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One Bright Moon
From famine to freedom, how a young boy fled Chairman Mao's China to a new life in Australia
Andrew Kwong was only seven when he witnessed his first execution. The grim scene left him sleepless, anxious and doubtful about his fervour as a revolutionary in Mao's New China. Yet he knew if he devoted himself to the Party and its Chairman he would be saved. That's what his teacher told him.
Months later, it was his own father on trial. This time the sentence was banishment to a re-education camp, not death. It left the family tainted, despised, and with few means of survival during the terrible years of persecution and famine known as the Great Leap Forward. Even after his father returned, things remained desperate. Escape seemed the only solution, and it would be twelve-year-old Andrew who undertook the perilous journey first.
This is the poignant, resonant story of a young boy's awakening - to survival, education, fulfilment, and eventually to a new life of freedom.
PRAISE
'This book will live on in your heart long after you've read the last page' Vicki Laveau-Harvie, author of The Erratics
'Heart-breaking, honest, personal, Andrew Kwong's moving journey from oppression to freedom is inspiring' Susanne Gervay, OAM, author
'A profoundly moving and spellbinding story that perfectly illuminates the terror of the times and the irrepressible yearning for something better' Carol Major, author and writing mentor
'One Bright Moon is extraordinary writing that encapsulates long-term hunger as a background feature of daily life in Mao's New China. In the foreground are images of adults and children populating the world of the pre-teenage boy with a photographic memory who would later write of them. The book is rich archival material for the study of China's social history' Mabel Lee, PhD FAHA, writer and translator
Andrew Kwong was only seven when he witnessed his first execution. The grim scene left him sleepless, anxious and doubtful about his fervour as a revolutionary in Mao's New China. Yet he knew if he devoted himself to the Party and its Chairman he would be saved. That's what his teacher told him.
Months later, it was his own father on trial. This time the sentence was banishment to a re-education camp, not death. It left the family tainted, despised, and with few means of survival during the terrible years of persecution and famine known as the Great Leap Forward. Even after his father returned, things remained desperate. Escape seemed the only solution, and it would be twelve-year-old Andrew who undertook the perilous journey first.
This is the poignant, resonant story of a young boy's awakening - to survival, education, fulfilment, and eventually to a new life of freedom.
PRAISE
'This book will live on in your heart long after you've read the last page' Vicki Laveau-Harvie, author of The Erratics
'Heart-breaking, honest, personal, Andrew Kwong's moving journey from oppression to freedom is inspiring' Susanne Gervay, OAM, author
'A profoundly moving and spellbinding story that perfectly illuminates the terror of the times and the irrepressible yearning for something better' Carol Major, author and writing mentor
'One Bright Moon is extraordinary writing that encapsulates long-term hunger as a background feature of daily life in Mao's New China. In the foreground are images of adults and children populating the world of the pre-teenage boy with a photographic memory who would later write of them. The book is rich archival material for the study of China's social history' Mabel Lee, PhD FAHA, writer and translator
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
May 17, 2020
One Bright Moon is a compelling and lyrical memoir. It begins in 1940s China and charts the oppressive rise of Mao’s New China and the consequences this has on the author and his family. It captures a young boy’s hope and optimism for a bright future, only to see it taken from him and his family time and time again. But even as a child, Kwong never loses sight of the opportunities and freedom an education will give him, if only he can escape China and learn something other than the doctrine of Communism.
This is a powerful and hopeful story of perseverance and survival, but also a harrowing one of separation and sacrifice. But above all, One Bright Moon is a moving tribute to a deeply loved family whose bond never diminishes despite the tyranny of long absences and distance. Told mostly by the author as a child, readers are given a rare and honest insight into the power of propaganda, the human cost of Mao’s Great Leap Forward and the determination and courage of those who seek a better life. Andrew Kwong is one of those brave hearts, and his story is a testament to what can be achieved when a boy refuses to give up on his dreams.
This is a powerful and hopeful story of perseverance and survival, but also a harrowing one of separation and sacrifice. But above all, One Bright Moon is a moving tribute to a deeply loved family whose bond never diminishes despite the tyranny of long absences and distance. Told mostly by the author as a child, readers are given a rare and honest insight into the power of propaganda, the human cost of Mao’s Great Leap Forward and the determination and courage of those who seek a better life. Andrew Kwong is one of those brave hearts, and his story is a testament to what can be achieved when a boy refuses to give up on his dreams.
