ABOUT A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS

Brilliant and original, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers introduces a remarkable new writer whose
breathtaking stories are set in China and among Chinese Americans in the United States. In this rich,
astonishing collection, Yiyun Li illuminates how mythology, politics, history, and culture intersect
with personality to create fate. From the bustling heart of Beijing, to a fast-food restaurant in
Chicago, to the barren expanse of Inner Mongolia, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers reveals worlds
both foreign and familiar, with heartbreaking honesty and in beautiful prose.

“Immortality,” winner of The Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for new writers, tells the story of a young
man who bears a striking resemblance to a dictator and so finds a calling to immortality. In “The
Princess of Nebraska,” a man and a woman who were both in love with a young actor in China meet
again in America and try to reconcile the lost love with their new lives.

“After a Life” illuminates the vagaries of marriage, parenthood, and gender, unfolding the story of a
couple who keep a daughter hidden from the world. And in “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,” in
which a man visits America for the first time to see his recently divorced daughter, only to discover
that all is not as it seems, Li boldly explores the effects of communism on language, faith, and an
entire people, underlining transformation in its many meanings and incarnations.

These and other daring stories form a mesmerizing tapestry of revelatory fiction by an unforgettable
writer.

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In A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li we have the theme of friendship, culture, freedom
conflict, identity and pride. Narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator the reader realises after
reading the story that Li may be exploring the theme of culture. Baba is somewhat lost while he is staying
with his daughter in America. There is the problem of the language barrier. Particularly with his regular
companion in the park, the Iranian woman. It is unclear really as to whether either Baba or the Iranian
woman understand each other. Though this does not stop them from having a friendship. Though again the
reader is unsure as if either person fully understands the other. Which may be the point that Li is
attempting to make. She may be suggesting that language can have its difficulties. Difficulties that have
brought misfortune onto Baba. While working as a rocket scientist. Baba had a platonic relationship with
another woman which was based on how they both thought. Unfortunately due to the regime that existed at
the time in China. Baba’s actions were deemed to be inappropriate and as such he was demoted from his
position as a rocket scientist. Though he never advised his family.

The fact that Baba’s daughter tells him that she knew he wasn’t a rocket scientist is interesting as she
appears to be using this information to green light her own relationship with the Romanian man. Baba
finds it difficult that his daughter is the instigator or the one responsible for her divorce from her husband
which may leave some readers to suggest that Baba’s daughter simply acted independently of her husband.
With the marriage obviously being unhappy for her. The fact that the story is set in America might also be
important as Li could be suggesting that in America a person is allowed to be whom they want to be.
Something that is clearer when it comes to both Baba’s daughter and the Iranian woman. Who has an
independent style of dressing herself. Something which would be the opposite of the environment that
Baba grew up in. Baba also takes great pride in the fact that he is a rocket scientist and likes the praise he
receives from others when they discover that he was a rocket scientist. Even if it was only for a short
period of time.

The conflict that exists between Baba and his daughter is also interesting as it appears to be based on
different beliefs when it comes to culture. Baba’s daughter does not see that she has done anything wrong.
However Baba makes comparisons to the fact that his daughter has acted like a prostitute. This alone is
sufficient to cause an argument between Baba and his daughter. However Li shifts the reader’s attention to
the theme of identity with Baba’s daughter telling Baba that she is aware that he was not a rocket scientist.
Something which Baba has always prided himself on. It is as though just as Baba feels his daughter has
been living a deceitful life. So too does Baba’s daughter think Baba has been deceitful. Something which
Baba is not prepared to admit as he does not feel as though he has done anything wrong. Again his
relationship with the woman in work was platonic. Though it did cost him a job that he loved. In many
ways Baba and his daughter are the same. When Baba was young he was quiet just as his daughter is and
just as Baba feels he did no wrong by talking to the woman in work. Baba’s daughter likewise does not
feel as though she is doing anything wrong by being in a relationship with the Romanian man.

