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Beijing Bastard: Into the Wilds of a Changing China
A humorous and moving coming-of-age story that brings a unique, not-quite-outsider’s perspective to China’s shift from ancient empire to modern superpower
Raised in a strict Chinese-American household in the suburbs, Val Wang dutifully got good grades, took piano lessons, and performed in a Chinese dance troupe—until she shaved her head and became a leftist, the stuff of many teenage rebellions. But Val’s true mutiny was when she moved to China, the land her parents had fled before the Communist takeover in 1949.
Val arrives in Beijing in 1998 expecting to find freedom but instead lives in the old city with her traditional relatives, who wake her at dawn with the sound of a state-run television program playing next to her cot, make a running joke of how much she eats, and monitor her every move. But outside, she soon discovers a city rebelling against its roots just as she is, struggling too to find a new, modern identity. Rickshaws make way for taxicabs, skyscrapers replace hutong courtyard houses, and Beijing prepares to make its debut on the world stage with the 2008 Olympics. And in the gritty outskirts of the city where she moves, a thriving avant-garde subculture is making art out of the chaos. Val plunges into the city’s dizzying culture and nightlife and begins shooting a documentary, about a Peking Opera family who is witnessing the death of their traditional art.
Brilliantly observed and winningly told, Beijing Bastard is a compelling story of a young woman finding her place in the world and of China, as its ancient past gives way to a dazzling but uncertain future.
Raised in a strict Chinese-American household in the suburbs, Val Wang dutifully got good grades, took piano lessons, and performed in a Chinese dance troupe—until she shaved her head and became a leftist, the stuff of many teenage rebellions. But Val’s true mutiny was when she moved to China, the land her parents had fled before the Communist takeover in 1949.
Val arrives in Beijing in 1998 expecting to find freedom but instead lives in the old city with her traditional relatives, who wake her at dawn with the sound of a state-run television program playing next to her cot, make a running joke of how much she eats, and monitor her every move. But outside, she soon discovers a city rebelling against its roots just as she is, struggling too to find a new, modern identity. Rickshaws make way for taxicabs, skyscrapers replace hutong courtyard houses, and Beijing prepares to make its debut on the world stage with the 2008 Olympics. And in the gritty outskirts of the city where she moves, a thriving avant-garde subculture is making art out of the chaos. Val plunges into the city’s dizzying culture and nightlife and begins shooting a documentary, about a Peking Opera family who is witnessing the death of their traditional art.
Brilliantly observed and winningly told, Beijing Bastard is a compelling story of a young woman finding her place in the world and of China, as its ancient past gives way to a dazzling but uncertain future.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
17 people are currently reading
656 people want to read
About the author
Val Wang
2 books3 followersVal Wang is an author and multimedia storyteller. Her memoir Beijing Bastard is forthcoming from Gotham in Fall 2014.
Her multimedia projects work at the edge of digital innovation in journalism. She most recently created and produced Planet Takeout, an interactive, multiplatform documentary on the role of Chinese takeouts as a vital cultural crossroads in America. The project incubated at WGBH Radio as part of the nationwide Localore initiative. Before that, she produced OpenCourt, a Knight News Challenge-funded project from WBUR that used digital technology to open a district court south of Boston.
She teaches in the English and Media Studies Department of Bentley University. She lives in Boston but her heart is still partly in Beijing.
Her multimedia projects work at the edge of digital innovation in journalism. She most recently created and produced Planet Takeout, an interactive, multiplatform documentary on the role of Chinese takeouts as a vital cultural crossroads in America. The project incubated at WGBH Radio as part of the nationwide Localore initiative. Before that, she produced OpenCourt, a Knight News Challenge-funded project from WBUR that used digital technology to open a district court south of Boston.
She teaches in the English and Media Studies Department of Bentley University. She lives in Boston but her heart is still partly in Beijing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
September 3, 2014
This book was simply wretched. I cannot believe someone actually agreed to publish this. The writing jumps back and forth from one idea to another almost as if she is writing in a stream of consciousness, but it is so jarring it produces a whiplash effect. She will introduce a new subject and then never follow through to discuss the outcome. I'm not even clear as to what the goal was in writing her book. She initially says she wants to find herself and discover contemporary China. Then she wants to become involved with the underground art movement in and around Beijing. Then she decides that she wants to film a documentary. And through all of this, her writing is deplorable. The metaphors and similes she concocts are absurd: "talk zinged around the room like crazed bats", "holding his hands apart the length of a baby crocodile", "an accent that wobbled higgledy-piggledy", "ricocheted around the room like Tweedledee and Tweedledum", "I felt the complicated swirl of the moment", "he listened with hungry eyes". When she was trying to think of ideas for her documentary, she considered a movie on hairdressing salons, calling it, "Salon" or a film on small shops called, "Boutique". This pretty much demonstrates the lack of imagination and creativity exhibited throughout the entire book. Just a true disappointment on every level.