May 26, 2020
Memoirs of escaping the China of the horrific, so-called 'cultural revolution' have appeared steadily for a number of years now, with Jung Chan's Wild Swans and Li Cunxin's Mao's Last Dancer among the most prominent. Andrew Kwong's new memoir of his childhood during the violent chaos of Mao's China in the 1960s and subsequent escape is distinguished by his unique personal story, the vivid evocation of the events of the time through a child's eyes, and the quiet will he shows to achieve his potential despite these circumstances.
Andrew's determination is fulfilled when he makes a daring escape to Hong Kong as a boy, eventually reaching Australia where he now has his own family and practises as a GP. As well as being a gripping and poignant memoir of his family's experience, Andrew Kwong's One Bright Moon vividly evokes the Maoist era, and is a reminder of the power of the human spirit to challenge overpowering and often tragic circumstances.
Andrew's determination is fulfilled when he makes a daring escape to Hong Kong as a boy, eventually reaching Australia where he now has his own family and practises as a GP. As well as being a gripping and poignant memoir of his family's experience, Andrew Kwong's One Bright Moon vividly evokes the Maoist era, and is a reminder of the power of the human spirit to challenge overpowering and often tragic circumstances.
June 6, 2020
'One Bright Moon' is Andrew Kwong's memoir of growing up in small-town China as the son of 'high intellectuals' (college-educated parents), the persecution of his family, and their eventual escape to new lives.
I've not read a lot about life during the Chinese 'Cultural Revolution'. I'm much more familiar with books set in North Korea and the centre of my world books universe is the Indian sub-continent. 'One Bright Moon' therefore helped to fill quite a few gaps in my knowledge of how things worked in China but there was something about the book the just didn't grab me the way many other accounts of childhood hardship have. Perhaps I can blame reading too many dissident accounts of North Korea in which cultural indoctrination and starvation were many degrees harsher than Kwong's descriptions of life on the Pearl River delta for leaving me feeling a bit flat. I'm not claiming compassion fatigue - I do still feel horribly sad for all they had to go through - but I have maybe over-shocked myself for too long with other books.
The writing is oddly impersonal. I didn't feel like I knew the writer well for reading about most of his life. I also always doubt the ability of small children to so precisely recall the events and conversations of their childhood.
Kwong's life is an interesting one. He got permission to leave China not once, but twice and his father survived the harsh labour camps of the Mao era and got out early when the camps couldn't afford to keep feeding their prisoners. The love of the family across distance and time is remarkable. The grandmother in Hong Kong has been apart from her husband in Hawaii for many decades and Kwong's parents are separated for many years both inside and outside China.
I'm glad to have read this and grateful to Netgalley for a free ARC in return for an honest review. That said, it won't be a book that I expect will linger in my memory.
I've not read a lot about life during the Chinese 'Cultural Revolution'. I'm much more familiar with books set in North Korea and the centre of my world books universe is the Indian sub-continent. 'One Bright Moon' therefore helped to fill quite a few gaps in my knowledge of how things worked in China but there was something about the book the just didn't grab me the way many other accounts of childhood hardship have. Perhaps I can blame reading too many dissident accounts of North Korea in which cultural indoctrination and starvation were many degrees harsher than Kwong's descriptions of life on the Pearl River delta for leaving me feeling a bit flat. I'm not claiming compassion fatigue - I do still feel horribly sad for all they had to go through - but I have maybe over-shocked myself for too long with other books.
The writing is oddly impersonal. I didn't feel like I knew the writer well for reading about most of his life. I also always doubt the ability of small children to so precisely recall the events and conversations of their childhood.
Kwong's life is an interesting one. He got permission to leave China not once, but twice and his father survived the harsh labour camps of the Mao era and got out early when the camps couldn't afford to keep feeding their prisoners. The love of the family across distance and time is remarkable. The grandmother in Hong Kong has been apart from her husband in Hawaii for many decades and Kwong's parents are separated for many years both inside and outside China.
I'm glad to have read this and grateful to Netgalley for a free ARC in return for an honest review. That said, it won't be a book that I expect will linger in my memory.
June 21, 2020
A bride arrives at the village, men ferrying her there in a bridal sedan sustained by two poles. Should the poles collapse or the carriage fall down, bad luck will befall the marriage and curse the children sprung from the bride’s womb. Before the bride reaches her destination, one of the two poles snap and the question hangs thick in the spring air: will the groom allow the wedding to continue or cancel it on the strength of centuries-old superstitions?
