Peach Blossom Pavilion (65 page)

After all, waiting for almost a century, I'll finally be able to join my beautiful, talented, ming ji blood sister.

A READING GROUP GUIDE

PEACH BLOSSOM PAVILION

MINGMEI YIP

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

The questions and discussion topics that follow are intended to enhance your group's reading of this book.

Discussion Questions

1. How do you feel about Precious Orchid's mother giving away her own child?

2. When Precious Orchid is put into cruel circumstances, what means does she use to cope?

3. What do you think about the bond between Precious Orchid and Pearl? Given that they are very different, what qualities do they appreciate in each other?

4. In the early part of the story Pearl is stronger than Precious Orchid, while ultimately Precious Orchid survives the harsh life and Pearl does not. Is Precious Orchid simply luckier or does she have inner resources that Pearl lacks?

5. Do you think Pearl's suicide is an heroic act or an act of cowardice?

6. What does the existence of official contests for prostitutes tell you about attitudes toward women in pre-modern China?

7. How would you characterize Precious Orchid's relationship with men: the monk Qing Zhen, Big Master Fung, the Military Chief Ouyang, the oil portraitist Jiang Mou, and Richard Anderson, her eventual husband? And with women: Pearl, Teng Xiong, Spring Moon, and her mother, Aunty Ah Ping?

8. Why does Precious Orchid decide to sneak away from the monk Qing Zhen?

9. Why doesn't Precious Orchid's mother acknowledge her daughter when they reunite in the nunnery?

10. Why at the last moment does Precious Orchid fail to kill her father's murderer?

11. Why does Precious Orchid decide to marry Richard Anderson? Does she feel real love or does she have another motive?

12. What role does playing the qin occupy in the novel?

13. How does the calligraphy that Precious Orchid shows to Mama and De change the balance of power between them?

14. What does the yellow butterfly symbolize?

15. Can you identify Buddhist themes in the novel such as nonattachment, non-distinction, compassion, and non-killing?

16. Why do you think Precious Orchid, at the end of her life, is ambivalent about the disappearance of the artistic courtesan culture?

17. Compare the fates of the different women in the novel: Precious Orchid, Pearl, Teng Xiong, Red Jade, Spring Moon, Aunty Ah Ping, Mama, and Wonderful Kindness Abbess (Precious Orchid's mother)? To what extent was each able to exert some degree of control over her life?

Table of Contents

Prologue

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART SOUR

Epilogue