"Hsun-Ching is orphaned as a small child and is raised by the monk Wei-Ching, who teaches Hsun-Ching to read and write. Wei-Ching is a scholar of Buddhist information and has devoted his life to the collection and preservation of ancient scrolls, but it is the era of Chairman Mao and the Cultural Revolution, and many Buddhist relics are being destroyed. While visiting a temple, Wei-Ching and Hsun-Ching are attacked by a troupe of Red Guards, and Hsun-Ching is sent away to work on a farm in the countryside.
After ten years of enforced labor and starvation, Hsun-Ching leaves the farm and finds his way back to Wei-Ching, who is now weak and elderly. Hsun-Ching promises his teacher that he will recover the Laughing Sutra, a legendary scroll that may reveal a new path to enlightenment. With the help of a very strange new friend named Colonel Sun, who turns out to be an immortal soldier, Hsun-Ching dodges the Chinese border patrol and sails to America, where he lands in San Fransisco. While Hsun-Ching searches the museums of Asian antiquities and meets Allison, a young painter and assistant curator, Colonel Sun enters a dwarf-tossing contest and ends up in the middle of a seamans' brawl.
Though Hsun-Ching is strongly tempted to stay in the U.S., his sense of obligation spurs him to return to China and keep his promise to his dying teacher. Back home, Hsun-Ching finds that global politics are already changing, and learns that there may be more possibilities open to him than he ever imagined. "
Jacqueline West, Resident Scholar
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Review Analysis of The Laughing Sutra
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1960's-1970's
Political/social activism
Yes
Plotlet:
- surviving repressive dictatorship
Inside culture (main char)
- Chinese
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- religious issues
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Outside culture (society)
- Chinese
Ethnic/regional/gender life
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Chinese
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- an organization
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 5 (an average amount)
United States
Yes
The US:
- California
Asia/Pacific
Yes
Asian country:
- China
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