Andrew Kwong’s story, One Bright Moon, is a journey from superstition to communism as seen through the personal lens of a survivor of Mao’s crippling regime.
The contemporary reader, who might come to this memoir on the back of Mao’s Last Dancer, is painfully aware of the shortfall between the rhetoric of communism and its practical outcomes. As Andrew’s book describes in such vivid detail, the young and old of his Pearl River delta community suffer enormously as agricultural experiments fail and crops die. In a bid to create food from the barest of resources, the Party calls on its citizens to build algae ponds. The streets will grow green slime that is a new form of protein, guaranteed to make the starving people strong again. Rice is twice boiled so that the hunger pangs are staved off for a few minutes longer. Children hunt down vermin to eat to supplement woefully inadequate government rations.
Unsurprisingly, an illicit trade springs up in people trafficking so that starving Chinese can escape to Hong Kong. Kwong is smuggled out in a boat, locked away behind a false wall, and almost dies of asphyxiation.
Remarkably, the teenage stowaway survives the journey to Hong Kong. Here, he uses his tenacity and cunning to master English, the language he’s been repeatedly told is the gateway to his future. From the moment Andrew figures out how to do a dictation test by first memorising the passage before hearing it read out, we understand the kind of tenacity he’ll apply to the considerable challenges ahead of him. When this tenacity is combined with intelligence and the willingness to work hard, it produces the kind of results for Andrew that most can only dream about: in his final year of high school he leaps over thousands of applicants to earn the honour of a medical degree at an English-speaking university.
Andrew elects to take his degree in Australia and serendipitously arrives when Gough Whitlam has declared university education free for all. Before long he has fallen for an Australian woman and decided he will make this wide brown land his home.
One Bright Moon is a testament to the hard work, courage and tenacity of our immigrants and why it is important, particularly in this age of growing tensions between Australia and China, to maintain an open mind in regard to immigration policies.
Highly recommended.
Andrew Kwong’s story, One Bright Moon, is a journey from superstition to communism as seen through the personal lens of a survivor of Mao’s crippling regime.
The contemporary reader, who might come to this memoir on the back of Mao’s Last Dancer, is painfully aware of the shortfall between the rhetoric of communism and its practical outcomes. As Andrew’s book describes in such vivid detail, the young and old of his Pearl River delta community suffer enormously as agricultural experiments fail and crops die. In a bid to create food from the barest of resources, the Party calls on its citizens to build algae ponds. The streets will grow green slime that is a new form of protein, guaranteed to make the starving people strong again. Rice is twice boiled so that the hunger pangs are staved off for a few minutes longer. Children hunt down vermin to eat to supplement woefully inadequate government rations.
Unsurprisingly, an illicit trade springs up in people trafficking so that starving Chinese can escape to Hong Kong. Kwong is smuggled out in a boat, locked away behind a false wall, and almost dies of asphyxiation.
Remarkably, the teenage stowaway survives the journey to Hong Kong. Here, he uses his tenacity and cunning to master English, the language he’s been repeatedly told is the gateway to his future. From the moment Andrew figures out how to do a dictation test by first memorising the passage before hearing it read out, we understand the kind of tenacity he’ll apply to the considerable challenges ahead of him. When this tenacity is combined with intelligence and the willingness to work hard, it produces the kind of results for Andrew that most can only dream about: in his final year of high school he leaps over thousands of applicants to earn the honour of a medical degree at an English-speaking university.
Andrew elects to take his degree in Australia and serendipitously arrives when Gough Whitlam has declared university education free for all. Before long he has fallen for an Australian woman and decided he will make this wide brown land his home.
One Bright Moon is a testament to the hard work, courage and tenacity of our immigrants and why it is important, particularly in this age of growing tensions between Australia and China, to maintain an open mind in regard to immigration policies.
Highly recommended.
May 18, 2020
A wonderful, epic, sad, generous book. Andrew Kwong captures the innocence, expectations and sometimes defiance of a child facing terrible times with an incredibly assured voice - there is hardly a note wrong. The years of the Great Leap Forward were ones of starvation, deprivation and terror for people across China, and this book describes them intimately. As life becomes more difficult, his family, once supporters, of the revolution, continually look for ways to escape. Meanwhile Andrew and his friends - hungry, deprived of proper education, desperate to be worthy of Mao’s great love - find ways to amuse themselves. They bask in friendship and the love of their families. But they cannot keep the worst of the terror at bay. Eventually Andrew gets the chance to leave. His journey to relative safety in Hong Kong is both eye-opening and gruelling - especially when he is in the hands of those who run the snake business of people smuggling. His experience is an insight into the whole people smuggling business - as it was in the 1960s anyway.