October 6, 2014
"I know what I like most about being here. Freelancing," I said. "Freedom in general. I feel really free here."
John started laughing. "You're from the United States of America and you come to the last huge Communist country in the world to find freedom," he said, with a combination of pity and admiration that somehow pleased me. (215)
After college, Wang departed for China, the country her parents had left decades before. As a child, Wang had to be pushed by her parents to learn Chinese, and she felt the cultural clash of one whose parents are immigrants; as an adult, her parents now just wanted her home. Why go back to a country where they'd seen so little opportunity?
But China was changing, and Wang wanted to spread her wings a bit. Explore. Brush up on her Chinese. Investigate Beijing's underground art scene. Maybe, just maybe, film her own independent documentary.
The Beijing Wang came to know and love was one in flux -- tradition battling modernisation; hutongs being bulldozed in favour of cookie-cutter apartment buildings. She butts heads with her relatives, who don't know what to do with this very American niece; she falls in with an assortment of expats and Chinese artists; she struggles to find motivation to actually get out there with a camera and pursue her dreams.
If you're looking for a memoir with a strong through-line -- one in which something Big happens, or at least the book goes from Point A to Point B -- this is probably not the one for you. But once I realised that this was not that book, that Wang was not going to , I settled in and just enjoyed the ride. There's not a lot of direction, but then, that's true of many (most?) twenty-somethings on a quest to find something Different. She packs a lot of detail in -- and yes, the prose gets overwritten to the point of being positively purple, and yes, it sometimes drove me nuts, but it also felt cluttered in a weirdly good way, as though all that detail represented the chaos of Beijing growing and changing and finding new norms.
I'm reminded, by the way, of The Emperor Far Away, as Wang ultimately comes to a conclusion similar to a point that Eimer makes early on: I realized China was a place I could return to, says Wang, a place my parents could return to, as long as I accepted that none of it could ever be counted on to stay the same. (334)
I received a free copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway.
John started laughing. "You're from the United States of America and you come to the last huge Communist country in the world to find freedom," he said, with a combination of pity and admiration that somehow pleased me. (215)
After college, Wang departed for China, the country her parents had left decades before. As a child, Wang had to be pushed by her parents to learn Chinese, and she felt the cultural clash of one whose parents are immigrants; as an adult, her parents now just wanted her home. Why go back to a country where they'd seen so little opportunity?
But China was changing, and Wang wanted to spread her wings a bit. Explore. Brush up on her Chinese. Investigate Beijing's underground art scene. Maybe, just maybe, film her own independent documentary.
The Beijing Wang came to know and love was one in flux -- tradition battling modernisation; hutongs being bulldozed in favour of cookie-cutter apartment buildings. She butts heads with her relatives, who don't know what to do with this very American niece; she falls in with an assortment of expats and Chinese artists; she struggles to find motivation to actually get out there with a camera and pursue her dreams.
If you're looking for a memoir with a strong through-line -- one in which something Big happens, or at least the book goes from Point A to Point B -- this is probably not the one for you. But once I realised that this was not that book, that Wang was not going to , I settled in and just enjoyed the ride. There's not a lot of direction, but then, that's true of many (most?) twenty-somethings on a quest to find something Different. She packs a lot of detail in -- and yes, the prose gets overwritten to the point of being positively purple, and yes, it sometimes drove me nuts, but it also felt cluttered in a weirdly good way, as though all that detail represented the chaos of Beijing growing and changing and finding new norms.
I'm reminded, by the way, of The Emperor Far Away, as Wang ultimately comes to a conclusion similar to a point that Eimer makes early on: I realized China was a place I could return to, says Wang, a place my parents could return to, as long as I accepted that none of it could ever be counted on to stay the same. (334)
I received a free copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway.
