"The painted veil" begins with a very interesting preface, when Maugham complained a bit about how the claim of libel from the Assistance Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong at the time had forced him to replace "Hong Kong" with "Tching-Yen" in the story, leaving behind around sixty copies of books that have already gone into print with "Hong Kong" as the background. Yet, those books have become valuable collectibles since then. Though "Tching-Yen" is replaced with "Hong Kong" in the version I have read, I still have no idea about where Mei-tan-fu is. Is it Guilin as suggested in the movie with Edward Norton playing the role of Walter? Or, is it just an imaginary setting, referring to a place in China in general. When we read the Hansard (official record of the Legislative Council )of the early 20th century of Hong Kong or books like "Governing Hong Kong", we will come to see that it was very common for epidemic outbreaks to take place at the time. Poor infrastructures and hygiene habits probably have contributed to such outbreaks. Anyway, very often, Englishman were rather reluctant to come to settle down in this part of the world at that time. So, it is interesting to see the changes after one and a half century of British rule.
When I read this book, I couldn't help comparing the relationship between Walter and Kitty to the one between Mildred and Philip in "Of Human Bondage". Both stories are about how a rather intellectual man fell for a woman that was rather "shallow". And they either tortured or bored each other to death. On the other hand, the description on the relationship between Kitty's mother and father reflects how Maugham is cynical and satirical about marriage relations. It is particularly interesting when Maugham shows the readers how Kitty's father finally felt at ease after his wife's death, and yet he was not accustomed to such freedom after so many years of being under control in such a relationship. He did not feel comfortable completely in smoking a pipe indoors, as his wife used to object to that. The readers can't help sympathizing with him when he was embarrassed to feel too relaxed and even tried to explain to Kitty why he was reading newspapers so soon after his wife's death, when Kitty reached home earlier than expected and met him in the living room. As Chinese, we can't understand exactly why the breadwinner of the family can be despised by his dependents, as Chinese women in the last generation will tend to treat the breadwinner of the house as the boss, apart from the fact that they really love their husband and children.
Readers will be disappointed by the movie after reading the book. The movie probably misses the very main themes or messages the writer is trying to get across. Kitty never really loved Walter. She probably admired what he was doing for the people in Mei-tan-fu afterwards. She might have grown up a bit after seeing the epidemic-struck Mei-tan-fu and the humanitarian work done by the French nuns and her husband. But her encounter with Townsend in Hong Kong showed that she was weak and was far different from the French nuns who have left their homes forever to work for poor people. She came to her senses after the encounter, but her relationship with Walter was not what the movie has tried to convey. It is not fair to compare a book with a movie, though. All the actors can act really well in the movie, including the actor from Hong Kong, playing General Yu. And the movie is good if we don't try to compare it with the book.
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