The Chinese Violin

by Madeleine Thien, Joe Chang (Illustrator)

When Lin Lin and her father immigrate to Canada from China, they bring with them one of their most treasured possessions - a traditional Chinese violin. From the beauty of their new country to the uneasiness of not fitting in, this violin sees them through all their experiences, good and bad. One day, however, a terrible misfortune occurs when the Chinese violin is broken. Awards Our Choice (Awarded by the Canadian Children's Book Centre) 2003 - The Chinese Violin (an Our Choice Starred Selection)

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Juvenile, Music, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2001

About the author

Madeleine Thien was born in Vancouver. She is the author of the story collection Simple Recipes (2001), and three novels, Certainty (2006); Dogs at the Perimeter (2011), shortlisted for Berlin’s International Literature Prize and winner of the Frankfurt Book Fair’s 2015 Liberaturpreis; and Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016), about musicians studying Western classical music at the Shanghai Conservatory in the 1960s, and about the legacy of the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations. Her books and stories are published in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, and have been translated into 25 languages.

Do Not Say We Have Nothing won the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the 2016 Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction, and an Edward Stanford Prize; and was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize, the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, and The Folio Prize 2017. The novel was named a New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2016 and longlisted for a Carnegie Medal.

Reviews

[Manybooks]

Madeleine Thien's The Chinese Violin is a moving and poignant account about immigration, and how cherished objects, mementos and memories can ease the pain of homesickness. The Chinese violin of the title is a traditional musical instrument that Lin Lin and her father take with them when they immigrate from China to Canada (and from the look of the accompanying illustrations, I would say that they immigrate to the Greater Vancouver area). To Lin Lin (the daughter), it represents a treasured memento, as well as a link not only to her home village in China, but also to her past, to her culture. The Chinese violin eases Lin Lin's homesickness; it represents home, thoughts and memories of home, and the friends and family she had to leave behind when she immigrated to Canada. The violin is not only a treasure, but also a type of security blanket, a solace, which is why Lin Lin is so sad and distracted when the violin gets broken (and the fact that the violin gets broken as a result of a violent robbery makes its loss even more traumatic).

Also poignant and moving (to the point of repeatedly bringing tears to my eyes whilst reading The Chinese Violin) is the fact that Lin Lin's father works hard washing dishes at a busy restaurant, not only to make enough money to pay the rent, to make both ends meet, but also so he can purchase a new Chinese violin for his daughter. When Lin Lin receives her new Chinese violin from her father, she is happy beyond words; she practices playing the violin outside and both friends and strangers stop to listen to her music. And final scene in The Chinese Violin is absolutely priceless; Lin Lin, performing in the school auditorium to an appreciative audience, with her proud father beaming at her.

Now when I first perused this book, when I first read The Chinese Violin I really did not enjoy the accompanying illustrations all that much. I found them rather cartoon-like and not my cup of tea at all. However, there is actually a very good reason why these pictures seem rather cartoon-like (for illustrator Joe Chang originally created both concept and illustrations as an animated short feature for the National Film Board of Canada and the story, with images and music, was told without words). When the former was transferred from film to book, author Madeleine Thien then created, penned the words that would accompany Joe Chang's illustrations (his animation).

And looking at the illustrations with a critical eye, one can easily see how The Chinese Violin was originally conceptualised as an animated feature; the illustrations do seem and feel very much like a cartoon film feature. I still do not really "love" the illustrations, but being aware of the fact that the story, that The Chinese Violin was originally an animated short film feature, does make me realise and appreciate that Joe Chang's illustrations should probably be approached as being, or as having originally been an animated short film; they should be accepted for what they are. Because if one thinks of Chang's illustrations as representing an animated film, they work very if not exceedingly well, and Madeleine Thien's words do provide a wonderful complement, a poignant and emotional story for everyone, both children and adults alike.

[Dolly]

This was a selection for the March 2011 Music-Themed reads at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books group here at Goodreads. I was unable to find this book at our local library, but they did have it featured on a DVD with a collection of songs and stories. We enjoyed watching the animated story, narrated by Lulu Li, on a Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVD. It included seven other sing-along songs with animations of the illustrated books.

The story was pretty dramatic, but inspirational too; it shows how music can soothe the heartache of homesickness. The music was wonderful and complemented the story nicely.

interesting quote:

"I knew that I had to find my own happiness. I had to believe that all our dreams would come back to us and this country would be our home."

[Linda Costello]

This book is about a girl who moves to Canada from China. She connects to her new world through the violin. Great and touching story.

[Carol]

I don't often give 5 stars to picture books, but this one really deserves it. It's a very touching story of an immigrant family's experience coming to Canada. I loved it. Great illustrations too.

[Shahd Rdawi]

📀 story

[Mosammat]

The Chinese Violin is about a little girl who immigrated from China with her father. The young girl and her father move from China to Canada, bringing only their Chinese violin along for the journey. The little girl played the violin which would cheer her up. As they face the challenge of starting fresh in a new place, the music of the violin connects them to the life they left behind and guides the girl towards a musical future. The little girl was surprised by people's interaction in such a crowded environment.
The genre of this book is children's fiction. This is great to aloud for students starting at as early as kindergarten. You can incorporate playing the violin to entertain the children, this will encourage the children to want to know more about the story. The book shows how the character resolves the issue of getting robbed and their violin getting broken. There are great activities surrounding this book such as students making their own cultural instrument. The characters represent the Chinese and a variety of Canadian cultural groups.
What I liked about the book is the little girl transitioning and finding her place in her new home. The perspective the story was told was from the little girl. The story is missing what tune or song did the little girl play to make her cheer up or feel safe. The story could be changed to make the message clearer by giving the girl a name and explain why the little girl and her family moved to Canada. The biases and assumptions that are represented were when the little girls' father got robbed and she broke her violin. I felt her father was at the wrong place and time because even people living in Canda would not walk down an alley at night. No one would be clear, so that was a cliched bias in opinion. Overall the book was a good book.