January 10, 2023
I loved it! It made me want to go on an adventure. :)
May 8, 2016
Memoirs are not autobiographies but rather a shorter, snapshot look at a particular part of the author's life. The best memoirs are those who capture that segment of life in a beginning, middle, and end. Val Wang, in her memoir, "Beijing Bastard: Into the Wilds of a Changing China", brilliantly writes about her post-collegiate life in Beijing and how she experienced her life changing along with those larger changes within Chinese society at the same time.
Val Wang is the American-born daughter of parents who had emigrated from China to the United States when they were young. The parents - whose own parents bought into the dream of the US - raised Val and her older brother in a traditional home, stressing the values of both education and modest living. But Val didn't want to merely conform to her parents' dreams; she wanted to forge her own. In the late 1990's, after graduating from college, Val moved to Beijing (after a short stint in another Chinese city) to make her way. She wasn't the first post-graduate ex-pat to try living in a foreign country and she surely won't be the last. What Val Wang learned in her five or so year stay in Beijing is the subject of the memoir.
Wang had extended family in Beijing and began her stay in the city living with them. She soon learned that the housing of her relatives definitely wasn't what she was used to in the United States. Quite a bit of the book is about Chinese housing, which is an interesting subject in Val Wang's talented hands. The reader might not know the intricacies of the housing stock and housing market, the first of which took physical blows and the second took financial blows in the pre-2008 rush to make the city ready for the Olympic games. She begins her stay in one home that will be wrecked and ends it in an apartment that may not be waiting long for the wrecking ball.
How does a young woman, who wants to be a film-maker after watching an independent documentary called "Beijing Bastards", make her dream come true. She's somewhat hampered by not having production experience or contacts within the Beijing film crowd, but takes a series of temporary, then permanent jobs with alternative newspapers. She begins shooting a documentary, using borrowed equipment, about a family of actors at the Peking Opera but never completes it; the dynamics between her and the family of performers is not good. Val does "this" and "that", she meets and befriends interesting people, including one woman who lends her a camera and editing equipment. But she realises she's ready to go home to the US after 9/11.
Val Wang had changed in her five years in Beijing and she had watched as the city changed with her. Not much stays the same for either young woman or the city she's adopted. But she's matured and her relationships with her family in the US - once so fraught with misunderstanding - go through a material change. Her memoir is a wonderful look at an extended family and a changing society, as told by a young and talented writer.
By the way, if you're looking for another funny, perceptive, well-written memoir, take a look at Nancy Bachrach's "The Center of the Universe".
Val Wang is the American-born daughter of parents who had emigrated from China to the United States when they were young. The parents - whose own parents bought into the dream of the US - raised Val and her older brother in a traditional home, stressing the values of both education and modest living. But Val didn't want to merely conform to her parents' dreams; she wanted to forge her own. In the late 1990's, after graduating from college, Val moved to Beijing (after a short stint in another Chinese city) to make her way. She wasn't the first post-graduate ex-pat to try living in a foreign country and she surely won't be the last. What Val Wang learned in her five or so year stay in Beijing is the subject of the memoir.
Wang had extended family in Beijing and began her stay in the city living with them. She soon learned that the housing of her relatives definitely wasn't what she was used to in the United States. Quite a bit of the book is about Chinese housing, which is an interesting subject in Val Wang's talented hands. The reader might not know the intricacies of the housing stock and housing market, the first of which took physical blows and the second took financial blows in the pre-2008 rush to make the city ready for the Olympic games. She begins her stay in one home that will be wrecked and ends it in an apartment that may not be waiting long for the wrecking ball.
How does a young woman, who wants to be a film-maker after watching an independent documentary called "Beijing Bastards", make her dream come true. She's somewhat hampered by not having production experience or contacts within the Beijing film crowd, but takes a series of temporary, then permanent jobs with alternative newspapers. She begins shooting a documentary, using borrowed equipment, about a family of actors at the Peking Opera but never completes it; the dynamics between her and the family of performers is not good. Val does "this" and "that", she meets and befriends interesting people, including one woman who lends her a camera and editing equipment. But she realises she's ready to go home to the US after 9/11.
Val Wang had changed in her five years in Beijing and she had watched as the city changed with her. Not much stays the same for either young woman or the city she's adopted. But she's matured and her relationships with her family in the US - once so fraught with misunderstanding - go through a material change. Her memoir is a wonderful look at an extended family and a changing society, as told by a young and talented writer.
