“Morning Sun in Wuhan” by Ying Chang Compestine

Ying Chang Compestine

Ying Chang Compestine wrote her first children’s novel, Revolution is Not a Dinner Party, almost two decades ago. Despite receiving notes from readers asking for more stories set in her home city of Wuhan, she just could not come up with a compelling story or relatable characters. That is, not until the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020.

The story of her latest novel, Morning Sun in Wuhan, spoke to Compestine not just because Covid first made international news in Wuhan, but also because she is the daughter of two doctors and she grew up in a hospital compound in Wuhan. When she saw news footage of doctors treating record numbers of patients and even more people waiting to be seen, Compestine could easily envision that environment. And when she read about volunteers who cooked meals for hospital workers soon after the pandemic started, Compestine knew she had her story. She dedicates her book to her beloved hometown of Wuhan and tells a story that celebrates neighborhood cooperation during the first weeks of the pandemic.

 

Morning Sun in Wuhan, Ying Chang Compestine ( ‎ Clarion Books, November 2022)
Morning Sun in Wuhan, Ying Chang Compestine (‎Clarion Books, November 2022)

The story centers around Mei, a 13-year-old middle schooler and the daughter of doctors. Mei’s mother was killed in a traffic accident before the pandemic broke out, so it’s just Mei and her father at home now. She enjoys cooking and spending time playing an online cooking game called Chop Chop. Food is a theme throughout the book and Compestine includes illustrated recipes at the end of many chapters. Wuhan’s most celebrated dishes like dry hot noodles appear in these recipes, while others like doupi are not easy to make and are instead described in the body of the story.

 

Doupi—sticky rice cooked with roasted beef, dry mushrooms, and pickled vegetables wrapped in a soft skin made of a mixture of green bean powder, flour, and eggs, then pan-fried to crispy golden.

 

Food also plays into the story of the pandemic because the first reported cases of Covid came after a banquet in Wuhan attended by tens of thousands of people to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Compestine touches on this briefly at the beginning of her story when Mei’s political studies teacher asks his students if they had attended the banquet. Many had, but Mei stayed home because she and her father rarely attend neighborhood activities after the death of her mother.

When Mei’s father starts to see people in the hospital with a strange respiratory illness, he brings home face masks for Mei and warns her about going outside if it’s not necessary. And if she does go outside, he tells her to wear a mask. The events that unfold are by now common knowledge. People fall terribly ill, hospitals are overwhelmed, and Wuhan is shut down. In the book, Mei’s father stays at his hospital for days on end while Mei learns that a local chef has started volunteering at a makeshift kitchen in the school Mei had been attending. Mei’s aunt helps run the kitchen and the food is made for medical workers. Home alone all day, Mei wants nothing more than to help out at this kitchen and it takes a little convincing for Mei’s father to agree.

 

When I first told Father I was going to volunteer at the kitchen, he was not happy and said it was too risky. I retorted by saying his job is more dangerous than cooking. Still, he insisted I stay home. Finally, I told him Aunty would be there to keep an eye on me.

 

Compestine didn’t have to reach far to find conflict in her story. As the days pass, more people in Mei’s neighborhood fall ill and worry abounds. People aren’t used to wearing masks and while Mei and her father are able to obtain N95s from his hospital, others are not sure what is safe and what is not. People make masks from citrus peel and undergarments, while others cover themselves in garbage bags as makeshift PPE.

 

As shocked and nervous as I am, I break out in laughter when I walk by a man who has covered his body with a trash bag and his head with cabbage leaves. He cut two holes for his eyes and one for his mouth, from which a long cigarette sticks out.

 

The story ends a year later when neighbors can celebrate the Lunar New Year together in peace. Yet even now the pandemic is not over and while there is a vaccine and much more information about how to stay safe, the lessons of compassion and cooperation in Compestine’s books can sometimes seem foreign these days. Her book is a good refresher on how to treat others.


Susan Blumberg-Kason is the author of Bernardine’s Shanghai Salon: The Story of the Doyenne of Old China, Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair with China Gone Wrong and When Friends Come From Afar: The Remarkable Story of Bernie Wong and Chicago’s Chinese American Service League.