Set in 1908 to about 1925, Dragon Springs Road by Janie Chang is about a young girl, Jailing, whose mother unexpectedly abandoned her on the estate of the family she worked for. She was taken in by that family and eventually educated in a mission school. She has a friend, or spirit guide of sorts, Fox, who is a fox spirit. Because Jailing is mixed race, she is considered an outsider by both the Chinese and Europeans, to the point that it makes it hard for her to find work despite her intelligence. She accidentally finds herself swept up in a political issue while she tries to find her mom and understand why she was abandoned.
I really enjoyed Dragon Springs Road. I was looking for a book that was written by an Asian author set in Asia and encompassing Asian culture. Check, check, and check. The fantastic elements found within the part of the story involving Fox were mixed nicely with the parts that thought about the tumultuous time in China as the country transition from being ruled by an emperor to a military government to something else (it’s communist now so…). The perception of Jailing being mixed race added another element worth some thought, especially since this novel is set at the end of the imperial time for England and other colonial forces, so the relationship between China + Chinese and British folks seemed plausible; the Brits seemed to be given a certain level of prestige that I don’t think would be granted today (not that it was deserved at the time).
Honestly, I don’t have a lot to say about Dragon Springs Road. It is one of those books that I really enjoyed and it fit a certain interest that I was looking to read about. I loved the fantasy with Fox, I loved the struggles that Jailing went through due to being mixed race and how she felt like she had to manipulate a man in order to get by only to later be accepted and fall in love honestly and earnestly with another man (she lives happily ever after), I loved the exposure to some of China’s political turmoil during the transition from empire to another government, and I liked the range of characters in the book.
I would definitely recommend the book, regardless of my wish to have some long winded thoughts not come through.
Always Fire and Honey 