When Unconditional Love Collides

with Conditioned Expectations:

An Interview with Yang Huang

by Margo Orlando Littell

 

Parenthood, specifically fatherhood, is at the wrenching heart of Yang Huang’s third novel, “My Good Son” (UNO Press, 2021). With the political unrest of Tiananmen Square just barely in the past, new social mores are forcing their way into the culture, and citizens like Mr. Cai must confront a rapidly changing landscape where the usual expectations must be expanded or even left behind. Sons and daughters make their own choices about ambition and romance, choices that are often at odds with the paths their parents prefer. Yet parenting is as much about steering the ship as it is about letting go—an idea that isn’t easy to accept when a father like Mr. Cai devotes his life to ensuring the success of his child. What is the cost of unconditional love? And how obedient must a child be to deserve it? Told with compassion, humor, and unflinching insight into human nature, this closely observed family saga is the winner of the University of New Orleans Publishing Lab Prize.

Yang Huang talked with Margo Orlando Littell about the hope and futility inherent to parental planning, and the love that binds parents and children no matter the direction life takes.

If he could have exchanged a limb for a wish, Mr. Cai would have traded his gladly in order to unleash Feng, his only son, into a life where he could live and prosper on his own.
—Yang Huang, Chapter 1

MARGO ORLANDO LITTELL: “My Good Son” is about the Cai family—Mr. Cai the tailor, his wife, and their son Feng—and follows them through the fraught period of Feng’s preparation for his long-delayed exams, required to gain admission to a university. We meet the family at a critical moment, and one of the gifts of this novel is how quickly and deeply we care about them. Yang, can you tell us how these characters entered your life, and how you found their story?

YANG HUANG: “My Good Son” began with an image. A tailor spends his entire life making clothes for other people. One day, he puts on a long, form-fitting dress and walks in heels with some difficulty. I didn’t know what it meant, but the image stayed with me. I asked myself: does he pretend to be a woman, or is he driven by something else?

I am fascinated by how people work in the real world; for example, a tailor must reconcile his aspirations and artistic vision with the need to make a living. So, I began to write a novel about a tailor and researched textiles and tailoring craft. I visited my parents, and they introduced me to a tailor in Shanghai. This tailor had a son with a health problem. He told me that his petite wife had to carry the boy up five flights of stairs on her back after his treatment. Watching them made his heart burst with love, pain, and sorrow. I was deeply moved and decided to make my protagonist a father struggling to raise his son in this world.

At the time, my husband didn’t eat meat. Everywhere we went, people lectured him and pressed him to eat meat. His strange diet made him suspect in my circle of family and friends. So, I gave this character trait to Feng. Through my research and writing, I pieced together different elements, and my fictional story began to be born. Why is the tailor wearing a woman’s dress? Gradually I found the plot element about a gay man coming out to his father. My genuine respect and sympathy for people I knew in real life drove me to discover a story that eventually became “My Good Son.”
 

LITTELL: Feng’s idleness changes shape as his preparations for his exams progress, and he soon becomes determined to succeed. However, the exact success Feng hopes for is never entirely clear. He has a bounty of possibilities: admission to a good university, a mediocre university, a trade school, or an American university. Meanwhile, Mr. Cai has a single focus: secure Feng’s passage to the United States. How do these differing images of Feng’s future—one murky, one highly specific—affect the father/son relationship?

HUANG: The relationship between a parent and child is one of the few things in society that is not based on merit. Mr. Cai regards Feng as “his own flesh and blood.” So he feels personally responsible for Feng and lives vicariously through Feng’s success. Feng is creative and needs his own space, so to speak, and he resists his father, who wants him to become a respected engineer. The more Mr. Cai pressures Feng to succeed, the further Feng retreats into his shell. The father/son relationship is entangled with genuine affection, personal sacrifice, and deep resentment from both sides.

