Chinese Brushstrokes: Stories of China

Hugh Oliver is the former editor-in-chief of the OISE Press.

Chinese Brushstrokes is a colorful, intelligent, impressionistic picture
of present-day China as seen through Western eyes. The author writes
about her experiences in China, where she first took a job as a
university lecturer in English literature in 1988, some nine months
before the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Essentially, the book consists of a series of vignettes based on her
personal memories; but rather than present them as a chronological
narrative, Hutchison clusters them under half a dozen topic
headings—“The Eye of the Storm” (related to the student uprising
at Tiananmen), “Ancient Music” (related to her cultural experiences
in China), and so forth.

Hutchison has a graceful, articulate writing style. She also has an eye
for detail and brings to her experiences the skills of a good
storyteller.