The end of the story is also interesting as Baba decides upon being honest to the Iranian woman about his
job. However due to the language barrier the reader can’t be certain as to whether she understands what
Baba has said to her. Though there is a sense that Baba feels deflated and as soon as his tour is over he
wishes to return to China. Which may leave some readers to suggest that Baba is leaving America with a
bad taste in his mouth due to the conversation he had with his daughter. Two different generations think
differently about how they should live their lives with no sense that either is prepared to give the other any
common ground. Which may be the point that Li is making. She may be suggesting that with a change in
culture comes a change in one’s outlook on life. Baba having lived all his life in China. He feels and thinks
one way while his daughter who is Americanized thinks and acts differently. She feels it is important to
have the freedom to live her life as she sees fit. Whereas Baba may take on a more traditional approach.

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A Thousand Years of Good Prayers Summary & Study

Guide Description
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive
information and analysis to help you understand the book. This study guide contains the
following sections:

 Plot Summary
 Chapters
 Characters
 Symbols and Symbolism

 Settings
 Themes and Motifs
 Styles

This detailed literature summary also contains Quotes and a Free Quiz on A Thousand

Years of Good Prayers by .
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers begins with “Extra,” a story that follows Granny Lin in
Beijing as she struggles after the factory where she works goes bankrupt. She marries
an older man and becomes his caretaker, but he soon dies and the family blames Granny
Lin’s negligence for his death. Granny Lin then becomes a maid in a boarding school,
where she befriends a young boy named Kang. Granny Lin notices that Kang steals girls’
socks and keeps them in his bed, but chooses to allow Kang this idiosyncrasy. When this
habit is revealed to the school supervisors, Granny Lin is dismissed from her job; she
leaves the school with her belongings, which are quickly stolen from her, leaving her
with a lunch pail containing her compensation and a few packages of socks.
The story “After a Life” describes the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Su, the retired parents of Jian,
a college-aged son, and Beibei, Jian’s elder sister who was born with “severe mental
retardation” (23). The Sus meticulously hide Beibei’s existence, which isolates Mrs. Su,
who stays at home with Beibei, with the frequent phone calls from Mrs. Fong, the wife of
Mr. Su’s best friend, who suspects her husband of using Mr. Su to hide an affair. Mr. Su
and Mr. Fong spend their days at the stock brokerage, discussing China’s movement
towards a capitalist economy and the difficulties of love: Mr. Fong fell in love with
another woman when Mrs. Fong was in jail for embezzlement, and Mr. Su admits that he
and his wife are first cousins. Mrs. Su feeds Beibei extra sleeping pills before Mr. Su
arrives home with Mr. Fong, who has just suggested to his wife that his mistress move in
with them. The story ends with Beibei’s death.
“Immortality” describes the inhabitants of a rural village, which historically provided
eunuchs as servants to the emperors, as they shift their loyalties to Chairman Mao. An
unnamed boy of a disgraced family in the village grows up with a face very similar to
Mao’s, and leaves the village after Mao’s death to become Mao’s impersonator. The
villagers take pride that one of their own has such an important role to play, despite
having refused him their daughters as wives in his youth. Once the boy is a middle-aged
man, he becomes concerned that no woman or potential child would live up to his
greatness, and so never marries; this leads to his being caught with a prostitute, which
causes his dismissal from his role as Mao’s impersonator. Upon returning to the village,
the man castrates himself.
“The Princess of Nebraska” follows Sasha and Boshen as they navigate Chicago to get
Sasha to her appointment for an abortion. As Sasha and Boshen watch the Thanksgiving
Day parade, several flashbacks occur, communicating that Sasha is pregnant by Yang, a
young opera singer turned prostitute, who also happened to be Boshen’s lover in China.
When Yang felt that Boshen was not keeping his promise to return Yang to the stage,
Yang left Boshen for Sasha, just before Sasha left China for school in Nebraska and