By the way, if you're looking for another funny, perceptive, well-written memoir, take a look at Nancy Bachrach's "The Center of the Universe".
March 24, 2015
I borrowed Beijing Bastard from the library after hearing it recommended on an episode of the Sinica podcast that discussed Beijing in the 1990s. I think anyone who spent time in China during the late 1990s-early 2000s will enjoy Val Wang’s memoir of her three years in Beijing; those who have no familiarity with the country, on the other hand, might find her stories rambling and fragmented. This is a book that conveys a sense of time and place, though like others who speak of Beijing at the turn of the century, Wang is certainly prone to romanticizing the experience.
Honestly, though, it’s hard not to. I moved to Beijing a few years later than Wang did, in 2005, and still think fondly of long dinners at Hidden Tree and bicycle rides through the hutongs. Yes, we were living in an expat bubble and avoiding the “real world” of life back home. But we were also getting to know a city in flux, where neighborhoods were being demolished and rebuilt in the space of weeks and no one could predict which city-living campaign the government was going to roll out next. Beijing really has changed since then—it’s become too big, too sprawling, too difficult—and every time I go back, I miss the way the city used to be, as Wang obviously does.
I also like Beijing Bastard because it’s one of a very few books by female expats in China. The other big one, and a nice companion to Beijing Bastard, is Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China , by Rachel DeWoskin. The two books share a similar weakness—that reading about someone else’s journey to “find herself” can be eyeroll-inducing—but their shared strength is how they’ve captured the essence of 1990s Beijing, warts and all.
Honestly, though, it’s hard not to. I moved to Beijing a few years later than Wang did, in 2005, and still think fondly of long dinners at Hidden Tree and bicycle rides through the hutongs. Yes, we were living in an expat bubble and avoiding the “real world” of life back home. But we were also getting to know a city in flux, where neighborhoods were being demolished and rebuilt in the space of weeks and no one could predict which city-living campaign the government was going to roll out next. Beijing really has changed since then—it’s become too big, too sprawling, too difficult—and every time I go back, I miss the way the city used to be, as Wang obviously does.
I also like Beijing Bastard because it’s one of a very few books by female expats in China. The other big one, and a nice companion to Beijing Bastard, is Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of a New China , by Rachel DeWoskin. The two books share a similar weakness—that reading about someone else’s journey to “find herself” can be eyeroll-inducing—but their shared strength is how they’ve captured the essence of 1990s Beijing, warts and all.
February 11, 2022
I hate books that are poorly edited and lacking a thesis. Wang sets off to Beijing to piss off her parents, who fled China in 1949. Wang says she wants to make a documentary, but it is never really clear if this is her main motivation. She sees one documentary in the US and decides she wants to do something similar...it just doesn't add up. She aimlessly walks, works and fucks her way across the Beijing of the late 90's and early 2000's, picking up and then dumping odd jobs and odd men along the way, dishing on gossip throughout while never really arriving at any point.
And yet, I loved this book. Wang is an excellent writer. Her style is bombastic, almost too much, but it fits so well with her that I could not get enough. The aimlessness of the book completely makes sense if you were in Beijing at the time and found all these waiguoren wandering around the city, drinking fucking and occasionally even learning something.
What would normally be flaws in this kind of memoir turned out to be the strongest points of the book because they reflected how it felt to be in Beijing during those go-go times, when China's rise was largely viewed benignly by outsiders and when the economic and political freedoms put in place in the 1980's had not yet been choked off and when foreigners really were free to, as Zhuangzi put it, 逍遙遊.
And yet, I loved this book. Wang is an excellent writer. Her style is bombastic, almost too much, but it fits so well with her that I could not get enough. The aimlessness of the book completely makes sense if you were in Beijing at the time and found all these waiguoren wandering around the city, drinking fucking and occasionally even learning something.
What would normally be flaws in this kind of memoir turned out to be the strongest points of the book because they reflected how it felt to be in Beijing during those go-go times, when China's rise was largely viewed benignly by outsiders and when the economic and political freedoms put in place in the 1980's had not yet been choked off and when foreigners really were free to, as Zhuangzi put it, 逍遙遊.
December 24, 2014
2.5 stars
If I hadn't picked up this book for free at work, I wouldn't have read it, but now that I have, I'm glad I did, but also disappointed that it wasn't better. This could have been a much better book after some better editing. There are flashes of brilliant writing that are unfortunately drowned in lots of loosely-connected anecdotes. The author had a point, but it was hard to tell what it was because she seemed to focus on different things at different parts of the story.