One of the plaintive themes of the book - so vivid in the growing child’s voice is why do regimes split families, terrify their citizens, set neighbour against neighbour? Most of all it is a tribute to his mother, who suffers most as various family members escape to a better life. One Bright Moon is the kind of book that makes you grateful for the freedoms and opportunities we have, and the parallels between Mao’s China and what we hear of life in China now are striking. This is a sweeping, important book like Wild Swans and Mao’s Last Dancer. It’s also the story of many Chinese who emigrated during this time. It could be your family’s story - or your neighbour’s. It’s brilliant, beautifully told and gripping. Totally recommended.
One of the plaintive themes of the book - so vivid in the growing child’s voice is why do regimes split families, terrify their citizens, set neighbour against neighbour? Most of all it is a tribute to his mother, who suffers most as various family members escape to a better life. One Bright Moon is the kind of book that makes you grateful for the freedoms and opportunities we have, and the parallels between Mao’s China and what we hear of life in China now are striking. This is a sweeping, important book like Wild Swans and Mao’s Last Dancer. It’s also the story of many Chinese who emigrated during this time. It could be your family’s story - or your neighbour’s. It’s brilliant, beautifully told and gripping. Totally recommended.
March 12, 2020
Brilliantly written memoir of a childhood in Maoist China. Quite horrific how their society became more and more deluded as things got worse. Of course, the Chinese were always accustomed to famine and royal edicts, but under Communism things just seemed to get so much worse. The eye witness accounts here are enthralling, the descriptions poetic, the hope constant. If they could just escape... Eventually a young Andrew does escape to Australia, but the journey was long and arduous. I found it most interesting how a young child's beliefs changed as reality became apparent around him.
May 31, 2020
you know its a good read when it keeps you thinking about it weeks later
June 5, 2020
Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers Australia and NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.
In "One Bright Moon", Kwong discusses his painful coming of age in Chairman Mao's China. As a member of the intellectual class, Kwong and his family were subject to unfair levels of scrutiny and police brutality. Eventually subjugated to the worst caste in Chinese society, Kwong becomes disillusioned with Mao's manifesto and works to escape China. After a harrowing few years of fighting the system, he makes the extraordinary journey to Australia and starts a new life. While I enjoyed this book, I would like to mention that for many generations, people in the lower socioeconomic status have had to live just as Kwong and his family live. In fact, in the United States today, many people live in the way Kwong's family had to live. However, because of their lack of access to education, they often can't escape in the same way. Therefore, one of the values that Kwong ironically embraces is the value of education which is something Mao professed too. Overall, a tender coming of age tale!
In "One Bright Moon", Kwong discusses his painful coming of age in Chairman Mao's China. As a member of the intellectual class, Kwong and his family were subject to unfair levels of scrutiny and police brutality. Eventually subjugated to the worst caste in Chinese society, Kwong becomes disillusioned with Mao's manifesto and works to escape China. After a harrowing few years of fighting the system, he makes the extraordinary journey to Australia and starts a new life. While I enjoyed this book, I would like to mention that for many generations, people in the lower socioeconomic status have had to live just as Kwong and his family live. In fact, in the United States today, many people live in the way Kwong's family had to live. However, because of their lack of access to education, they often can't escape in the same way. Therefore, one of the values that Kwong ironically embraces is the value of education which is something Mao professed too. Overall, a tender coming of age tale!
March 24, 2022
This Book was recommended to me by matt (youtuber). What he got from this book was gratitude for what he has. But for me it was inspiration. I was even able to relate to his story. Matthew was born in Shiqi a town in china. Me being born in Ulhasnagar a town in India. I was able to connect to the story as Indian & Chinese are similar. It was also wonderful to read a success story which I want one day to be mine. But the thing which i don't like is his lake of patriotism. In this whole book he seems to portray china as the villian & west as a paradise. Which is not fair. He portrayed Australia as a heaven on earth. But if you ask a aborigine there you will get a bigger picture. But i can't blame him for that after facing great leap forward anybody will have that opinion. So to conclude it is surely a great read.
