Why a Booktrail?
2000s: A detective story about a strong-willed Chinese woman working as a private investigator
The Eye of Jade
What you need to know before your trail
A detective story about a strong-willed Chinese woman working as a private investigator. But this novel heralds a change in that the mystery and detection play a secondary role to the relationship between the mother and sister against the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution.
A friend of the family, the so called ‘Uncle Chen’, asks her to track down a Han-dynasty jade that vanished from a museum during the Cultural Revolution. Were the Red Guards involved on a mission to destroy it as part of the great legacies of the past? Or are more complex subterfuges involved? Mei investigates further and as she travels further afield, it turns out that the jade may not have fallen far from the tree.
Travel Guide
Easy to visit places which when reading this book take on a new and interesting criminal tinge. But these places in their own right can open up your view to a lovely part of Beijing that tourists often miss. The Western Hills for example which are mentioned in the novel are just of course, west of Beijing and can be seen by the beautiful Botanical Gardens which are also definitely worth a visit! The Fragrant Hills is a lovely park which is as nice as it sounds.
Of course the highlight is The Forbidden city – Mei takes the following route – Lotus Pond Road, White Cloud Street, across the City Moat and along the Boulevard of Eternal Peace. Eye of Jade is a fascinating glimpse of city life in modern China. Beijing bustles and shouts from the page, its seedy gambling dens and cheap noodle bars stand side by side and within a short walk to the city’s historical heart – the Forbidden City. China has two sides – a brutal communist past and its increasingly capitalist present. This novel examines both under one spotlight.
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