Questions About The Years of Rice and Salt

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Years of Rice and Salt, please sign up.

Answered Questions (4)

I am wondering just exactly "rice and salt" refer to? Metaphor or symbols for what? Various religions and cultures use rice and salt for symbols. Rice thrown at weddings for example. Or "salt of the earth". KSR repeatedly has characters mention rice and salt. Thoughts please?

George The sequence, in a sidenote of section 2, "The Remembering", of 'Book 6: Widow Kang", is:

"all the life stages": milk-teeth, hair-pinned-up, marriage, …moreThe sequence, in a sidenote of section 2, "The Remembering", of 'Book 6: Widow Kang", is:

"all the life stages": milk-teeth, hair-pinned-up, marriage, children, rice and salt, widowhood.

It is in fact a Chinese expression. Susan Mann, Precious Records: Women in China's Long Eighteenth Century (Stanford; 1997), p. 65, https://books.google.com/books?id=T--..., explains, "The tumultuous years of regular sexual relations, child-bearing, and child-rearing are glossed benignly in women's writings as the years of 'rice and salt'."

And Mann p. 67 confirms the proper attitude of wei wang ren, a 'person who has not yet died.'(less)

flag

Was the Kerala of Travancore a syncretist?

George I think your best answer is "quite possibly". I don't believe his religious views are deducible from the story, and for certain they're irrelevant to …moreI think your best answer is "quite possibly". I don't believe his religious views are deducible from the story, and for certain they're irrelevant to it.(less)

flag

What makes this book Science-Fiction?

Sean "Alternate history" stories are generally considered to be science fiction because it deals with situations that are markedly different that our curre…more"Alternate history" stories are generally considered to be science fiction because it deals with situations that are markedly different that our current world but are still plausible.(less)

flag

I want to read this but i am not familliar with our actual real world history will it still be enjoyable for me?

Data I think you might know more world history than you realize. If something is not familiar, you may enjoy it anyway, if the opportunity to learn piques …moreI think you might know more world history than you realize. If something is not familiar, you may enjoy it anyway, if the opportunity to learn piques your interest. Having been raised in the very Christian Midwest of the USA, I found nearly everything in this book to be outside my experience. Nevertheless, a moving story and awesome accomplishment by the author.(less)

flag

Unanswered Questions (1)

Do we know what "Downbrook" in Book 9 refers to? Usually there's some one-to-one correspondence in the book (for example, the Great Flood of 1862) and I wondered if it applied to that city as well.

Answer

Flag

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions

Learn more