Summary of "Colors of the Mountain"

"Colors of the Mountain" by Da Chen, is an autobiography on the life of Da Chen; a man who was born into a family of landlords in China during the transfer of power from Nationalist to Communist. The book is very much like a guide of how Da Chen grew up, how he and others like he were treated and cheated, and how he overcame the adversity against him. In the first chapters we are introduced to a young boy-Da Chen-who is scared of everything outside of the four corners of his home because of certain laws and restraints put on once wealthy and noble landlord families. Da Chen was born into the life of a second class citizen; people are allowed to spit, kick, curse, and order him about. He is not permitted to excel without anger; he is told he will become nothing in life and his name, Prosperity, will never ever come to him. All of this and more and Da is only 7 years old. However, contrary to all of this hatred and distrust Da convinces his parents to allow him to try to get into school, and under the supervision of a kind and unbiased teacher Da begins school with many in the community resenting him and his family more. Faced with all of this adversity young Da Chen does not crumble nor does he give up. He decides that every standard that his society has set for him he will break, no matter the cost. Da quickly becomes the top of his class and his teacher respects this despite the party implications. To a 7 year old boy from a landlord family this success is huge and he keeps trying to press on. Unfortunately, as Da goes up in the grades the resentment grows from third grade till towards fifth or sixth grade because of the humiliation other teachers, peers, and parents put him through. However, Da never quits he stays in school and slowly the class once again recognizes him to be a good student, person, man. The students come to him with help for homework, friends, and even family matters. Despite the acceptance of the majority of his peers there are still people who try to kick Da down, push him from the acceptance he has earned and these people have friends in high places. At one point Da has to run away from the town for almost a year just to prevent being put into the Commune Jail. He returns and knows that he needs to find a way to stop something like that from ever happening before. Now half-way through the book Da finds a way. He searches out a group of boys that are older than him by just a few years, have known criminal record, and may just be the only people who would truly accept him. These boys do, and allow Da into their group and Da forms bonds with him that eventually protect him from the cruelest perpetrators, and become his greatest, closest friends. SPOILER ALERT: Towards the end of this amazing story things begin to look up for Da and his family. Da's older brother Jin, who was denied an education past middle school, and Da himself decided they need to show their whole country what they are capable of. At 14 Da and Jin take part in the country's first ever nationwide OPEN educational test. Da specifically gives his reason as to why they participated: "We were out to make a point. The Chen family had been dragged through the mud for the last forty years....Now it was time." Da and his brother surprise the nation placing in the top 2% and because of this Da is immediately accepted into the Beijing Language Institute. He would go on to graduate with high honors, come to the United States in New York and land a scholarship to Columbia Law School which would launch him to wall street. END OF SPOILER: Throughout the whole story Da is labeled, rejected, reputed, and ignored. Only until he decides to take control, be brave and do what no one thought he could, did he find acceptance. Da Chen retells his childhood and coming of age in an arresting simplicity with much grace. All in all, the story of Da Chen the boy who changed the standard, will forever be a story of faith, courage, hope, perseverance, and family.