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At the Edge of Empire: A Family's Reckoning with China
A dual narrative that tells the story of modern China by braiding an intergenerational family memoir with first-person contemporary reporting by the former New York Times Beijing bureau chiefThe son of two Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong, Edward Wong grew up around Washington, DC; his father, a former soldier in the People’s Liberation Army under Mao, worked in Chinese restaurants and rarely spoke about his native land. Yook Kearn Wong came of age during the Japanese occupation in World War II, then fell under the spell of Mao’s promise of a new, equitable China, spending harsh years with the Chinese army in northern China and in Xinjiang, along the Central Asian frontier. In 1962, disillusioned with Mao’s brutal policies, he fled to Hong Kong and eventually went to America.When Edward Wong moved to Beijing as a correspondent for The New York Times in 2008, it gave him a rare opportunity to investigate his father’s mysterious past, while also assessing for himself the dream of a resurgent China that his father once held, then abandoned. He had a front-row seat as the world’s two superpowers met at a crossroads. And the years of his tenure saw China’s economic boom and geopolitical expansion, as well as the darker currents of nationalism and ethnic repression and the autocratic rise of President Xi Jinping.As a son considering his father’s life and his own time in China, Wong provides an epic, moving chronicle of a family and a nation, one that spans more than 80 years and gives insight into a new authoritarian age in China that is transforming the world. It is the essential work for understanding the sweep and direction of modern China.
464 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 25, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
May 6, 2024
While reading Edward Wong's At the Edge of Empire, I couldn't help but think of one age old maxim. Less is more. I also had a question. What point is Wong trying to make?
There is a lot going on in this book. It is part memoir of his father. It is part a personal memoir. It is a history of China mostly focused on World War II and after, but it will also reach even further back for a spell. It is the story of Hong Kong. And Tibet. Does this sound like too much yet? I can assure you it is too much.
It's not that Wong doesn't write well and certainly you can't work for the New York Times without being able to write. The major problem in this book is what he chooses to leave in the narrative. For example, his father is for an unknown reason, taken out of the Chinese air force and shipped to other parts of China. He doesn't know why but one day gets a look at his file. Wong writes a paragraph of several sentences just to unveil a single line to the reader. Is this a problem if it happens a few times? Of course not. The problem is that it happens frequently.
Then there are the time jumps. Since this is partly a dual memoir of a father and son, it is expected that you would change time periods. However, Wong will go from 2011 but then jump back to 2010 a chapter later then back to his father in 1950 and then back to the 2000s. The time was not linear between the two stories and it was confusing.
I was frustrated. Certain parts of the book are a glimpse of what it could have been. A chapter on ethnic violence in China is well written and interesting. The chapters on his father feel too wordy while not providing enough detail on what matters to the reader. I think Wong would write a wonderful biography of his father but he cannot keep it interesting when he is jumping all over the place.
Ultimately, I learned a lot from this book but in the most confusing way possible. It could be excellent if a lot is cut out and more focus is put on one aspect of the overall story.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Penguin Group Viking.)
There is a lot going on in this book. It is part memoir of his father. It is part a personal memoir. It is a history of China mostly focused on World War II and after, but it will also reach even further back for a spell. It is the story of Hong Kong. And Tibet. Does this sound like too much yet? I can assure you it is too much.
It's not that Wong doesn't write well and certainly you can't work for the New York Times without being able to write. The major problem in this book is what he chooses to leave in the narrative. For example, his father is for an unknown reason, taken out of the Chinese air force and shipped to other parts of China. He doesn't know why but one day gets a look at his file. Wong writes a paragraph of several sentences just to unveil a single line to the reader. Is this a problem if it happens a few times? Of course not. The problem is that it happens frequently.
Then there are the time jumps. Since this is partly a dual memoir of a father and son, it is expected that you would change time periods. However, Wong will go from 2011 but then jump back to 2010 a chapter later then back to his father in 1950 and then back to the 2000s. The time was not linear between the two stories and it was confusing.
I was frustrated. Certain parts of the book are a glimpse of what it could have been. A chapter on ethnic violence in China is well written and interesting. The chapters on his father feel too wordy while not providing enough detail on what matters to the reader. I think Wong would write a wonderful biography of his father but he cannot keep it interesting when he is jumping all over the place.
Ultimately, I learned a lot from this book but in the most confusing way possible. It could be excellent if a lot is cut out and more focus is put on one aspect of the overall story.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Penguin Group Viking.)
