High Life

品 24 #8 2017 年 5 月 HIGH LIFE #8 May 2017 25 Among literary critics, some love Brothers and others hate it. Conservatives find the language and subject matter of the novel to be too rough, especially in the second part, while those who appreciate the work see an interesting parallel drawn between the psychological oppression during the Cultural Revolution and that of the modern era. Personally, I find Brothers to be a fun read and can only imagine some of the wild experiences Yu must have gone through to create such a masterpiece. As the interview comes to an end, I am still curious and want to know more about Yu’s thoughts on today’s China, so I deliberately ask him a question to elaborate on, hoping our conversation can last a little longer. “Several years ago there was this talk about the ‘Chinese Dream’ rather than the ‘American Dream,’ with the latter being a set of ideals we all know about. How do you define the ‘Chinese Dream’ and do you think it relates to American values?” I ask. Yu chuckles. “A while ago a friend of mine called me from Shanghai, a retired CEO of a huge company in China,” he replies. “He spoke cautiously over the phone. He usually speaks boldly but at that time he was afraid that my phone was hacked. He said to me, ‘The Central Government is talking about the Chinese Dream. I feel very excited, because I have a small wish: I would like to vote for our People’s Representative in an election before I die.’ “He does not want to be a People’s Representative but he would like to be able to vote. Then he asked if I had a chance to vote before. I said I have never seen a ballot in my life and so he said, ‘Can my wish to vote be considered a Chinese Dream?’ I thought about it and answered, ‘Even if it is not a Chinese Dream, at least it is a dream dreamt in China’.”