a job on a factory line. While there are rules and expectations within this position, Yun is drawn in by having her own money, new friends, and a new boyfriend. Luli is excited to finally join Yun, where she also begins working in a factory. However, shortly after joining Yun in the factory, Luli begins questioning Yun's boyfriends motives and background. Things become especially difficult when Yun finds out that she is pregnant. In a country where it is taboo and illegal to have a child out of wedlock and outside the government's permission, Yun and Luli work together to figure out what the best options are.

This book was freaking fascinating! It explores many of the socio-political issues going on in China, which I certainly wasn't familiar with before reading this book. Readers are given clear insight into the adoption process and birth control laws found in China. It also teases through many of the social values found throughout the country. I found myself fully invested in the stories, to the point that I wanted everyone around me to read the book too.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Carolrodha and Jennie Liu for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Luli has turned 16 and is turned out from the orphanage where she spent most of her life. She is off to the big city to meet up with her friend, Yun, who left the year before. Yun has a factory job and has promised to help Luli find a job and get settled. Although it is backbreaking work, it is better than staying to work at the orphanage looking after the babies. Luli can see how much Yun has changed in the one year since she left the orphanage. She has a stylish haircut, new clothes, disposable cash and a boyfriend. Luli learns that Yun’s boyfriend is bad news. He might be involved in trafficking women. Luli tried to warn her friend, but Yun doesn’t believe it. Soon Yun finds herself pregnant, alone and discovers that what people have been saying about her boyfriend is true. But she needs him to help pay for the abortion. The one child policy and the fact that she is unmarried, will make it impossible for her to keep the baby. At 16, she doesn’t want the responsibility. She is only just starting her life. Luli want to help her friend but how can she support her terminating the pregnancy or even worse, having the baby and giving it to the orphanage. The book explores the topics of family, friendship, coming of age, love, unwanted pregnancy and the One Child Policy in China through though the lives of these tow young girls as they navigate life on their own.

I have mixed feelings towards this novel. I thought that it did an amazing job of illustrating how difficult life can be in China. Being an orphan is tough. Having to support yourself at 16 is even harder. Getting pregnant at 16, with no family and having to make very tough decisions seems almost impossible. But when you explore these issues through the lens of another culture it really is eye opening. I had heard about the One Child policy, but I never considered what that entailed. I was very aware of the fact that girls were being abandoned, or worse killed, in order to have the “preferred” sons. I was also aware that it created a gender imbalance that has had huge ramifications for that society. I did not realize that if you did have a secret second baby they would not be considered a citizen and therefore wouldn’t be able to go to school or find a job. I was mildly aware of the deplorable conditions in the orphanages, but Liu brings to light so many issues that I hadn’t considered. She also did a great job of examining difficult issues through the lens of another culture. There were so many things in the story that made me feel if you were unlucky enough to be a pregnant orphan at 16, you were still way better off to be in North America. The. backbreaking work in the factory, being fined for having a baby that would take you most of your life to pay back, the prejudices against anyone outside of the norm makes for a very oppressive life.

There were a few things that didn’t work for me. One was the alternating chapters between Yun and Luli. This didn’t work for me at all. I find it disrupted the story and the transitions were awkward, even jarring, at times. The biggest downside for me was the language. I’m not sure why but the best way I can explain it is that it seemed too simplistic. It almost felt like a translation. I don’t think it did the story any justice. It kept bothering me as I was reading and it took me out of the story. I’m not referring to the dialogue between characters. However, the structure was sound and the events flowed nicely. Overall, I think this was an important story to tell and I would recommend it to others.

In the aftermath of the One Child Policy, there is a shortage of women combined with society's preferences for boys. Not only did this leave China with many girls for adoption, but now a gender imbalance. Because of this, there has been a rise of bride trafficking and the value of baby girls as future brides. Enter Girls on the Line which followers two orphan girls as they leave the orphanage and make their way into the workforce. In this new world of financial freedom (especially without a family to send earnings to), and factory labor, Luli and Yun lead different lives.

Their friendship is one that crosses differences of opinions, miles, and hardship. As a child who was adopted from an orphanage in China, this whole book felt surreal. Almost like a road less traveled. It's a book that examines individual desires, a society in flux, and growing up. Most of the story focuses on the friendship between Luli and Yun. Their friendship withstands the shared experience of being orphans (and what that does to your psyche), as well as support and love.

This book takes a while to get going, so you should be aware of that going in. There's also a lot going on, especially considering that this book isn't much more than 200 pages. I wish Jennie Liu had made the book a little longer or had taken out a subplot or two.

My other main concern with this is that I didn't feel like we had any idea of who Yun was. She just seemed like a blank slate. Because of this, I didn't understand why Luli (or Ma, or any of the characters) cared so much about her. 

I'm sure this makes it sound like I didn't like the book, and I did. But I'm not very familiar with China and its policy about children (the author's note at the end helped) and I wish the book had explained a little more. (Although, to be fair, I'm also not sure how that could've happened without either an info dump or some really clunky monologues/internal dialogues.) 

This just felt like 80% of the book was a space filler and the last 20% was very tense (what would happen to the baby?).