January 26, 2025
A wonderfully written and meticulously researched look at the path China has taken since the end of WWII to become the empire it is today, told through the lives of the author, NYT journalist Edward Wong, and his father Yook Kearn, who left Hong Kong in 1950 to help build the new China just emerging from a decade of war. The elder Wong’s journey from the frigid northeast of China during the Korean War to the remote outposts of China’s far west Xinjiang region is told in incredible detail, and Wong’s intense interest in his father’s life demonstrates a deep and earnest affection. Not only an informative and interesting, but also a deeply moving, piece of nonfiction.
September 28, 2024
While even the recent history of China seems well documented and available, I feel hampered in getting a sense of what is going on, since I am long past the age for starting to learn Mandarin either for speaking or reading. On visits, the sense of strong filters to my understanding is palpable. Because of this, I have come to appreciate well done memoirs by people who have not just visited but worked in China. Peter Hessler’s wonderful books come to mind.
Edward Wong’s excellent new book: “At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning with China” is a memoir of this sort. Wong is Chinese-American, with family links that go back to the time of the revolution and engage relatives who both stayed in China and left to come to the US. Wong is also a skilled journalist and a longtime reporter for the New York Times. He has kept on good terms with his family and they have survived to old age in America, which leads to a well crafted multi-level story of the experiences of his parents’ generation, as well as their parents, in and around the 1949 revolution. His father’s story is particularly engaging and Mr. Wong is able to skillfully interweave the experiences of his father as a young man in the army with his own two decades later. Parts of multiple stories are woven together, along with a clear linking to events in the broader world, for example the Cold War. The title of the book seems to focus on Mr. Wong’s father’s travels in NW China and Tibet, although it also covers a narrative of the development of Hong Kong from the start of WW2 to the Revolution to the British handover to the conflicts in present.
There is much going on here, but it is all interesting and the writing that ties it together is superb. I highly recommend the book.
Edward Wong’s excellent new book: “At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning with China” is a memoir of this sort. Wong is Chinese-American, with family links that go back to the time of the revolution and engage relatives who both stayed in China and left to come to the US. Wong is also a skilled journalist and a longtime reporter for the New York Times. He has kept on good terms with his family and they have survived to old age in America, which leads to a well crafted multi-level story of the experiences of his parents’ generation, as well as their parents, in and around the 1949 revolution. His father’s story is particularly engaging and Mr. Wong is able to skillfully interweave the experiences of his father as a young man in the army with his own two decades later. Parts of multiple stories are woven together, along with a clear linking to events in the broader world, for example the Cold War. The title of the book seems to focus on Mr. Wong’s father’s travels in NW China and Tibet, although it also covers a narrative of the development of Hong Kong from the start of WW2 to the Revolution to the British handover to the conflicts in present.
There is much going on here, but it is all interesting and the writing that ties it together is superb. I highly recommend the book.
April 3, 2025
平铺直叙，有种走马观花的感觉，没什么吸引力，而且文笔也不咋的
Read
July 23, 2024A little denser than I was expecting. Lots of history and explanation of the political backdrop. Really good job connecting the sequence of events to help understand China today.
May 27, 2025
A fantastic endeavor, but really only for someone with deep knowledge of China (and probably of the US). A lot of other reviewers complained about the jumping around, but I really didn't mind that. It took me through the author's mind as he was visiting places trying to retrace his father's life. The deep dive into the past in a personal way truly allowed Wong to understand modern China and pass that onto the reader. I found it fascinating and tragic to learn how China has thought of Xinjiang and Tibet over the years. And while I came in already knowing the facts of Mao's rule and the Great Leap Forward, this book made me grasp what it was like to live through the chaos by showing it through the experiences of the father. The arbitrary cruelness of power resonates viscerally in 2025.
I think the father's journey could make for a gripping movie, and it was a bit of a shame that this narrative relayed that story in a journalistic style, instead of fictionalizing it into a thriller. I think aspects of the modern journalistic ventures could also have had some more suspense thrown in. I also wanted to get more of the comparison between America's empire building in Iraq and China's empire building in its border regions - clearly Wong sees the parallels but I didn't feel like I totally got them.
I think the father's journey could make for a gripping movie, and it was a bit of a shame that this narrative relayed that story in a journalistic style, instead of fictionalizing it into a thriller. I think aspects of the modern journalistic ventures could also have had some more suspense thrown in. I also wanted to get more of the comparison between America's empire building in Iraq and China's empire building in its border regions - clearly Wong sees the parallels but I didn't feel like I totally got them.
