When news of the most recent Kuomingtang invasion arrived, Ping and the other platoon members were more interested in its carrier, a new comrade that would join their unit--a girl this time--named Yong. She had transferred to Iron Well Mountain from Ruijin, the administrative capital, by her own request, and because she had fought in the shorthanded eastern divisions during the second and third encirclement campaigns, the politburo had decided to place her with a combat unit instead of the medical or propaganda detachments. She wanted to be here at Iron Well and defend the birthplace of the revolution. She was honored, she told the platoon, to fight with those who'd been with General Mao the longest. At first, Ping couldn't tell if her words were merely meant to sound charming. Nearly all the soldiers had been bandits or prisoners, and they cared about the communist ideals about as much as they did their body odor. Ping was a gunsmith. Back in Canton, he'd also been a gangster, someone who traded a week's work for a night with a perfumed courtesan. He'd shove his way into the brightest building on the street, throw a rifle to the cashier as payment, and ask the lady of the house, "Take me to your finest!" / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2015. / February 27, 2015. / Fiction / Includes bibliographical references. / Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Professor Directing Dissertation; Thomas Joiner, University Representative; Helen Burke, Committee Member; Mark Winegardner, Committee Member; Ned Stuckey-French, Committee Member.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_253490 |
Contributors | Wang, Michael X. (authoraut), Stuckey-French, Elizabeth (professor directing dissertation), Joiner, Thomas (university representative), Burke, Helen M. (committee member), Winegardner, Mark (committee member), Stuckey-French, Ned (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Arts and Sciences (degree granting college), Department of English (degree granting department) |
Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
Source Sets | Florida State University |
Language | English, English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Text, text |
Format | 1 online resource (299 pages), computer, application/pdf |
Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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