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Waiting | Introduction

Waiting (1999) is a novel written in English by Ha Jin, a Chinese author who as of 2006 was teaching creative writing at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. The book is based on a true story that Jin heard from his wife when they were visiting her family at an army hospital in China. At the hospital was an army doctor who had waited eighteen years to get a divorce so he could marry his long-time friend, a nurse. But now his second marriage was not working. Jin thought that this situation would make a good plot for a novel, and he began working on Waiting in 1994.

The plot revolves around the fortunes of three people: Lin Kong, the army doctor; his wife Shuyu, whom he has never loved; and his girlfriend at the hospital where he works, the nurse Manna Wu. Beginning in 1963 and stretching over a twenty-year period, Waiting is set against the background of a changing Chinese society. It contrasts city and country life and shows the restrictions on individual freedoms that are a routine part of life under communism. But Waiting is primarily a novel of character. It presents an in-depth portrait of a decent but deeply flawed man, Lin Kong, whose life is spoiled by his inability to experience strong emotions and to love wholeheartedly.

Waiting Summary

Prologue
Waiting begins in Goose Village in China in 1983. Lin Kong, an officer and doctor in the Chinese army, has returned from the army hospital in Muji City, where he works, with the intention of divorcing Shuyu, his wife of twenty years. He has been doing this every summer for many years. The court always turns down his request because at the last minute Shuyu changes her mind and refuses to agree to it. Lin’s marriage was arranged by his parents, and although he does not dislike his wife, he has never loved her either, and they have not had sexual relations for seventeen years.

In the courtroom, Shuyu’s brother Bensheng protests that Lin is acting unfairly to his wife, and the judge declines Lin’s request. Lin returns home and tells his girlfriend Manna Wu that he will seek a divorce the following year, because according to the law an officer could divorce his wife after an eighteen-year separation, with or without her consent.

Part 1

Chapter 1
In 1964, Manna is a nursing student at the military hospital in Muji, where she falls in love with a lieutenant named Mai Dong. An immediate marriage is not possible, but Manna promises Mai Dong she will marry him sooner or later. Mai Dong is transferred to a new regiment eighty miles away, and after several months, he tells her he is going to Shanghai, where he will marry his cousin. Manna is heartbroken. At the age of twenty-six, she despairs of ever getting married.

Chapter 2
From her earliest days at nursing school, Manna had been friends with Lin Kong, one of her teachers. He seems to her to be a scholarly man, and she borrows books from him. She is also impressed by the fact that he can read Russian. He invites her to his dormitory to help him make dust jackets for his books. She finds him easy going and good natured.

Chapter 3
In the winter of 1966, hospital staff go through a training exercise in which they march four hundred miles through the countryside, practicing treating the wounded and rescuing people from a battlefield. Lin is the head of a medical team, and Manna also takes part in the training. During a forced march, Manna can barely walk because of blisters on her feet. Lin helps her. At the farmhouse where the nurses are billeted, Lin drains Manna’s blisters and then helps her for several days until her feet are healed.

Chapter 4
Manna grows curious about Lin and wonders what his wife is like. She thinks she should distance herself from him, but her interest continues to grow. One evening, she sees Lin in the company of Pingping Ma, the hospital librarian, and she grows agitated, wondering whether they have a romantic relationship. She decides she must do something to stop Pingping Ma from taking Lin away.

Chapter 5
Manna leaves an envelope on Lin’s desk. Inside is a ticket for an opera which is to be performed that evening in the hospital theater. He decides to go and is surprised when he finds Manna sitting in the seat next to him. During the opera, which is about a battle between Chinese and Japanese forces, Manna places her hand on top of his. That night, Lin wonders whether this is the beginning of an affair. When he encounters her the next day and she suggests they go for a walk on Sunday, he is willing to begin an affair.

Chapter 6
During their walk they talk about the social and political upheaval in China. Within a month they are meeting several times a week in the evening. By August they see each other frequently during the day, and people begin to gossip about them, saying they are having an affair. Ran Su, vice-director of the hospital’s political department, tells Lin he is heading for trouble, and Lin promises that he and Manna will not have sexual relations. Worried, he regrets having started a relationship with her. The next day, Lin tells Manna that although he loves her, they cannot be together.

Chapter 7
In 1968, Manna sees a photograph of Lin’s wife. She teases him that Shuyu looks like his mother rather than his wife. The picture confirms her belief that Lin cannot be attached to his wife and will eventually leave her. Manna’s friend Haiyan suggests she should sleep with Lin and gives Manna the key to her sister’s house, saying that her sister will be away over the weekend. Manna is thrilled, but when she tells Lin about the idea, he says it is too risky. He insists that she return the key to Haiyan before the weekend. Manna reluctantly agrees but worries that Lin does not love her enough to take a risk.

Chapter 8
That night, Lin reviews his decision. He convinces himself that he loves Manna but that the bond between them need not be sexual. He dreams that he makes love to an unknown woman in a field, and he ejaculates in his sleep. In the morning his roommates find out about his “wet dream” and tell him he should not be ashamed of it. But Lin is confused by the dream because in real life he could never imagine doing such a thing.

Chapter 9
Lin wants to divorce his wife, although he feels guilty about deserting her. Manna has become tired of waiting and says that if he does nothing, it is over between them. For a while they stop seeing each other, but Lin is in turmoil over the situation.

Chapter 10
Lin sees Manna at a formal banquet. When he stops at her table and advises her not to drink too much, she responds with a hostile remark. After the banquet, she embraces him and apologizes, but she is drunk and says she wants him to make love to her. After he takes her home, Lin thinks seriously about getting a... » Complete Waiting Summary