October 27, 2025
Part biography, part memoir, part nonfiction history. A super interesting snapshot of Chinese history through the eyes of a few people who lived through it. Gives a really cool boots-on-the-ground perspective of China and the changes it has gone through. A bit dry at times but overall very engaging and interesting.
Made me open Google maps to figure out where everything was though. I need to learn more Chinese geography apparently.
Made me open Google maps to figure out where everything was though. I need to learn more Chinese geography apparently.
December 13, 2024
50/50 Reject: Beijing bureau chief presents best creds ever. Journalists write great books. David K. Shipler, Fox Butterworth. Why isn’t your book good? Because you wrote a book about your family. We all think our families are terribly interesting. Yours is not. Or perhaps you weren’t able to make it so.
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September 19, 2024
PROBING CHINA'S SECRETS IN XINJIANG AND TIBET
For thousands of years the Han people who settled China’s heartland around the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers have contended with people of other ethnicities on what is now the nation’s periphery. For extended periods, marauders from that region—Mongolians, Manchurians, and Muslim Turkic peoples from Central Asia—breached the imperial borders. Some ruled over the empire for centuries. But today’s resurgent nation incorporates the periphery, including Tibet, Xinjiang, Manchuria, and much of ancient Mongolia.
China now is waging a decades-long effort to assimilate these lands, settling huge numbers of Han colonists there and imposing the Chinese language and culture on often unwilling subjects. Someone may write a brilliant book about the conflicts that campaign has brought about. And Edward Wong’s 2024 Chinese family memoir, At the Edge of Empire, seems to promise that. Unfortunately, it doesn’t deliver. I expected better from a 25-year veteran of the New York Times.
TWO IMPORTANT STORIES WOVEN TOGETHER
Elements of that brilliant account are, in fact, buried in the pages of this book. It includes long chapters chronicling the author’s, and his father’s, face-to-face observations of China’s repression in Xinjiang and (in just the author’s case) Tibet. Unfortunately, Wong scatters these revealing chapters inside a chaotic account of his father’s life in China in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s and his own extended experiences there as a student and later as a Times reporter in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.
Instead of telling a story in chronological order, which might have lent the book some coherence, Wong chooses to jump around in time, leaping without any discernible logic from one era to another and back again. It’s very hard to follow. But it’s clear that this book encompasses two stories. One is an account of his father’s experience as an “unwitting passenger on the nation’s journey through hardship.” The other, incorporating his father’s observations as well as his own, relates the ugly tale of China’s harsh regime in Xinjiang and Tibet.
A LONG HISTORY OF REPRESSION IN XINJIANG
If you actively follow foreign policy news, you’re well aware of China’s harsh repression in both Tibet and Xinjiang. The brutality began in Tibet in the 1950s under Mao, while the widespread human rights abuses against the Uighur people of Xinjiang became overt only in 2014 under Xi Jinping. Tibet has faded from the headlines. But Xinjiang has become a major sticking point in relations between China and the USA.
Although no doubt you know these facts, it’s less likely you know the history as well as Edward Wong. Wong’s late father served as an officer in the People’s Liberation Army in the 1950s and ’60s, much of that time assigned to duty “at the edge of empire” in Xinjiang. Wong’s account of his father’s experiences there is eye-opening. It reveals clearly that the Chinese central government’s discriminatory treatment of Xinjiang’s people predated the era of Xi Jinping by decades. It’s a sorry tale. And Wong himself has visited the region many times as a reporter for the New York Times. This enables him to bring the story up to date.
Though it’s slow going to reach the chapters that deal with Xinjiang (and, in much less detail, Tibet), they’re worth the price of the book.
Separately. the stories Wong’s father related to him before his death could themselves make for a compelling book—if only they’d been arranged in some logical order. Judge for yourself whether it’s worth your time to slog through the nearly 500 pages of this book and sort the pieces together into a coherent account.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Edward Wong writes about himself on the website of the New York Times, where he’s been a reporter for more than twenty-five years: “I’m a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times, reporting on global affairs, U.S. foreign policy and the State Department. I write on American foreign policy and its impact, as well as on the foreign policies of other nations. I range widely under my beat, reporting on topics from espionage to economic competition to environmental crises.”
Wong was born in 1972 in Washington, DC, and grew up in suburban Arlington, Virginia. He holds a BA (summa cum laude) in English literature from the University of Virginia, joint MAs in journalism and international and area studies from the University of California, Berkeley. At the Edge of Empire is his first book. He is married and the father of two children.
