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The Laughing Sutra Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of The Laughing Sutra


Hsun-Ching is orphaned as a small child and is raised by the monk Wei-Ching, who teaches Hsun-Ching to read and write. Wei-Ching is a scholar of Buddhist information and has devoted his life to the collection and preservation of ancient scrolls, but it is the era of Chairman Mao and the Cultural Revolution, and many Buddhist relics are being destroyed. While visiting a temple, Wei-Ching and Hsun-Ching are attacked by a troupe of Red Guards, and Hsun-Ching is sent away to work on a farm in the countryside.
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After ten years of enforced labor and starvation, Hsun-Ching leaves the farm and finds his way back to Wei-Ching, who is now weak and elderly.   Hsun-Ching promises his teacher that he will recover the Laughing Sutra, a legendary scroll that may reveal a new path to enlightenment. With the help of a very strange new friend named Colonel Sun, who turns out to be an immortal soldier, Hsun-Ching dodges the Chinese border patrol and sails to America, where he lands in San Fransisco. While Hsun-Ching searches the museums of Asian antiquities and meets Allison, a young painter and assistant curator, Colonel Sun enters a dwarf-tossing contest and ends up in the middle of a seamans' brawl.

Though Hsun-Ching is strongly tempted to stay in the U.S., his sense of obligation spurs him to return to China and keep his promise to his dying teacher. Back home, Hsun-Ching finds that global politics are already changing, and learns that there may be more possibilities open to him than he ever imagined.
The review of this Book prepared by Jacqueline West



Chapter Analysis of The Laughing Sutra

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Plot & Themes

Tone of book?    -   thoughtful Time/era of story    -   1960's-1970's Political/social activism    -   Yes Plotlet:    -   surviving repressive dictatorship Ethnic/Regional/Religion    -   Chinese Internal struggle/realization?    -   Yes Struggle over    -   religious issues Is this an adult or child's book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book Ethnic/regional/gender life    -   Yes

Main Character

Gender    -   Male Age:    -   20's-30's Ethnicity/Nationality    -   Chinese

Setting

How much descriptions of surroundings?    -   5 () United States    -   Yes The US:    -   California Asia/Pacific    -   Yes Asian country:    -   China

Writing Style

Amount of dialog    -   roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

Books with storylines, themes & endings like The Laughing Sutra

Mark Salzman Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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