Cover image for A village with my name : a family history of China's opening to the world
A village with my name : a family history of China's opening to the world
Title:
A village with my name : a family history of China's opening to the world
Author:
Tong, Scott, author.
Personal Author:
Publication Information:
Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2017.

©2017
Physical Description:
xvii, 243 pages ; 24 cm
Summary:
In A Village With My Name, acclaimed journalist Scott Tong merges memoir and history, offering an account of regular people living through defining moments in modern China from the start of the 20th century to the present, including the toppling of the monarchy, occupation and war crimes during WWII, mass death, famine, and witch hunts under Communism, the secret expansion of prison labor camps, market reforms, and the dawn of the One Child Policy. In this lively and accessible book, Tong brings the long backstory of China's quest to go global to an American audience, painting a compelling portrait of the often traumatic ways that world historical events rippled through Chinese society. Each character Scott profiles is a Chinese window to the outside world: a pioneer exchange student, a rare American-educated girl born in the closing days of the Qing Dynasty, an abandoned toddler from World War II who later rides the wave of China's global export boom, a young professional climbing the ladder at a multinational company, and an orphan (the author's daughter) adopted in the middle of a baby-selling scandal fueled by foreign money. The style is light and at times irreverent, but Tong explores dramatic moments with the depth and sensitivity of a grandson of China seeking to understand the country and its people before memories of the tumultuous 20th century fade. --Publisher.
Language:
English
Contents:
The great opening -- Secrets of the Tong village -- Revenge of the peasants from Tong East -- Foreign exchange: student life, Tokyo wife -- The Nanjing Glee Club and a revolution for girls -- Genealogies and corrections: we regret the error -- The Communist mole in the school -- The great interruption -- The day the Japanese war devils came -- Lost and found: grandmother's voice on cassette -- The wartime collaborator in our family -- From prison to Mao's Gulag -- The brother left behind in the war -- Cursed by overseas relations -- The great resumption -- My cousin and his Shanghai Buick -- Lonely and smothered: the only child -- Daughters for sale -- Epilogue.
ISBN:
9780226338866
Format :
Book