Girls on the Line provides a really gritty look inside the lives of two young Chinese women, one of whom is fresh out of the orphanage and navigating the world on her own for the first time, and one who has some experience on the outside but finds herself facing difficult choices. It's a really powerful story that touches on a lot of tough topics, especially for young women in China. Just to name a few, we have:

•Pregnancy and the resulting decisions. When Yun finds herself pregnant in a country that's incredibly unsupportive of unwed pregnant women (sound familiar?), the choices she faces are all pretty much undesirable ones. Interestingly, the government in this case was all about abortion- they just didn't want to be the ones to pay for it. So when a girl like Yun, with no family, no money, no support needs to make these choices... well you can imagine the struggle.

•Toxic relationships. Here's a shocker: Yun's boyfriend is actual garbage. And Yun... man, she is not at the point where she's ready to come to terms with it. It is a really honest look into abusive relationships- both from the angle of the person in the relationship, and from people who care about her on the outside.

•Friendships, their evolution, and how to be in a good one. This was pretty much a huge plot point of the story, and I loved it. I don't want to get into it too much, because I want you to read about it for yourselves, but it really explores this female friendship, how it can be tested, to the point of potentially breaking, and how (and if) to rebuild. Powerful stuff that we don't see enough in fiction honestly.

•Growing up. Luli's story is very much about finding her own agency. She's been an orphan, yes, but there was always someone acting as an advocate for her. First, the orphanage, and then even after, Yun. But what happens when Luli herself must rise up? It's an incredible look into coming of age, figuring out who you want to be.

The writing and dialogue felt a but simplistic at times, and that was probably my only real negative about the story. Oh, and do yourself a favor and read the author's note at the end. It explains so much about her inspiration for the story, and some of the facts.

Bottom Line: A very powerful and incredibly relevant story. One worth reading, no question.

Jennie Liu certainly jumped in with both feet with her debut Girls on the Line, a tense and emotionally evocative novel about a two factory workers in a small Chinese city struggling against vast bureaucratic and criminal forces.

This is a surprisingly fast-paced tale, starting on day one of Luli's job at a factory the produces charger cables. Luli is an orphan joining her friend Yun, who secured her a place, but who doesn't actually seem to have time to help her learn the ropes. Yun is more interested in her boyfriend, who may or may not be a human trafficker, a man who steals "brides" from the city to deliver to men in the country. Is Yun actually his girlfriend? Or is she about to be another victim?

Yun disappears, but this isn't a detective story. The book is written in alternating perspectives, so we always know where Yun is and what she's up to. It's not a problem, but the dust jacket blurb is a little misleading. Luli does still go to titanic lengths to reunite with her, but it's not so simple as rescue or derring-do. It's a much more complex tale of the ways in which we negotiate the burdens, joys, and very definitions of family.

It's also, almost necessarily, an utterly heartbreaking look at the intersection between policy and poverty. Most people know about China's one-child limit, but the reality is far more complicated, as Girls on the Line explores. Fees to have a baby in a hospital and register the child are exorbitant, many times the annual salary of a factory worker. When people cannot pay these fees, this creates non-citizens of a sort, children born in China to Chinese parents but lacking the official paperwork that would make them people in the eyes of the state. They lack access to schools, healthcare, and other services, and cannot get legitimate jobs.

But many legitimate citizens are no better off. Cycles of poverty and abuse are rampant regardless of official status. The book is not necessarily a critique of any one system; it wants to shine a light on the ways that all systems interact to create impossible choices for those in dire straits. Sympathy for individuals is the real heart of this book, with judgement reserved. Everyone is just looking to survive, and Liu honors that drive even as she sheds light on how it can be twisted into selfishness and indifference.

I would have actually liked some more meditations about working in a factory, or just more about the girls' internal lives. This isn't to say that the characters don't have depth, since the action reveals psychological scars and deep yearings, but I wanted to know more about the texture of their feelings. Sometimes things are more profound when set in stark relief, like the blunt way Yun tells Luli that the children will have nothing to eat if they don't feed them the porridge that has spilled on the floor. But other aspects are muted by the brevity and external focus. Yun spends a good deal of time with a mother-type figure, but what must a confusing experience for her is glossed over as the plot barrels on.

The most complete picture is of the orphanage, a tragic result of people with too little money, too little education, and too little time for each child. Caretakers strap disabled children to boards in order to stop them from moving, and enlist even the youngest able-bodied children to care for them. There is no stimulation or engagement. Barely able to provide food, these hardened caretakers cannot fathom providing emotional support, and as a result, both Luli and Yun are wounded in ways that do not immediately show.

Yet they still care for each other. And they find others willing to offer care and compassion, girls at the factory and women in the countryside. Women are amazing. Women helping women are amazing. But this is not a feel-good story. No one has a moment of explicitly feminist triumph over the system or receives a life-changing windfall. Everyone very clearly has their own problems, and the people at cross purposes must compromise with broken hearts, not open ones. Nobody takes up a sword and starts yelling about revolution. They just do what they can with what they have available, and hope that it's enough.


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