For thousands of years the Han people who settled China’s heartland around the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers have contended with people of other ethnicities on what is now the nation’s periphery. For extended periods, marauders from that region—Mongolians, Manchurians, and Muslim Turkic peoples from Central Asia—breached the imperial borders. Some ruled over the empire for centuries. But today’s resurgent nation incorporates the periphery, including Tibet, Xinjiang, Manchuria, and much of ancient Mongolia.
China now is waging a decades-long effort to assimilate these lands, settling huge numbers of Han colonists there and imposing the Chinese language and culture on often unwilling subjects. Someone may write a brilliant book about the conflicts that campaign has brought about. And Edward Wong’s 2024 Chinese family memoir, At the Edge of Empire, seems to promise that. Unfortunately, it doesn’t deliver. I expected better from a 25-year veteran of the New York Times.
TWO IMPORTANT STORIES WOVEN TOGETHER
Elements of that brilliant account are, in fact, buried in the pages of this book. It includes long chapters chronicling the author’s, and his father’s, face-to-face observations of China’s repression in Xinjiang and (in just the author’s case) Tibet. Unfortunately, Wong scatters these revealing chapters inside a chaotic account of his father’s life in China in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s and his own extended experiences there as a student and later as a Times reporter in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.
Instead of telling a story in chronological order, which might have lent the book some coherence, Wong chooses to jump around in time, leaping without any discernible logic from one era to another and back again. It’s very hard to follow. But it’s clear that this book encompasses two stories. One is an account of his father’s experience as an “unwitting passenger on the nation’s journey through hardship.” The other, incorporating his father’s observations as well as his own, relates the ugly tale of China’s harsh regime in Xinjiang and Tibet.
A LONG HISTORY OF REPRESSION IN XINJIANG
If you actively follow foreign policy news, you’re well aware of China’s harsh repression in both Tibet and Xinjiang. The brutality began in Tibet in the 1950s under Mao, while the widespread human rights abuses against the Uighur people of Xinjiang became overt only in 2014 under Xi Jinping. Tibet has faded from the headlines. But Xinjiang has become a major sticking point in relations between China and the USA.
Although no doubt you know these facts, it’s less likely you know the history as well as Edward Wong. Wong’s late father served as an officer in the People’s Liberation Army in the 1950s and ’60s, much of that time assigned to duty “at the edge of empire” in Xinjiang. Wong’s account of his father’s experiences there is eye-opening. It reveals clearly that the Chinese central government’s discriminatory treatment of Xinjiang’s people predated the era of Xi Jinping by decades. It’s a sorry tale. And Wong himself has visited the region many times as a reporter for the New York Times. This enables him to bring the story up to date.
Though it’s slow going to reach the chapters that deal with Xinjiang (and, in much less detail, Tibet), they’re worth the price of the book.
Separately. the stories Wong’s father related to him before his death could themselves make for a compelling book—if only they’d been arranged in some logical order. Judge for yourself whether it’s worth your time to slog through the nearly 500 pages of this book and sort the pieces together into a coherent account.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Edward Wong writes about himself on the website of the New York Times, where he’s been a reporter for more than twenty-five years: “I’m a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times, reporting on global affairs, U.S. foreign policy and the State Department. I write on American foreign policy and its impact, as well as on the foreign policies of other nations. I range widely under my beat, reporting on topics from espionage to economic competition to environmental crises.”
Wong was born in 1972 in Washington, DC, and grew up in suburban Arlington, Virginia. He holds a BA (summa cum laude) in English literature from the University of Virginia, joint MAs in journalism and international and area studies from the University of California, Berkeley. At the Edge of Empire is his first book. He is married and the father of two children.
December 7, 2024
There is an incredible amount of information in this beautifully written combo personal/father's/paternal family memoir with every place/time's historical context in China carefully laid out with journalistic factual care. This effort ensuring everyone is on the same page about not just for example his father's hunger, but all of China's makes it a wonderful sweep of some ancient and most of modern Chinese history.
I was untroubled by the chapters addressing non-chronological time periods since the themes were drawing the narration logically forward
It's greatest strength is it's greatest flaw : it is written with great attention and care to a political neutrality which is such a strong declaration of the author's deep connection with China, and familial connection to Hong Kong/Guangzhou. He wants to be permitted to continue to travel to and from China. He wants to protect all living family members and show filial piety by telling his father's story without any negative judgement. No binding harsh judgements of Communist China, if some allowable criticism of some broadly acknowledged policy/political errors (others mught call crimes against humanity). His father's only loosely connected with the political oppression of the 50's and expresses zero remorse.. Only some reflection on his having guarded a suspected dissident of Communism during rhe cultural revolution at his university who later "leaves" or disappears.. But without any regret, condemnation, or anything. Hmm that was an interesting time.
