Spring Moon

Spring Moon by Bette Bao Lord tells the story of the Chinese Chang family over 80 years, beginning in 1892. Steeped in family traditions, the wealthy Chang family is torn apart and reshaped by Westernization and political unrest. Spring Moon, both a product of oppressive traditions and a man's education, must navigate these changes. Harper & Row published the historical fiction novel in 1981.

As the story opens in 1892, Spring Moon is a seven-year-old girl living with her wealthy Chang family in Soochow, China. Like other girls from wealthy families, Spring Moon has had her feet bound from a young age. Her feet are bent nearly in half, and her toes are curled under them. Small feet are a symbol of wealth, and the bindings will ensure that Spring Moon is able to marry.



Spring Moon wakes from a nap to find that her slave girl, Plum Blossom, has disappeared. She finds her crying in the grotto and learns that the Chang family has given Plum Blossom as a concubine to an old, rich scholar named Old Yeh.

Unable to understand Plum Blossom's sadness at the arrangement, Spring Moon seeks out her youngest Uncle, Noble Talent, who favors her. Noble Talent explains that Second Granduncle lost Plum Blossom in a game of Go to Old Yeh, and they must honor the bet. Spring Moon begs her grandfather, the dying patriarch, to go back on the promise, but he refuses. Plum Blossom is found hanging from a cypress tree the next day, and the grandfather dies within a week.

Following the death of his father, Bold Talent becomes the patriarch. He returns from America, where the former patriarch had sent him to learn about modern life and bring his knowledge back to the clan. He takes his place in Soochow as the head of the family. He becomes Spring Moon's mentor and gives her a man's education. Going against tradition, he teaches her to read and write.



The Chinese Revolution changes the dynamic of the family, and the youngest uncle, Noble Talent, becomes a revolutionary. He joins a reform group that employs Western ideas. He manages to live through persecution by radical groups like the Harmonious Fists (later called the Red Guards).

Spring Moon, meanwhile, is to be married to the son of Pan Tai Tai, a match that she resents. Struggling with her leanings toward Confucian tradition and her modern education, she eventually talks her family into rearranging her marriage to a man named Glad Promise. The couple travels to Peking following their wedding, enlightening Spring Moon to the struggles of the lower classes in China. When the couple returns with their daughter, Lustrous Jade, they find that Western religion and Communism have changed the political landscape of Soochow.

When Glad Promise gets caught up in a political purge and rebels kill him, Spring Moon is devastated. She turns to her uncle and mentor, Bold Talent, and the two have an affair. She becomes pregnant with Bold Talent's son and secretly gives birth to Enduring Promise. The boy is then adopted by Spring Moon's mother-in-law and lives as Spring Moon's brother.



Warring political factions in Soochow force the Chang family to flee to Hong Kong. The family separates.

Lustrous Jade, now grown, becomes a member of the communist party. When she betrays her party, she commits suicide.

Enduring Promise leaves China to live in America. When he visits China on a business trip, he gathers all of the remaining Chang family together at the crumbling family tombs in Soochow. There, 90-year-old Spring Moon attends what will likely be her last family reunion.



Spring Moon's two children each represent a different force in modern history. Jade is a Communist that causes the uprooting of the family and China, and Enduring Promise ultimately brings the family back together at their traditional home.

Lord is from Shanghai, China but moved to the United States with her family in 1946. Her father had been sent to America to purchase equipment for the Chinese government. Once there, the communist rebels won the Chinse Revolution, stranding him in a foreign country.

Lord's husband, Winston Lord, was an advisor to Henry Kissinger on relations with the People's Republic of China. He and Bette Bao Lord were able to visit with her family in the PRC, inspiring the book Summer Moon. Bette Bao Lord's other books focus on her experiences as a Chinese immigrant after World War II. She writes extensively on the subject in her autobiographical book, Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson.



The novel was an international bestseller and an American Book Award nominee. Publishers Weekly called the story "A Chinese Gone with the Wind," and the Wall Street Journal called it "An excellent novel." The Boston Globe said of the book: "The interwoven fates of five generations... Murder, passion, betrayal, incest and intrigue... and the conflict of generations."