Catching up with FOX SPIRIT – Episodes 1-50
Did you mean to follow my on-line novel Fox Spirit but fell behind? Here’s a quick synopsis to catch you up to the first 50 episodes (they’re short, but still, 50 is a daunting number!)
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Sara Miller needs a fresh start after the death of her husband John, so when China opens up to the West in August of 1997, she accepts an offer to work at a startup video game company in Beijing. But things don’t go smoothly: she finds she has been hired only to provide an American Face for the company as it seeks investors, she must repel unwanted advances from Chinese executives, and she meets with suspicion and jealousy from some of her coworkers—especially the accountant, Trueheart Zhang, and the much younger, volatile sales manager, Storm Cheng.
Sara had quarreled with her daughter-in-law Rennie shortly before coming to Beijing, she does not want to make life difficult for her son Mark, but she longs to see her grandson Richie, and returns home at Christmas to make an uneasy peace with Rennie, although by flirting with Rennie’s father at Christmas dinner she makes an enemy of Inez Cavallo, Rennie’s mother.
Returning to Beijing, Sara continues to play the role of American Face for investors, and does her best to win over her co-workers. She finds additional rewarding work helping to teach English at the local Children’s Palace, a pre-school. Storm Cheng offers to help with some of the translations and a friendship begins.
On a rainy evening Storm saves Sara from being hit by a speeding car, and the friendship sparks to a passionate affair. Storm introduces Sara to his friend Bright Liu, an easy-going Buddhist. Storm, Bright, and Trueheart Zhang had met as student activists and survived the government crackdown of Tiananmen Square, and are now close friends. As Sara and Storm learn more about each other, their passion grows into love.
But history moves on, and culture gaps widen. A visit to Beijing by US President Clinton sparks an argument about free speech. Sara is invited to dinner with Storm’s family, and she is insulted by Mrs. Cheng’s treatment of her as a courtesan. Storm tells Sara of his childhood, raised by peasants in the countryside when his parents left him to go to university in Beijing. He was reclaimed by his parents when they were established in Beijing, and he never saw his foster parents again. Sara is appalled by the story.
Sara has weekly phone calls with her son Mark, and senses trouble in his marriage. She is unsure of a welcome at Christmas, but a quarrel with Storm makes her eager for a change from Beijing. The visit goes smoothly and on her return Storm meets Sara at the airport and they reconcile. But their life is disturbed when Bright Liu is caught up in a Falun Gong demonstration, and even more when anti-American riots roil Beijing after the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Kosovo. The differences between American and Chinese points of view threaten the love between Sara and Storm.
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Once you’ve read the synopsis, you can pick up Sara Miller’s story here:
You can follow the story from then on by scrolling to the very bottom and clicking on the little blue bar “Follow Chinese Puzzle Box”. New episodes appear every Monday and Thursday.
Allyson Johnson 