The author's clear, strong, cultural identity as a person of Chinese descent is informative and resonates, is perfectly aligned not only with my own cultural identities, but also with most of my friends of Chinese ethnicity... But with some key differences for people whose roots are in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, Macao and other non-Han dominant regions.
The author doesn't outwardly defend China in any way, nor does he declare that one China is his banner.. However, the descriptions of the global Chinese diaspora of his family, in the US and beyond points to the shared identity which has been a major glue keeping together the giant empire.. (Along with authoritarianism).
I would recommend this book to any American student of Chinese history, Wong explains very clearly the driving political leaders, rivalries, policies and aome of the best work in here explains China's policies in the edge regions of the empire where the Communists have suppressed opposition, independence movements, language and religions from Tibet to Xinjiang and beyond.
Also the recurring story of the family's connection to their ancestral village.
I then suggest we all read books written on China by other people, from other places beyond the US, with more forceful perspectives.
This would be a 5, but for the lack of trithtto the title: this family is NOT having a reckoning with China, it's family, and in the name of peace and harmony, much is left unstated.
Thank you to the author (and family) for sharing parts of your story in such an educational work.
I was untroubled by the chapters addressing non-chronological time periods since the themes were drawing the narration logically forward
It's greatest strength is it's greatest flaw : it is written with great attention and care to a political neutrality which is such a strong declaration of the author's deep connection with China, and familial connection to Hong Kong/Guangzhou. He wants to be permitted to continue to travel to and from China. He wants to protect all living family members and show filial piety by telling his father's story without any negative judgement. No binding harsh judgements of Communist China, if some allowable criticism of some broadly acknowledged policy/political errors (others mught call crimes against humanity). His father's only loosely connected with the political oppression of the 50's and expresses zero remorse.. Only some reflection on his having guarded a suspected dissident of Communism during rhe cultural revolution at his university who later "leaves" or disappears.. But without any regret, condemnation, or anything. Hmm that was an interesting time.
The author's clear, strong, cultural identity as a person of Chinese descent is informative and resonates, is perfectly aligned not only with my own cultural identities, but also with most of my friends of Chinese ethnicity... But with some key differences for people whose roots are in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, Macao and other non-Han dominant regions.
The author doesn't outwardly defend China in any way, nor does he declare that one China is his banner.. However, the descriptions of the global Chinese diaspora of his family, in the US and beyond points to the shared identity which has been a major glue keeping together the giant empire.. (Along with authoritarianism).
I would recommend this book to any American student of Chinese history, Wong explains very clearly the driving political leaders, rivalries, policies and aome of the best work in here explains China's policies in the edge regions of the empire where the Communists have suppressed opposition, independence movements, language and religions from Tibet to Xinjiang and beyond.
Also the recurring story of the family's connection to their ancestral village.
I then suggest we all read books written on China by other people, from other places beyond the US, with more forceful perspectives.
This would be a 5, but for the lack of trithtto the title: this family is NOT having a reckoning with China, it's family, and in the name of peace and harmony, much is left unstated.
Thank you to the author (and family) for sharing parts of your story in such an educational work.
January 18, 2026
The next in the series of my Reading China project comes a work of journalistic memoir. Wong retraces his father's steps through the edges of what he calls the Chinese empire, giving us a very readable account of China's history through the last hundred years.
I learn a lot. About the Japanese invasion of China during World War II and its occupation, the civil war between the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai Shek and the Communists led by Mao (and hence the problem of present day Taiwan), events like The Long Walk, the idealism of the early Mao years and the subsequent disillusionment with the big famine and the cultural revolution.
Wong weaves his father's and uncle's stories with his own experiences as a journalist in Beijing. He travels to Xinjiang where his father was posted when he was part of the People's Liberation Army. Xinjiang was always a problem child for past Chinese empires. And the present one, learning from the past, cracks down severely - we learn of the Han migration into this edge of the empire, of the internment camps that serve as a means of re-education of the Uyghars, and the continuing obliteration of their language and culture. Wong then travels to Tibet which has a similar story - migration of the Hans and the slow but sure erasure of a culture. He also covers the Hong Kong student protests - yet another instance of the quelling of a threat to Chinese power.
