Book Description

For Helen's family, the 1920s were turbulent but full of hope. A revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty. China entered the "Golden Age of Capitalism." Helen's uncle founded a bank when he and Helen's father were in their thirties. They worked hard and expanded the business. After fifteen years, it became one of China's largest private banks... Helen and her siblings received a Western education in their teenage years. She met her love, George, while studying in the wartime college. George and his brothers pursued the idea of "industry saving China." They studied science and technology in the U.S. and returned to China... After 1949, they suffered abuse in various "movements." ... When Mao's Cultural Revolution began in 1966, Helen's children were in high school. They witnessed chaos and violence. The Communists sent them to remote farms... At first, the reforms in China inspired Helen's children. They went overseas in the 1980s and tried to do their part to change China. Yet China remained a country ruled by the Communists... Maggie Zheng is the third-generation member of the family described in this memoir. In 1991, she graduated from the UW-Madison with a PhD in science. Maggie was born in 1949. That was the same year the Communists took over mainland China. When she grew up, Maggie witnessed social changes in China. The Communists sent her to work on farms for nine years after high school. Maggie graduated from college after Mao died. Coming to the U.S. in the 1980s, she studied and worked here. Maggie went to Shanghai to set up a production facility for repairing gas turbine blades in 2004. She came back to the United States in 2019. Reviewed by Linda, a former Dartmouth College composition consultant (ABT) ... I believe yours is a very important book for young people in particular, as they need to read more stories like yours about families who actually lived history. ... I think your book should definitely gain readership and impress many... Reviewed by Jack, an Amazon reader Many books on China either read like a scroll of ideological bullet points or a hitchhiker's guide to scenic sights and hidden wonders. This book affords the reader no such luxury and immediately rolls into the life of a family that is easily relatable surviving China's most tumultuous years. ...as the author's family moves back and forth between China and the U.S. through the decades, the book became an excellent reflection of the cross-cultural experience, with observations that can only be made from a perspective that can house the contradictory roles of native and foreigner at the same time. This was particularly evident in the later chapters. Reviewed by Jitendra, a NetGalley reviewer Before reading this book, I never knew that China was once a capitalist state, which was eventually taken over by the Communists in 1949. In addition, what tactics the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) used - ... The book talks a lot about Shanghai. Shanghai was a city where people from various countries could freely come and do business before the 1940s. ... I also found that Shanghai accommodated around 25K JEWs who were persecuted in Europe, and, from Shanghai, they moved to Palestine, US and other safe places... Reviewed by Linda, a former Dartmouth College composition consultant (ABT) Reviewed by Linda, a former Dartmouth College composition consultant (ABT) ... I believe yours is a very important book for young people in particular, as they need to read more stories like yours about families who actually lived history. ... I think your book should definitely gain readership and impress many... Reviewed by Jack, an Amazon reader Many books on China either read like a scroll of ideological bullet points or a hitchhiker's guide to scenic sights and hidden wonders. This book affords the reader no such luxury and immediately rolls into the life of a family that is easily relatable surviving China's most tumultuous years. ...as the author's family moves back and forth between China and the U.S. through the decades, the book became an excellent reflection of the cross-cultural experience, with observations that can only be made from a perspective that can house the contradictory roles of native and foreigner at the same time. This was particularly evident in the later chapters. Reviewed by Jitendra, a NetGalley reviewer Before reading this book, I never knew that China was once a capitalist state, which was eventually taken over by the Communists in 1949. In addition, what tactics the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) used - ... The book talks a lot about Shanghai. Shanghai was a city where people from various countries could freely come and do business before the 1940s. ... I also found that Shanghai accommodated around 25K JEWs who were persecuted in Europe, and, from Shanghai, they moved to Palestine, US and other safe places...