Throwing one's shoes in the river is an ages-old Chinese custom, well known within the country but somewhat veiled to the rest of the world. When a heavy burden was lifted from a person's shoulders...a burden that has prevented a person from being happy and enjoying life, the shoes which carried the burden were tossed far out into a river and new shoes put on that would hopefully carry that person into a better life. Many times in the history of China, "burdens" on the people were the result of government mandates. One of the most recent was the one-child-per-family edict that went into effect in 1980, meant to reverse an overpopulation problem caused by an earlier regime that wanted to promote large families. While the characters in this book are fictional, the situation was devastatingly real for over 30 years. Families were torn apart; mothers were forced to undergo abortions; parents killed their own children; the population of men/women became lopsided. Religion was in an upheaval, especially Christianity, which was accused of causing dissention. Even something like a piano was rejected by the government as an evil instrument of western power. "Shoes in the River" is a story of government power over the freedom of its people and how it affected not only the people of China, but its interaction with the rest of the world.
