The Rice Sprout Song

By Eileen Chang,

Book cover of The Rice Sprout Song

Book description

The first of Eileen Chang's novels to be written in English, The Rice-Sprout Song portrays the horror and absurdity that the land-reform movement brings to a southern village in China during the early 1950s. Contrary to the hopes of the peasants in this story, the redistribution of land does not…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked The Rice Sprout Song as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is a heart-wrenching novel about hunger and starvation in the early 1950s in a Southern China village. The book title implies the joy of harvest, which has a rhetorical effect as it runs counter to the book theme. Its metaphor for hunger is watery gruel that the rural poor eat for every meal as they slowly starve. The story is about the impending great famine after the Communist Party introduces the land reform policies and how villagers suffer in silence atrocious government abuse. 

This novel is a must-read if you want to understand what starvation feels like.

From Alice's list on novels that take place in China.

Want books like The Rice Sprout Song?

Our community of 11,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Rice Sprout Song.

Browse books like The Rice Sprout Song

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in China, the Korean War, and communism?

China 640 books
The Korean War 54 books
Communism 89 books