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War Trash Free FREE WAR TRASH PDF Ha Jin | 352 pages | 01 Aug 2005 | Random House USA Inc | 9781400075799 | English | New York, United States War Trash by Ha Jin: | : Books A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. War Trash Ha Jin. Transform this Plot Summary into a Study Guide. War Trash is a historical novel by Ha Jin. The book received widespread critical acclaim upon publication and received a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Ha Jin is the pen name War Trash Jin Xuefei. He is a short story writer, English professor, poet, and novelist. He typically writes about China in English for political reasons. He is best known for his historically accurate world building and his imaginative writing. War Trash begins in during the Korean War. He does not like Communism, but he is forced to accept it as a political reality. As a teenager, he trained as a cadet at the Huangpu Military Academy. Before the Communists seized control of China, the Nationalists controlled the academy; Yuan enjoyed serving under them. Thanks to political pressure, he must now support North Korea in the war effort against South Korea. North Korea has Chinese backing. The academy sends him to Korea where he must serve in the th Division because, unlike most Chinese officers, he speaks and reads enough English to act as a translator. Yuan wants to go home and follow his own political beliefs. He does not expect Tao to wait for him because he has no idea when he will be home again. He is depressed because he knows that she will probably find someone else. One day, Yuan and the th Division cross into South Korean- occupied territory. South Korean and UN forces ambush them. Many officers are War Trash, but the soldiers take Yuan hostage because War Trash speaks some English. They place him in a POW camp. Tensions mount in the cramped camp between loyal Communists and pro-Nationalists. Yuan wants to return to the Nationalist side, but he is scared to let anyone know how he feels. What concerns him most is keeping a low profile. When he is placed in the pro-Nationalist camp, part of him feels relief, whereas the other part knows the pro-Nationalist camp is a death sentence. Finally, officers let Yuan declare where his loyalties are. Despite what his heart wants, he sides with Communism. He serves as an emissary between his camp leaders War Trash the Chinese camp. Although War Trash chooses Communist China, Yuan knows that the longer he is isolated from China, the harder it is to return. The government distrusts War Trash in POW camps because it War Trash dishonorable for officers to let other soldiers capture them. Deciding he cannot keep up the pretense much longer, Yuan sides once again with the Nationalists. A War Trash on Koje Island takes him in. He War Trash wants to go home. When the UN and the North Koreans sign a peace treaty, Yuan forgets about the war and worries more about what the Chinese people will think of him when he returns. Yuan must War Trash a life-changing decision now that the Korean War is over. He can defect to a neutral country and leave China and Korea behind, or he can choose between the Communists and the Nationalists. His friends warn him against choosing exile or escaping to another country, because the government War Trash take its anger out on his family. Yuan knows his friends are right and he must return to China, whatever the consequences. The major problems begin when Yuan returns home. They isolate him, making it difficult for him to find work or make friends. The War Trash issue is that Yuan shamed himself when the UN captured him. True Communist party members must fight to the death rather than spend time in a POW camp. No one cares what Yuan thinks anymore because death is more honorable than imprisonment. To make matters worse, Yuan learns that his mother died War Trash he was War Trash prisoner. She died thinking that Yuan shamed her. Tao refuses to marry Yuan because he is a national embarrassment. With no alternative, Yuan retires from military life and becomes a teacher. Eventually, he marries someone else and gives his children War Trash college education and the freedom of which he once dreamed. War Trash | novel by Jin | Britannica These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. Yu Yuan is a cadet at Huangpu Military Academy before and during the Revolution; however, when the Communists take over, they subsume the Academy, previously an important part of the Kuomintang military machine, into their number, and all cadets are made part of the People's Revolutionary Army. Yu becomes a low-ranking officer and is deployed to Korea with the th Division. Leaving behind his mother and his fiance, he becomes a translator because he is one of the War Trash members of his unit who have knowledge of the English language. His unit cross into South Korea and fight against the forces of the United Nations but are eventually beaten. Yu is hurt, and captured, held first in a military hospital and subsequently in a prisoner of war camp. He is impressed and surprised by the gentility of the hospital staff and the humane way in which he, an enemy, is treated. The Communist prisoners fall into two main camps. One group are loyal to the Communists and want War Trash go home to China or at least be repatriated to North Korea. The opposing group are those who want to defect and live in freedom in the War Trash, or repatriate to South Korea. These are the pro- nationalists. There is frequent and regular violence between the two groups. Yu wants to find a copacetic middle ground but struggles to do War Trash. He also wants to hide the fact that he is an officer and therefore a potential trading piece. He assumes a false identity and is taken to the island of Guh- Jae-Do where he is housed in the pro-nationalist section, somewhat against his preferences. His main goal is to return home War Trash his mother and his fiance; he doesn't care about the politics of the situation but wants to return to China for them, and so would prefer to be considered a pro-communist. When he verbalizes his desire to return to mainland China he War Trash kidnapped by the pro-nationalists who tattoo "fuck War Trash across his forehead, in English. The camp authorities eventually decide to screen all of their prisoners and divide them on political lines in order to reduce the violence. The leaders of both factions engage in hard lobbying to try to win as many men over to their War Trash as possible. Yu wants to go home. War Trash chooses to be classified as a Communist and is transferred to a Communist camp where he is treated with suspicion because he was previously seen to be allied with the nationalists. However, his English language skills are rather handy and enable him to gain the trust of his superior officers. The North Koreans kidnap General Bell, the commandant of the prisoner of war camps. They enlist the assistance of the Chinese prisoners whom they have up until now largely tried to outdo. The leader of the Communitst Chinese camp sends Yu as his representative to a meeting with the Koreans. He enables the Chinese to put War Trash the intelligence that in turn War Trash them to carry out Bell's kidnapping, which is a significant feather in the Chinese cap. It is not long before the prisoners are moved to a better organized camp system on Cheju Island. This is a double-edged sword War Trash although the facilities are better, cleaner and generally more sanitary, the methods for controlling the War Trash are also better and more effective. This means that resistance of any kind is much harder and punished more severely. The prisoners begin to worry that when they do return to China they will be rejected or treated as pariahs; there is enormous shame in their culture in being captured, and they will be viewed very negatively for not fighting to the death. It is a true "death before dishonor" culture. Some while after their move to Cheju Island, a small group of Chinese officers are sent to Korea to "re-register". This includes Comisar Pei's right hand man, Chang Ming. Pei is concerned about the loss of his English-speaking bagman War Trash so orders Yu to pretend to be Chang Ming and go to Korea in his place. Yu is furious but goes as instructed, only to discover that "re-registering" is not a sinister euphemism for being disappeared, as they all suspected; it's merely exactly what it says on War Trash can, and involves tedious bureaucratic paperwork. However, the subterfuge is discovered and Yu, masquerading as Ming claims to be angry with the Communists, seeing him sent to the nationalist War Trash at Koje Island. Once there he is treated with suspicion all over again, because he has been with the War Trash. However the Nationalists also see an advantage in having him represent them as he has good credentials and good English. It is during this time that there is a peace accord between the United Nations and the North Koreans, which means that the prisoners look forward to repatriation.
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