Mr. Cai hadn’t wasted a cent on installing hardwood floors, wall paneling, or a gas stove either. Well-kept cement floors and limewashed walls were luxury enough for his family.
—Yang Huang, Chapter 3

LITTELL: Mr. Cai disapproves of the way his neighbor, Mr. Ouyang, “pampers” his daughter, Jiao, believing that hardship teaches character. He keeps his own home sparsely furnished, saving all the family’s money for Feng’s tuition. Yet Jiao is ambitious and successful, while Feng is unmotivated and aimless. Would it be fair to say that much of Mr. Cai’s frustration with Feng is rooted in resentment over the fact that Feng seems oblivious to the deprivations to which Mr. Cai has subjected his family? Do you think Mr. Cai ever doubts his staunch beliefs about parenting?

HUANG: To be fair, Feng is not a materialistic person, which partly owes to his upbringing. Feng would be happy to be cooped up in the tailor shop with a wife who adores him without comparing him to richer and more powerful men. Mr. Cai and Feng have polarized views about what defines a good life. In his own way, Feng is rational: He cannot refuse to study and break his father’s heart. He goes through the motions without making any real effort, until Little Ye gives him an ultimatum. That is when he decides to become a successful man in order to win her respect.

Mr. Cai, with his tunnel vision of a grand future for his son, ignores the real cause of Feng’s indolence and aimlessness. He even pretends that he and Feng are of “one mind,” which cannot be further from the truth. They are going down different paths but always take notice and respond to each other. After the exams, Feng tells a friend that his academic failure makes him feel worthless. Mr. Cai is stunned: “If Feng had shown his humility rather than acted nonchalant, Mr. Cai would have been gentler and encouraged him more.” The father and son influence each other imperceptibly; each has secret admiration for the other, though neither likes to show his respect toward the other. This does not change until Feng leaves home. Mr. Cai cannot have his sanity, nor can Feng have his autonomy, until Feng becomes independent.

‘Sometimes a scolding look can wound a young person for life.’ Jude shot Mr. Cai a glance that sent a chill down his spine.
—Yang Huang, Chapter 3

LITTELL: Feng’s indecision, inertia, and propensity for romantic distraction are constant sources of frustration for Mr. Cai, who views his son as a disappointment. Yet Mrs. Cai takes a more compassionate approach. Can you speak to this difference in mother/father parenting styles?

HUANG: Like in most families, Mr. Cai and his wife settle into their roles—kind of like a good cop, bad cop—out of necessity. Children are intelligent; they quickly figure out their parents’ limitations and try to outsmart them at every turn. Some books ask parents to adapt to their children’s whims and modify their tactics, but in real life, it is simply too exhausting to be called upon day and night to put on different hats: a nurse, a teacher, a judge, a coach, a friend, and so on. Here is where the different roles of parents come into play.

Mr. and Mrs. Cai adapt to their roles and pick up where the other leaves off. Nothing is done twice, and all the bases are covered. This is why it takes a village to raise a child. You cannot be omnipresent for your child, although a single parent comes pretty close; I think the world of them. At the beginning of the story, Mr. Cai and his wife maintain a united front, at least in appearance. As Feng exerts relentless pressure, Mr. Cai and his wife’s partnership becomes fraught. In the end, Mrs. Cai has the upper hand and fools her husband.
 

LITTELL: Mr. Cai resists the idea that his best intentions might be misaligned with the needs and desires of his son, and he plows ahead with a dramatic plan to secure Feng financial sponsorship to the United States by winning over his customer Jude’s American father. In return, Mr. Cai will help Jude come out to his father. The more Mr. Cai pushes for Feng to go along with the plan, the more Feng resists—until, in pretending to be Jude’s gay friend, he finds the perfect way to get under Mr. Cai’s skin. What does Jude represent to Mr. Cai and to Feng, and how does his role shift as he gets closer to the Cai family?