Wong tells us of how Tianenman was a wake-up call for the Deng - and how the obsession to not go the way of the Soviet Union has driven every single action of the Party since. He sees Xi as another Mao figure - wielding absolute power, quelling any form of dissent.
What makes this compelling reading is how Wong makes it personal - his father's and uncle's stories illustrate so much of the history that it never feels like reading a history book. His own experience as a journalist during key moments brings those stories to life as well.
The book is very long and it could have done with better editing (the timeline jumps are disconcerting). But as a snapshot of recent Chinese history this is a good one. For anyone with an interest in our enigmatic neighbour, this is a recommend.
I learn a lot. About the Japanese invasion of China during World War II and its occupation, the civil war between the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai Shek and the Communists led by Mao (and hence the problem of present day Taiwan), events like The Long Walk, the idealism of the early Mao years and the subsequent disillusionment with the big famine and the cultural revolution.
Wong weaves his father's and uncle's stories with his own experiences as a journalist in Beijing. He travels to Xinjiang where his father was posted when he was part of the People's Liberation Army. Xinjiang was always a problem child for past Chinese empires. And the present one, learning from the past, cracks down severely - we learn of the Han migration into this edge of the empire, of the internment camps that serve as a means of re-education of the Uyghars, and the continuing obliteration of their language and culture. Wong then travels to Tibet which has a similar story - migration of the Hans and the slow but sure erasure of a culture. He also covers the Hong Kong student protests - yet another instance of the quelling of a threat to Chinese power.
Wong tells us of how Tianenman was a wake-up call for the Deng - and how the obsession to not go the way of the Soviet Union has driven every single action of the Party since. He sees Xi as another Mao figure - wielding absolute power, quelling any form of dissent.
What makes this compelling reading is how Wong makes it personal - his father's and uncle's stories illustrate so much of the history that it never feels like reading a history book. His own experience as a journalist during key moments brings those stories to life as well.
The book is very long and it could have done with better editing (the timeline jumps are disconcerting). But as a snapshot of recent Chinese history this is a good one. For anyone with an interest in our enigmatic neighbour, this is a recommend.
December 28, 2024
The author weaves 2 stories in the same book -- that of his father and that of his own. The organization of the book is mostly geographic, and that leads to some confusion to a reader who does not know very much about China.
Mr. Wong's father and his uncle, Sam, followed 2 different paths. Sam came to the US to study in 1948, while Edward's father went to Beijing to attend university. That was the beginning of the father's adventure, as a young patriot who was determined to serve his country. I have to say that the father was lucky in many respects. First, he was not sent to fight in Korea. Second, he was not persecuted physically because he had relatives living overseas -- many were accused of being spies because of such circumstances. Third, he successfully escaped China at the height of the Big Famine of 1962. Because of his brother Sam, he was able to emigrate to the US, where he led an unassuming life working in a restaurant. However, he was able to raise a son, Edward, who would follow up on his footsteps, but as a journalist. Edward told us that his father did not tell him the story when he was young. He discovered many things when he was much older.
It is a thrilling family story. The author left the reader in suspense what the final reckoning with China is for the father and the son. Was the father bitter about the whole experience? What would the father have done if he were given a second chance to choose -- follow Sam to study in the US or stay in China? These are unanswered questions of the book.
Mr. Wong's father and his uncle, Sam, followed 2 different paths. Sam came to the US to study in 1948, while Edward's father went to Beijing to attend university. That was the beginning of the father's adventure, as a young patriot who was determined to serve his country. I have to say that the father was lucky in many respects. First, he was not sent to fight in Korea. Second, he was not persecuted physically because he had relatives living overseas -- many were accused of being spies because of such circumstances. Third, he successfully escaped China at the height of the Big Famine of 1962. Because of his brother Sam, he was able to emigrate to the US, where he led an unassuming life working in a restaurant. However, he was able to raise a son, Edward, who would follow up on his footsteps, but as a journalist. Edward told us that his father did not tell him the story when he was young. He discovered many things when he was much older.
It is a thrilling family story. The author left the reader in suspense what the final reckoning with China is for the father and the son. Was the father bitter about the whole experience? What would the father have done if he were given a second chance to choose -- follow Sam to study in the US or stay in China? These are unanswered questions of the book.