Was this about her family's history with the courtyard-style houses of Old Beijing? Was this about her struggle to find a subject to make a documentary on? Was this about her indecision about where to call 'home'?
I could relate to many of the things Wang went through, which was ultimately what compelled me to complete the book: seeing her family home, navigating relationships in China when you look Chinese but are more American, misunderstandings thanks to cultural barriers, absurd sightings on the streets, parental obligations. Reading this made me nostalgic for Shanghai, but like Wang, I'm nostalgic for a romanticized version of Shanghai and not the modern, real, thing.
If I hadn't picked up this book for free at work, I wouldn't have read it, but now that I have, I'm glad I did, but also disappointed that it wasn't better. This could have been a much better book after some better editing. There are flashes of brilliant writing that are unfortunately drowned in lots of loosely-connected anecdotes. The author had a point, but it was hard to tell what it was because she seemed to focus on different things at different parts of the story.
Was this about her family's history with the courtyard-style houses of Old Beijing? Was this about her struggle to find a subject to make a documentary on? Was this about her indecision about where to call 'home'?
I could relate to many of the things Wang went through, which was ultimately what compelled me to complete the book: seeing her family home, navigating relationships in China when you look Chinese but are more American, misunderstandings thanks to cultural barriers, absurd sightings on the streets, parental obligations. Reading this made me nostalgic for Shanghai, but like Wang, I'm nostalgic for a romanticized version of Shanghai and not the modern, real, thing.
September 3, 2016
I came across this book in the gift shop of an MFA exhibit (entitled Megacities: Asia), and I was intrigued by the premise of a Chinese-American returning to the motherland, of sorts, by packing it up to live in China for a few years. As a Taiwanese-American who has nurtured more than a few dreams of having a small apartment in Taipei, I figured this book would speak to me, so I added it to the to-read list. I don't quite know what I expected - I suppose Beijing Bastard does a good enough job of explaining Val's family and some of the difficulties of being only semi-fluent in Mandarin, but it left me cold. I don't often read memoirs, and I think I was looking for tighter narration, or more insight into the author and her subjects, and I never really got it. I liked seeing how Val's relationship with her family changed over the course of her life in Beijing, but her fleeting friendships, romances, and the oddly rushed happy ending (which even the author points out) left a unclear impression of who the author was or what Beijing was like. I suppose, though, that it's foolish to rely upon a book to show the soul of a city.
November 10, 2014
This is one of the better memoirs about expat life in modern China prior to the massive changes that took place for the Olympics in Beijing. Val describes Beijing well, always taking into account that her daily life is both Chinese and American. Her identity seems fluid, just like Beijing during that period.
The honesty of her prose combined with the accuracy of the sounds and actions she witnessed in Beijing is laudable and comforting especially to those that lived in Beijing during this period. She makes Beijing seem accessible and challenging at the same time.
Her experiences with the underground filmmakers and Peking Opera family members also provide a glimpse into these unique communities in China without providing exhaustive detail which can be found in more academic texts.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in Beijing prior to the massive infusion of wealth and cultural change that now grips Beijing. It is a great travel book and perfect for any student about to embark on a experience living, working, or studying in China.
The honesty of her prose combined with the accuracy of the sounds and actions she witnessed in Beijing is laudable and comforting especially to those that lived in Beijing during this period. She makes Beijing seem accessible and challenging at the same time.
Her experiences with the underground filmmakers and Peking Opera family members also provide a glimpse into these unique communities in China without providing exhaustive detail which can be found in more academic texts.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in Beijing prior to the massive infusion of wealth and cultural change that now grips Beijing. It is a great travel book and perfect for any student about to embark on a experience living, working, or studying in China.
August 28, 2014
Val Wang, A Chinese American, followed her roots and her dreams to distant lands. This book made me feel like I was right with her as she at first rebelled against her upbringing and family tradition then embraced them. I was the American sidekick cheering her cheeky American attitude. I mourned the loss of old traditional homes and neighborhoods. I shared the feelings of anxiety associated first with new experiences then the need to return to America.