HUANG: Exploring one’s sexuality can be a lifelong journey, especially in China where conformity is required both in the family and society at large. To Feng, Jude’s gayness is the epitome of individualism. What could be fiercer than being queer in a foreign country? Feng is inspired and eager to embrace the gay man. Conversely, Jude’s gayness presents a challenge to Mr. Cai’s conventional worldview. Mr. Cai has to summon his courage and overcome his prejudice, much like Jude’s father.

To be honest, I’m still not sure if Feng is bisexual. He never came out to me as I wrote, but there are clues that he is not 100% straight. Like Jude, Feng will explore his sexual identity in a foreign country.

Mr. Cai bit his tongue to keep his silence. He and Feng could never be of one mind, even though they wanted the same thing. They must arrive at Feng’s success via the routes of their own choices. Along the way, Mr. Cai had to be careful not to trample on Feng’s fragile self-esteem.
—Yang Huang, Chapter 4

LITTELL: Feng exists in a state of general discontent, but he is genuinely excited at the scant opportunities he’s given to work in his father’s shop. In this realm, his passion and talent are clear. Yet for Mr. Cai, Feng’s interest in tailoring is something to be stopped—until the moment when his interests align with Mr. Cai’s determination to get Feng to an American university. What does tailoring represent to Mr. Cai? Will Feng’s nontraditional path toward a traditional career make this version of success palatable for his father?

HUANG: To Mr. Cai, tailoring is a menial job, a career he stumbles into at a young age from a hasty promise, almost a mistake, that he wants Feng to avoid. He is chagrined that Feng dreams of becoming a tailor. Despite all his discontent, Feng has secret admiration for his father. When not pressured for worldly success, Feng is happy living at home with his parents; he even talks about helping with the family business, which of course is shot down by Mr. Cai, until this presents a chance for Feng to study abroad.

For the first time, Mr. Cai is able to look past Feng’s academic failure and see the kind of maturity he wants in Feng. Mr. Cai confesses that he knows what Feng wants but keeps him from tailoring with the best of intentions. I think Mr. Cai wants to take credit for the way that the stars are aligned. Ultimately he approves Feng’s career choice, since Feng has to work hard to become successful in America.
 

LITTELL: Though Little Ye initially comes across as a pitiable figure, she turns out to be more savvy than the Cai family suspected. Indeed, women in this novel are anything but passive. Little Ye schemes to get her twins to the United States; Jiao continues to achieve enviable professional success. Mrs. Cai’s power is more subtle, but she operates skillfully beneath Mr. Cai’s radar, maneuvering for what she wants. Even Xiu, Mr. Cai’s long-ago first love, actively works to improve her station and save her reputation, not shying away from deception when needed. Can you speak to these women’s particular kind of power?

HUANG: I’m so glad that you saw through the women’s calm exteriors to discover their covert power, resourcefulness, and resilience. Chinese women must be anything but passive in a patriarchal society that to this day blatantly discriminates against women and devalues their work. A woman cannot be naïve or weak, especially when she is in love with a man. As a matter of survival, a woman has to ensure that she is not consumed by her lover. There is trial and error, of course, and a mother is most vulnerable when she places her baby’s well-being above her own self-interest. Then she is confronted with devastating dilemmas: morally, financially, emotionally, and physically.

There was a pecking order even in the way that a person received political persecution: only the elites were capable of making waves with their political demands while the silent majority had their noses to the grind, living one day at a time, without a grand vision.
—Yang Huang, Chapter 8

LITTELL: For members of the older generation like Mr. Cai, the cultural shift following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre is difficult to understand. How do politics impact Mr. Cai’s ambitions for Feng?

HUANG: When I participated in the 1989 pro-democracy movement, students and protestors, including the leaders, didn’t really know what a democratic society looked like. People in mainland China had never seen democracy at work—that it is a messy and difficult negotiation and constant dialogue. After the massacre, the democratic movement was driven underground. To this day, the government has censored all information about democracy, so there is a void, amnesia about the Tiananmen Square massacre, and plenty of misconceptions. People want political reforms, but there is no roadmap. Democracy remains a shiny ideal, a catchall term without substance.

