Tea on the Great Wall: An American Girl in War-Torn China

by Patricia Luce Chapman

"Shirley Temple" in Wonderland meets Chinese opium addicts, Nazis, and Japanese bayonets—Tea on the Great Wall is a young American girl's account as the world falls apart in 1930s China. Patricia Luce Chapman's memoir is full of the color and feel of living as a foreigner in a Chinese world, the encroachment of the Japanese, and the takeover by the Nazis of the German school in Shanghai that she attended.

Genres: China, Nonfiction, Memoir

346 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2015

About the author

I grew up in Shanghai, China, to adventuresome parents who went there before there were plane or phone connections. My life has been affected in many ways by seeing the women with bound feet ("Lotus feet") and funeral parades and face-saving formalities; by the multinational world, and by the colors and bizarre [to American foreigners] smells and music.

I am a journalist (Associated Press, Christian Science Monitor) and author ("Survivor's Guide to Grief" and "To Bernard Berenson With Love") have a second career as songwriter, founded and ran two non-profit corporations.

Two more books are on their way now that I have retired to the Texas Gulf Coast where I live in paradise, by a Nature Preserve, and have the space and peace in which to write. Have four children and three grandsons.

Reviews

[Moselle Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an American child growing up in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation, the author experienced at once a life of ease and danger. I was shocked by how dedicated her parents were to both her German education and to the family's staying in Shanghai as long as possible. The writing style is a bit unpolished but candid.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful read, this memoir reveals a time gone by in Old Shanghai when American and European expats lived a life of privilege and war-tinged uncertainty. Patricia weaves a poignant story through the eyes of a young girl who's very world is shaken to the core. Yet her descriptions of 1930s Shanghai quench the thirst of French Concession Sinophiles.

[Kiran Doshi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look at Chinese culture and life from American point of view

Beautiful book told by young American girl but written by old American lady, Chinese at heart. Makes you hate war and love people, no matter what their race, color or background. Coming from India and living in America for life, I can appreciate different cultures without judgement

[Joyce Eggebeen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never learned this part of history before, and the way the Chinese have been treated for so long! Thanks, Patricia.

[Gretchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, Haunting Memoir

Amazingly vivid memories of China prior to and including WWII. The author spares no detail as she recounts her life in China as the daughter of a well-to-do American family, living in 1930s China. I thought Patricia shared marvelously from a child and teenage perspective. Grateful to see some heart and flesh connected to the historical relevance of the events of the late '30s and early '40s of the last century. How i would love to chat with her, and hear more stories over tea.

[Nancy Rosen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful book. I visited China a couple of years ago and Chapman's writing made me feel like I was there again. An important book for its insights and first-person memories of Chine in the years before WWII. She is no friend to the Japanese. N.B. her name is Patricia Luce Chapman. Yes, THAT Luce.

[Vickie Laubner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous book. One of the best I have ever read.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring