The Several Blessings of Wang Ta-nien

In this piece I really appreciated the strong setting details which contrasted sharply with the hopes and dreams of Ta-nien. There was an eagerness and a strong desire for a grand lifestyle that was conveyed through Ta-nien's action and speech. Nieh did an excellent job in the characterization of Ta-nien who is driven by a desire to achieve great things however he is also irrational. Irrational because he doesn't think through his actions carefully . He only tends to see the grand scheme of things without taking into account the logistics. I enjoyed how Nien used another character to emphasize this personality trait. An example is when the wife- Wen-chin asks him what kind of fish he want to breed in his grand idea of "breeding fish." He is unaware first. He only seems to have looked at the grand picture of breeding fish and making money, and forgotten to think through the whole procedure.