Beijing Bastard: Into the Wilds of a Changing China was a book I received as a pre-release publication. I was intrigued by the small blurb written about the book. Once I received it, I couldn't put it down. I wanted to hear more about Bobo and Boma and the rest of the characters that Val Wang met. This was a great book of a young woman exploring her roots in a land with very different traditions, culture and standards than we are use to here in the USA. Thank you Val, for inviting me along on your worldly adventures
Beijing Bastard: Into the Wilds of a Changing China was a book I received as a pre-release publication. I was intrigued by the small blurb written about the book. Once I received it, I couldn't put it down. I wanted to hear more about Bobo and Boma and the rest of the characters that Val Wang met. This was a great book of a young woman exploring her roots in a land with very different traditions, culture and standards than we are use to here in the USA. Thank you Val, for inviting me along on your worldly adventures
January 27, 2015
American born Chinese becomes an expat in Beijing. She resents her Chinese relatives for not providing more pleasant accomodations for her, and her parents for having any expectations. A flirtation with married filmmaker somehow doesn't launch her documentary career. Prior to her living in Baltimore for a year or ever visiting, she compared a street in Beijing to "the kind of dinky bar street you'd find in a second -tier city like Baltimore or Omaha." For an aspiring cosmopolitan (from this current Baltimorean), this seems awfully provincial. She meets a family trained in Peking opera and starts to film them, but dislikes them and acts awkward; somehow this documentary fails to take wing as well. Some of the personality of urban China in transition shines through beneath the relentless din of her mocking almost everyone she meets and being generally miserable.
September 21, 2014
In Beijing Bastard Val Wang has attempted to write an account of her search for family and self. I have no doubt her time spent in this ancient city provided much opportunity for both, but this book is uneven at best. What you get is surface, of a city in transition and of Wang herself. Strangely enough, she does better with the city. With herself, she never quite gets beyond the ex-pat, rather shallow and slightly whiny “American girl rebelling against her parents” impression. There was so much fodder for depth in this book, Grandfather Zhang and the Peking Opera, Bomu and Bobo, but not only did the author not take advantage of it, she did not show much empathy. I wish she’d go back and try again.
May 30, 2015
I received a copy of this book for free via Goodreads giveaways.*
I'm surprised by the bad reviews this book is getting on here. Although it's not the best travel writing/memoir I've ever read, I really did enjoy it. Yes, the writing can be a bit detached or jumpy, but I think that that reflects her life/experiences/Beijing so it worked for me.
What makes me consider this book successful is that China has never been high on my travel list (it's there, just not a priority, ya know?) but this one makes me want to commit to an Asian trip.
I'm surprised by the bad reviews this book is getting on here. Although it's not the best travel writing/memoir I've ever read, I really did enjoy it. Yes, the writing can be a bit detached or jumpy, but I think that that reflects her life/experiences/Beijing so it worked for me.
What makes me consider this book successful is that China has never been high on my travel list (it's there, just not a priority, ya know?) but this one makes me want to commit to an Asian trip.
September 9, 2015
This was incredibly rambling, and there never seemed to be much of a purpose to it. I can't remember who recommended it to me, but I am surprised that someone ever did, since it was a really boring read that I slogged through just to get to the end. Unfortunately, even the end didn't seem to have much of a point to it, and I kind of wish I had just put it down permanently.
February 14, 2020
I didn’t love this book, and I often thought about giving up. I’m not really sure why I kept going. Book guilt? The writing is very disjointed and rambling, I often thought I’d flipped forward two pages rather than one, and had to keep checking I hadn’t missed a page...
The best part of the writing was towards the end, when she’s talking about her family history and seeing how she fits into that. I thought it was very reflective, the most coherent writing, and interesting to read. Sadly, it was only a small part of the book, a desperate sprint to the finish line in an otherwise unremarkable performance.
The best part of the writing was towards the end, when she’s talking about her family history and seeing how she fits into that. I thought it was very reflective, the most coherent writing, and interesting to read. Sadly, it was only a small part of the book, a desperate sprint to the finish line in an otherwise unremarkable performance.
December 14, 2017
3.5 Stars
The story is of losing and finding oneself in the dynamic and ever changing flows of rising China. I found the story itself relatable, having lived in China myself, but other than my connection and personal interest in the setting I didn't find much else of the book pulling me in. The writing itself is gritty, which at first seemed part of the allure but ultimately came off as a bit mess and took away from the overall feeling.
Disclaimer: I received this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway; however, this in no way altered my review or opinion.