Mr. Cai is far too preoccupied with his son to concern himself with politics. But he is aware of the lack of personal choice and the tyranny of meritocracy in China. In this sense, he expects America to be a freer country; he is willing to send Feng abroad for that reason alone. Feng will experience democracy in all its gory details, which no one in China can imagine.
 

LITTELL: Jude, though he enters the Cai family’s world as a stranger, comes to embody a weighty significance—he will, it seems, solve all Feng’s problems. Jude, struggling with his own family issues, doesn’t always act the part of savior, but he plays a key role in Mr. Cai’s evolution: Seeing how Jude’s father abandoned him because of his sexuality, Mr. Cai realizes that his own love for Feng is unconditional. This is a dramatic departure from his prior view of parenting, which was shaped by a set of conditions Mr. Cai was determined for Feng to fulfill. What else do you think Mr. Cai learned from Jude and Mr. Darling? Is Jude a cautionary tale?

HUANG: I think Mr. Cai both looks up to Jude and treats him like a child, whom he could indulge a little without worrying too much about responsibilities. He also sees himself in Mr. Darling, how ludicrous fathers are for not accepting their sons as individuals. Jude is a cautionary tale insofar as Feng will become who he is regardless of Mr. Cai’s acceptance. Why fight a losing battle? A son who disobeys his father is not necessarily a failure. Through working with Jude, Mr. Cai reclaims his core belief that a parent-child relationship is based not on merit but on unconditional love.

Mr. Cai was stunned by Feng’s cruelty. He shuddered to think that Feng might have inherited that streak from him.
—Yang Huang, Chapter 9

LITTELL: Little Ye’s decision regarding her twins was dramatic and surprising. Did you always plan to end the novel this way? And can you talk about how other plot choices changed as you wrote and revised?

HUANG: I always knew that Little Ye abandons her baby, because some Chinese women in her situation, when feeling misused, take revenge in this way. But Little Ye is stronger than these women who are dependent upon their mates for child support. Furthermore, abandoning one’s baby is not acceptable behavior in the West, partly because women usually receive some form of child support or welfare, while jilted women in China rarely do. I decided to take Little Ye halfway, allowing her to abandon one baby—hence the twins. I also wanted to show that she grows to trust Feng’s parents, to an extent, and leaves one baby for them to raise. This way, she and the children will never be out of Mr. Cai’s and Feng’s lives. This is also realistic. It is customary for a married couple to ask grandparents for help with their children.

Imagine the resilience of human fabric, if it is well woven.
—Yang Huang, Chapter 11

LITTELL: You’ve published two previous books, the story collection My Old Faithful and the novel Living Treasures. How does “My Good Son” either continue or diverge from your previous work? Finally, do you have a new novel or story collection underway?

HUANG: “My Good Son” is told from a father’s POV. I truly enjoyed telling this story, because I wasn’t protective of Mr. Cai. I let him and every person in the story make mistakes and be humbled. With my female protagonist, I may be a little tender and want to make her a heroine being tested by her painful choices, like Gu Bao in Living Treasures. My Old Faithful is told in five POVs: A father, mother, son, and two daughters, offering a prismatic view of a family during the child-rearing years. A reader said that she loved each character in their own story, but liked them a little less as they appear as peripheral characters in other people’s stories. I thought that was an astute observation.

My fiction has the themes of work, personal aspiration, and family dynamics rooted in the real world. I have a new novel, “Oasis,” currently looking for a home. It is a story about two lovers who are separated by the climate crisis—dust storms and desertification in northwest China. Kaier, the heroine, leaves her village, but her village never leaves her. She makes a courageous choice to go with her heart, which astonishes and gratifies me.

 

Margo Orlando Littell, Interviews Editor