Love Must Not Be Forgotten

""How difficult it is to be a woman,'' thinks a character in one of these stories by a writer of mainland China. Although the culture and the political system are sometimes remote, the plight of these intelligent, sensible women speaks to universal problems. Divorcees and single mothers, their struggle for rewarding lives and careers flies in the face of pervasive social prejudice embodied in a massive bureaucracy and gossips who act as thought police. If even the best of the stories, the long tales ``Emerald'' and ``The Ark,'' sometimes seem a litany of complaint, loss, persecution and misery, the fervor and resilience of the women come through strongly. The protagonist of ``Emerald'' muses that ``ardent'' is a ``beautiful word.'' This is an auspicious debut for the publisher's New Chinese Fiction series. (July)