The story is of losing and finding oneself in the dynamic and ever changing flows of rising China. I found the story itself relatable, having lived in China myself, but other than my connection and personal interest in the setting I didn't find much else of the book pulling me in. The writing itself is gritty, which at first seemed part of the allure but ultimately came off as a bit mess and took away from the overall feeling.
Disclaimer: I received this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway; however, this in no way altered my review or opinion.
January 5, 2018
There was so much potential here but Wang's memoir feels let down by a lack of cohesion and a non-existent narrative arc. Less memoir and more like a linear diary, I made it to the end of the book but only through dogged determination. It's a real shame as there were so many themes I could relate to (rediscovering family heritage, the east v west parent and child dynamic, pursuing artistic career paths vs traditional safe jobs etc) but I didn't really get a sense of who Wang really is, how she sees herself, how she sees her family in China and the US, or old China vs new.
November 6, 2017
In chaotic prose, Val Wang tells the story of her years in Bejing. Even though the story is told chronologically she goes on tangents far too often. I could not figure out what she was trying to say. My interest was in how Bejing and Chinese culture was changing: and how you feel living in the country you parents came from. I was not all impressed with the accounts of bad boyfriends or getting drunk. It just did not fit with the rest of the story.
January 1, 2018
This book is poorly written. You can't have a flashback within a flashback. Half the time I didn't even know what was going on, and the timeline was all kinds of screwed up. It might have been okay if she wasn't so entirely self-absorbed. Obviously it's a memoir, but this author seems to think her stories are interesting when they really aren't.
August 10, 2018
This book was like a promising date that went bad. I was captivated by the book the first 100 pages: however, midway I lost interest. The author didn’t hold my attention. There wasn’t a climatic point, it just was a bunch of rambling. Therefore, I stopped reading.
November 27, 2020
I enjoyed it, but I've lived in Beijing and was interested to find how *my* Beijing was different from hers. I think the idea of trying to break free of parental expectations it's relatable to anyone. Recommend.
April 17, 2022
2.5 stars
Wanted her to get more involved with avant-garde world of art in China, she goes to some shows, meets some people. Very much about her relationship with her family.
Opera family she interviews is both drawn-out but also funny at moments.
Wanted her to get more involved with avant-garde world of art in China, she goes to some shows, meets some people. Very much about her relationship with her family.
Opera family she interviews is both drawn-out but also funny at moments.
July 29, 2023
Infurious Basterds
It was an okay book.
Good detail on the cultural differences of the Chinese people.
I didn't love the memoir-type writing. I found it overly verbose and dry. But it was still an interesting cultural and sociology read.
3.7/5
It was an okay book.
Good detail on the cultural differences of the Chinese people.
I didn't love the memoir-type writing. I found it overly verbose and dry. But it was still an interesting cultural and sociology read.
3.7/5
August 20, 2025
if anything, this book is hilarious. it's simplicity and candor approach to inter generational tensions and leagues elevates the book and its message. It's semi autobiographical laced with brevity and comic relief. the best beach read I've read in a while.
May 1, 2020
Awful! The narrative is just so confusing, and difficult to empathise with, I just found this book an absolute struggle, I am not sure I read all the way to the end!
November 7, 2022
An exploration of the Chinese-American author's experience filming a documentary in China. Gritty and fun.
December 5, 2023
I liked it! I thought the author does a great job with her description of China and the generational differences.
June 3, 2017
I received a free copy of Beijing Bastard through Goodreads First Reads.
Initial Review:
Beijing Bastard is just not a good match for me. It was not at all like I thought it would be after reading the description. Reading it was almost painful. After struggling through the first part, I took my time before picking this book up again. (Jumping back and forth in time and going off on tangents is best done in moderation.) But, I was determined to give it a fair chance and a decent review--one that came from having read the whole book.
I couldn't help finding some parts very offensive. But, I assume that's what Wang was going for--especially after describing herself as some sort of rebellious youth which, unfortunately, came across as very clichéd. Her story feels like a bunches of unnecessarily detailed descriptions of the commonplace without really saying much (like her attempts at onomatopoeia which seem randomly placed and painfully mismatched with their sources). Things like this give the impression that Wang is trying hard to make an uninteresting story seem interesting.
