Cherries on a Pomegranate Tree

"Cherries on a Pomegranate Tree tells the story of Kong Fanhua’s leadership through anxious times of one-child policy crackdowns in her village. Li Er’s admiration for the unheard voices of those impacted by these regulations is nimbly elevated through an unforgettable cast of characters. The story begins as Fanhua attempts to track down a runaway pregnant mother and devolves into many tales of Fanhua picking up the pieces of others. As she tries to balance the search for a notorious pickpocket while denouncing rumours of a vengeful ghost as well as looking to “unhaunt” a mysterious abandoned bomb, she must also keep her camel-loving husband and the needs of her wider family in check. The one-child policy existed in China from 1979 to 2015. In Anglophone media, we have seen this through a lens of international adoption, population graphs, or infanticide. Yet, through the fog of political discourse, Li Er leads the reader through more nuanced, meandering paths. In a rural village with a cast of unforgettable characters, the protagonist herself stands at an intersection of gender and power. A textured map of deliberate contradiction and moral ambiguity, Fanhua walks the path of both an enforcer and an outsider; a woman tasked with enforcing the family planning policy on other women, all whilst fighting for her position among the male-dominated leadership. Cherries has an undeniably complex view on women navigating contemporary China. Through the course of the story, she does find the aforementioned illegal pregnancy; however, to find out the route she takes, you’ll have to read for yourself."