September 20, 2024
This book provided me a pleasant introduction to Chinese history. It was history told through a father's and a son's experiences in China, with frequent dips into ancient history of various areas. The arrangement was more geographic than chronological, sometimes statting with the father's experience, sometimes the son's, then switching. The moving between places and generations was well signaled and kept me from feeling bogged down by the older background information. We don't get the whole, of course, but histories relevant mostly to the father's experiences. We get the history of Hong Kong because it was the father's boyhood home and the handover from Britain to China because the son was there for it. Because the father spent many years in Xinjiang we learn about Uyghurs. Because he enlisted in the Chinese Liberation Army we get a bit about Korean war.The father was very committed to China and the possibilities of the Chinese revolution of 1949, and that provided a participant perspective on the first 5-year plan and the Korean war. Because of the two generations' experiencing the various places at different times, we also see changes over time.
January 10, 2025
Through family history, primarily that of his father, author Edward Wong provides great insight into the development of today’s China. Wong’s father was born in China and witness to Japan’s takeover of the country in World War II and subsequent struggle for control by Chinese Nationalists and Chinese Communists. He was a model citizen, firmly believing in the promises of Chinese leaders, until disillusioned by the excesses of the Communists under Mao Tse-Tung. Then, he decided to leave the country for Hong Kong and ultimately the United States. His son, the author of this book, was born in the U.S. and became a journalist. He’s primarily known for his work at The New York Times, through which he spent much time reporting in China as an NYT bureau chief. His commentary on the events he witnessed there, as well as the story of his father’s life, greatly informs those of us who are less familiar with China and how it became such a prominent country in today’s world. The author’s objective writing style, merely reporting on what happened without resorting to overwrought judgements that mar many of today’s social media and other publications, is refreshing, too.
January 16, 2025
In this multi-layered book, the author attempts to intertwine his experiences and observations about China with those of his parents, specifically his father, who emigrated to the United States in 1967. The best parts of the story for me are his father’s memories of his hopes for China and himself soon after 1949. As China was on the cusp of a seismic transformation, Wong’s father was eager to play any role the Communist Party asked of him. The recounting of the elder Wong’s experiences is interesting and reflect the deeply personal reckoning that the elder Wong went through as his hopes and aspirations came sharply up against the Communist Party and Mao’s policies. The sections where the author recounts his own experiences are interesting, insightful at times, but lack any emotional connection. The author loses focus when he delves into the wider history of China. It’s like he couldn’t decide whether to be a reporter, a historian, or the filial son. Regardless, this book is an important contribution to the overall study of modern China.
September 22, 2025
Absolutely loved this book! If you looking for a comprehensive book on China this book is it! Wonderful overview of China's history to modern day, including the covid pandemic. This book follows a family for two generations- father & son and their different experiences in/with China. The father was born in Hong Kong and moves to China to join the military in the 1950s and is stationed in multiple locations on the most north western part of China, Xinjiang province for 6 years until he attends university in Xian. His son born in the US but travels and lives in China as a journalist. I found this a fascinating comparison of places throughout history to modern day and covering much of the country. On a personal note, this book brought back so many memories of my time spent teaching English there in 1994-1995, shortly after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Although I was based at Chongqing University, I traveled to many of the places mentioned in this book including Tibet, Urumqi, Kashgar, Xian, Wuhan, Beijing, Chengdu, and Hong Kong.
November 25, 2024
The book tries to both be a survey history of China, while telling the direct tale of the effect of China policy had on the authors family, and an autobiography of the authors time in China; with a bend towards criticism of recent Chinese actions in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong.
This endeavor ends up making the book feel a bit suffocating with constant swings between the subject matters. The author is most comfortable when speaking about his family history, and direct reporting involvement in China.
A denser book that wasn't trying to give the reader everything would have accomplished more. The parts interweaving the author and his father's parallel lives in Xinjiang were the most interesting and compelling part of the book, which is source of the title (in addition to the metaphorical meaning).
This endeavor ends up making the book feel a bit suffocating with constant swings between the subject matters. The author is most comfortable when speaking about his family history, and direct reporting involvement in China.
A denser book that wasn't trying to give the reader everything would have accomplished more. The parts interweaving the author and his father's parallel lives in Xinjiang were the most interesting and compelling part of the book, which is source of the title (in addition to the metaphorical meaning).
October 4, 2024
It's rare I read a book that succeeds in revealing so much about a complex topic--the history and current importance of China on the world stage--but maintains my eager interest for its entire nearly 500 pages. The intricate and fascinating story of China, from ancient times to current social and political events, is interwoven with the author's personal story, and that of his immigrant father and family. Although some other reviewers complained about the author's vacillating timeline, it felt natural and well-crafted to me, and essential in connecting Chinese historical events to important motivations and moments in his family's personal journey.