Amidst many ramblings, Wang compares the new and old eras of China a number of times, but I'm not sure which she prefers or if she even has an opinion. She talks about missing the old courtyard houses and being disappointed when they're destroyed to make way for new buildings, and enjoying the documentary about the old men and their slow life, among other things. She even expresses some interest in traditional Chinese Opera. Yet, she doesn't really seem to connect with the elderly Chinese she meets or knows, or China's former culture. It's almost as if her regard for old China is superficial, like nostalgia over some glossy version of history that you don't really connect with.
So far, I feel like this book would improve tremendously if Wang would trim the unnecessary "fat".
Final review:
...Well, the second half of the book was much better than the first half. It was more along the lines of what I expected after reading the book's description. Less back and forth, sudden leaps in time (and over and over again), and better story telling. (Basically, I could follow Wang's story, her experiences and thoughts, a lot better and could relate to her more.) Too bad the first half isn't more like the second. If it had been, I'd probably have rated it with three out of five stars (maybe 3.5 to 4 out of 5 if it was more PG-13...maybe).
Initial Review:
Beijing Bastard is just not a good match for me. It was not at all like I thought it would be after reading the description. Reading it was almost painful. After struggling through the first part, I took my time before picking this book up again. (Jumping back and forth in time and going off on tangents is best done in moderation.) But, I was determined to give it a fair chance and a decent review--one that came from having read the whole book.
I couldn't help finding some parts very offensive. But, I assume that's what Wang was going for--especially after describing herself as some sort of rebellious youth which, unfortunately, came across as very clichéd. Her story feels like a bunches of unnecessarily detailed descriptions of the commonplace without really saying much (like her attempts at onomatopoeia which seem randomly placed and painfully mismatched with their sources). Things like this give the impression that Wang is trying hard to make an uninteresting story seem interesting.
Amidst many ramblings, Wang compares the new and old eras of China a number of times, but I'm not sure which she prefers or if she even has an opinion. She talks about missing the old courtyard houses and being disappointed when they're destroyed to make way for new buildings, and enjoying the documentary about the old men and their slow life, among other things. She even expresses some interest in traditional Chinese Opera. Yet, she doesn't really seem to connect with the elderly Chinese she meets or knows, or China's former culture. It's almost as if her regard for old China is superficial, like nostalgia over some glossy version of history that you don't really connect with.
So far, I feel like this book would improve tremendously if Wang would trim the unnecessary "fat".
Final review:
...Well, the second half of the book was much better than the first half. It was more along the lines of what I expected after reading the book's description. Less back and forth, sudden leaps in time (and over and over again), and better story telling. (Basically, I could follow Wang's story, her experiences and thoughts, a lot better and could relate to her more.) Too bad the first half isn't more like the second. If it had been, I'd probably have rated it with three out of five stars (maybe 3.5 to 4 out of 5 if it was more PG-13...maybe).
September 12, 2014
First and foremost, let me state for the record that I knew nothing about this book or the author before I picked it up. So, there were no expectations or prejudices involved…other than the fact that the cover and the description of the book appealed to me. I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads
While the book is relatively well-written, it’s not what I’d refer to as riveting…but then I wasn’t expecting riveting. I got what I was hoping for, though - a vivid and fluid account of clashing cultures (on quite a few levels) and, most importantly, an unvarnished, unemotional, realistic description of something few Americans of my age – or any age, for that matter – have ever seen, let along experienced: life in modern day China.
For that fact alone, this book is well worth reading. And it delivers. Her vivid portrait of the somewhat unreal and oft-times perplexing daiiy life in – and of – Beijing was, for me, the saving grace of this book and the primary reason I chose to read it.
Fortunately, Val Wang’s memoir includes more than enough of her observational and emotional responses to her experiences (both personal and professional), her otherwise inexplicable (to her family and friends, particularly),l willingness to travel to and work/live in a culture diametrically opposed to upbringing, and her desire to succeed as a journalist/documentary filmmaker in the country with which her parents both connected and – yet – disconnected to achieve something relatively important to this literary endeavor….to make me care about her as a person. That was crucial. I did care.
That said, the most valuable “takeaway” from Beijing Bastard was its portrayal of life – just plain ol’ daily life – in China, for everyone from what might be considered a low-to-low/middle income family to young “slackers” and artists, to those who were at the time riding the wave of unbridled capitalism recently unleashed in a nation and culture which had spent the previous half century demonizing it.
It was, in essence, a peak behind the veneer which the People’s Republic of China – until recently – so ruthlessly and effectively kept hidden. For that alone, this book is worth reading. The culture clash is icing on the cake.
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