Boshen was exiled for writing about an AIDS epidemic. Boshen pressures Sasha to
continue the pregnancy, hoping that a child will convince Yang to come to the United
States; Sasha considers the benefits of a child being born in the US, but is ultimately
overwhelmed by the sadness of her situation.
“Love in the Marketplace” describes Sansan’s regret that, as a college student ten years
before, she had fallen in love with Tu but then convinced him to travel to the United
States and marry Min, who was barred from many careers in China due to having taken
part in the protests at Tiananmen Square. Sansan and Tu had agreed that once Min was
safely situated, they would divorce and Tu would return to China to marry Sansan, but
Tu and Min fall in love. Sansan visits her mother’s boiled egg stand at the train station,
and learns that Tu and Min have divorced; Sansan’s mother encourages Sansan to marry
Tu, but Sansan feels wronged by Tu’s broken promise. As the story concludes, opium is
found in the snacks Sansan eats regularly and a beggar announces that he will allow any
payer to cut his body with a knife; Sansan takes him up on this promise.
“Son” depicts Han’s return home to Beijing to visit his mother, whose naiveté both
frustrates and worries Han; Han’s mother had been a blind follower of his father’s
communism, and after his father’s death, she became a blind follower of Christianity.
Han struggles to reconcile his annoyance with his mother’s blind faith with his desire to
protect her, leading him to lash out when she tries to protect his soul by converting him.
When Han’s mother goes to church, Han contemplates how his gayness means he will
never be a husband or father, and thus will forever be bound by filial duty. When his
mother returns from the service, Han admits his sexuality to her, and she accepts him
with the promise that her god accepts him, as well.
“The Arrangement” follows Ruolan’s experience of her family’s convoluted relationships;
her father travels most of the year to visit his long-time lover, while her mother
emotionally abuses her at home. Through Uncle Bing, Ruolan learns that her father’s
family forced the marriage to “cure him of his infatuation,” but also that her mother is a
“stone woman” and cannot have penetrative sex (141). Ruolan sees that Uncle Bing is in
love with her mother, and tries to dissuade him of his love by seducing him herself.
When Uncle Bing rejects her advances, Ruolan decides to run away from her mother,
Uncle Bing, and home.
“Death Is Not a Bad Joke If Told the Right Way” describes the life of a young girl who
stays with the Pangs twice a year when she is allowed to leave the Institute where her
family lives. Mr. Pang works without pay because his family used to own land; this shift
into poverty negatively leads him to isolate himself. Mrs. Pang explains to the girl that
dying early is better than suffering. The girl’s father helps Mr. Pang to find a temporary
job, but Mr. Pang is soon killed for his pocket change. The girl imagines the Songs, the
Pangs’ rowdy neighbors, laughing at Mr. Pang’s death.
“Persimmons” follows the conversation of several villagers in rural China during a
drought. They discuss how Lao Da was executed after he murdered 17 politicians
because they refused to take action against the rich men who killed his son. The
villagers cannot decide if Lao Da’s actions were righteous or selfish, if the drought was a
punishment for Lao Da’s actions or a result of Heaven’s anger at Lao Da’s execution, or if
they are at all culpable for the situation. The story ends by informing the reader that the
villagers had built a reservoir to help them during droughts, but that the reservoir
became “an entertaining site” for wealthy people, and that one of these wealthy people
had drowned Lao Da’s son (184).
“A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” concludes the collection, and describes the
experiences of Mr. Shi as he visits the United States to visit his daughter, who recently
got divorced. He befriends an elderly Iranian woman, despite their inability to
communicate with each other. Mr. Shi is troubled by his daughter’s unwillingness to talk
to him; the daughter explains that she is not able to communicate emotion in Chinese
because he and her mother never spoke to one another. Mr. Shi then confesses to his
friend that, decades before, he was demoted from being a rocket scientist in China
because he, a married man, refused to acknowledge his emotional affair with a
colleague; this situation was mandatorily kept confidential from the public, including his
wife.

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