March 22, 2025
Two generations of a Chinese family living through the Communist Revolution and the choices they make. Well written and an especially insightful look at the Muslim Uyghurs and their trials and a reporter's perspective of the Hong Kong protests. While there are inferences made about President Xi, the man remains a mystery in some regards. Many of the comments about Chairman Mao made by he citizens are the same ones I heard while I spent time in China. I would highly recommend the book to anyone who wants to better understand some of the complexities of modern China and her wish to be supreme.
July 4, 2024
Edward Wong has written for the NY Times since 1999, spending 4 years in Iraq and 8 years in Beijing. This book is part personal memoir, part the story of his father life in China and the USA, and part the history of the People's Republic of China told through his father's and his experiences.
I found the interwoven stories fascinating, and the family stories helped to give vividness and clarity to the modern history of China. Anyone interested in Modern Chinese history will find this a valuable and interesting book to read.
I found the interwoven stories fascinating, and the family stories helped to give vividness and clarity to the modern history of China. Anyone interested in Modern Chinese history will find this a valuable and interesting book to read.
October 27, 2024
This book took me a while to get through. It was quite dense, at times maybe too much, but I feel like I learned SO much about China, its history, and how communism changed the economic, social and political spheres of the country. It’s not the type of book you might pick up and can’t put down, but it is one that can shape and inform your worldview, which may be arguably more important. It also chronicles a family’s generational experience seeing this revolution within the country, which added an element of nostalgia and humanity.
December 31, 2024
I think the book would have benefitted from more scrupulous editing. All the content was there, but somehow the organization, even down to the paragraph level, felt circular. It always seemed to be returning to the same few points or jumping way across timelines (even in the span of a paragraph he might start at 3PM then circle back to 8AM and then to 5PM, so strange).
Overall though, very happy to have read this and think that the parallels between his father’s journey and ho he retraced his steps worked. Learned a lot more about China and got a greater feel for everyday life there.
Overall though, very happy to have read this and think that the parallels between his father’s journey and ho he retraced his steps worked. Learned a lot more about China and got a greater feel for everyday life there.
January 10, 2025
The author attempts to use his family story, particularly that of his father, as a backdrop for his take on Chinese history, politics and current events. My problem was that I didn't find his family to be remarkable, or even interesting. The book does do a good job of explaining the background for the conflicts in Hong Kong, and the challenges faced by the Muslim Uyghurs in western China.
This is a book in need of an editor.
This is a book in need of an editor.
July 26, 2024
I had a little trouble with the jumping around between history of China, and the author's father's life and his own. But there are some interesting insights about China. It's a little dry, I have to say, but evocative in parts. I hadn't thought much about China's western frontier before reading this book. That part was very interesting.
August 5, 2024
A young man's quest to discover the China of his father's youth, exploring it and defining his relationship with the current China.
It's an interesting book. The jumping back and forth does make it difficult to grasp what happened in the past and what was current. Of course, I stumbled over the Chinese names.
It's an interesting book. The jumping back and forth does make it difficult to grasp what happened in the past and what was current. Of course, I stumbled over the Chinese names.
May 11, 2025
This is a family memoir of leaving China. It is a very loving and successful family. The author, who mostly tells his father's story, is a New York Times correspondent. It is an engrossing family story. And, fortunately, the family does not have a tragedy to overcome. It is also a history of modern China. It is well worth the read or listen.
July 15, 2025
Riveting book. I was wanting something to learn more about Xinjiang, and this not only did that, but added a ton of context to Hong Kong, Tibet, and the Korean War for me. It did jump around a lot, and sometimes did not have the 'big reveal' that the narrative suggested was coming, but overall it was compelling, well-written, and informative. Definte recommend for understanding China better.
August 2, 2025
Fascinating look into the modern history of China detailing the author’s father’s experience during the Japanese occupation and then Communist rule. After years of working as a reporter in China the author also shares his experiences, some in following his father’s different postings in far western China, as well as others in Tibet. Well-written, like a news story but a bit dry at times.
December 28, 2025
Loved this book as it put my visits to China as a businessman into historical context. The author uses his family's migrations and experiences to provide the history of China, especially in the 20th and 21st centuries. He covers most of the geography of China and its interrelationships with Hong Kong and the U.S. This is a good book for someone looking for a modern perspective on China.
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July 7, 2024DNF at 18%. This book was compared to Wild Swans. It has so much information and is just all over the place rather than a memoir of his father in China during Mao and his modern day take on China. I really wanted to like it but it became too tedious to read.
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