Chinese Lessons: five Classmates and the Story of the New China

Chinese Lessons: five Classmates and the Story of the New China by John Pomfret. Published by Henry Holt & Co, New York, NY, 2006. 1st Stated Edition1st Printing. Hardbound, Paper DJ. Size 8vo (up to 9-1/2'' tall). Condition: Fine in Good DJ. 315 Pgs. ISBN 0805076158. LCCN 2006041211. As one the first American students admitted to China after the communist revolution, the author was exposed to a country still emerging from the twin tragedies of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Crammed into a dorm room with 7 Chinese men, he contended with all manner of cultural differences, from too-short beds and roommates intent on glimpsing a white man naked, to the need for cloak-and-dagger efforts to conceal his relationships with Chinese women. Amidst all that, he immersed himself in the remarkable lives of his classmates. Beginning with his first day in China, the book takes us down the often torturous paths that brought together the Nanjing University History Class of 1982: Old Wu's father was killed during the Cultural Revolution for the crime of being an intellectual; Book Idiot Zhou labored in the fields for years rather than agree to a Party-arranged marriage; and Little Guan was forced to publicly denounce and humiliate her father. As the author follows his classmates from childhood to adulthood, he examines the effect of China's transition from near-feudal communism to first-world capitalism. The result is an illuminating report from present-day China, and a moving portrait of its extraordinary people. Illustrated with photos. Description text copyright 2011 BooksForComfort. Item ID 24939.