December 19, 2021
This is a brilliant piece of Australian multicultural writing and also a moving memoir. I throughly enjoyed the roller coaster ride it took me on and at the same time increasing my understanding of the Chinese psyche, the irony of what Maos China did to this and how individuals have taken the power of ideology to build themselves into the people they want to be after realising that absolute power corrupts absolutely. I would be most honoured to be a patient of Dr Kwong if I lived in the central coast of NSW. He has helped, through this book not only to tell his story but bridge many cultural gaps.
July 2, 2020
ONE BRIGHT MOON by Andrew Kwong is a captivating memoir that I truly loved! This book had me crying at the end! It was so easy to connect to Andrew and his desire for survival and freedom for himself and his family. His perseverance and toughness was absolutely amazing to deal with famine and having to escape China for freedom and education. I’m really glad Andrew shared his story with the world. I definitely recommend this book!
Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers Australia via NetGalley for my advance reading copy!
Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers Australia via NetGalley for my advance reading copy!
May 11, 2024
This is why memoirs are my favorite genre. Through a boy's eyes, I see how a small family survived and persevered through the darkest period in China's history. I see their worries, suffering and hope. I see how luck and self-drive both direct someone's life. When I was deep my work cave, feeling anxious and tired, this book led me to a different time and place, where little Andrew flew the kite and dreamed about having food other than double cooked rice. I wish he could reflect a bit more on how his attitude had changed, shifting from admiration for the new China to a state of delusion.
August 5, 2021
I gave this book a 4 star with a little reservation. The book made me feel I was there going through the terrible times the family suffered and felt the joy of their successes. It broke my heart to hear what the people had to endure.
However, even though the facts are true, I found hard to believe the amount of detail someone can remember of his younger years, so I can’t help but feel that some of the stories were embellished.
The writing seemed inconsistent. At times the passages were so beautiful stated and others it read like a grammar school child wrote it. But the fact that I wanted to keep going to the next chapter, is very indicative of a good book and that is why I gave it a 4.
However, even though the facts are true, I found hard to believe the amount of detail someone can remember of his younger years, so I can’t help but feel that some of the stories were embellished.
The writing seemed inconsistent. At times the passages were so beautiful stated and others it read like a grammar school child wrote it. But the fact that I wanted to keep going to the next chapter, is very indicative of a good book and that is why I gave it a 4.
August 14, 2020
When you are starving, you'll eat anything to keep you alive. When a family have to split up just to survive.It's sad and shocking.
This is a memoir of Andrew Kong and his family, escaping China under Chairman Mao. I'm so amazed by Andrew and his family, on their perseverance, resilience and survival to get their freedom. Thank you for sharing this memoir, it's really touching and inspirational.
This is a memoir of Andrew Kong and his family, escaping China under Chairman Mao. I'm so amazed by Andrew and his family, on their perseverance, resilience and survival to get their freedom. Thank you for sharing this memoir, it's really touching and inspirational.
April 5, 2021
An example of what those living in Mao's China endured and how hope and powerful strength of character allowed them to carry on. Some very strong individuals in this book that will continue to inspire me, and some beautiful dialog between mother, father, son and daughters.
July 20, 2020
“One Bright Moon” is a first book by Australian author and General Medical Practitioner Dr Andrew Kwong, who narrates the story of his childhood in Shiqi, China, during the regime of Chairman Mao. The gruelling and often terrifying historical and personal events experienced by the author, his family and friends are told in vivid and illuminating detail through the voice of a child.
Kwong skilfully uses understatement in his memoir, the prose is never overwrought. Nonetheless, the full horror that he confronts is keenly apparent. Descriptions of the landscapes are evocative, poetic and the sense of place is strongest when it is imbued with humour and poignancy through the sensory and emotional perspective of the author.
Sharon Rundle
https://confluence/mobi
June 22, 2020
Excellent account of growing up during the cultural revolution in China. The personal story of life as a small child, the indoctrination, the black listing, the persecutions, the executions, the re-education and later the horrific famine. A story of survival and eventual escape and determination in creating a new future.
This is a history that is not very well known by people outside of China and not even by later generations in China where this part of their history has been blacked out.
It is important that this story be told. Andrew Kwong did an excellent job with this.
This is a history that is not very well known by people outside of China and not even by later generations in China where this part of their history has been blacked out.
It is important that this story be told. Andrew Kwong did an excellent job with this.
June 21, 2020
I loved reading this book and was so sorry when I had finished. It was so moving and I found myself crying at every family reunion and personal triumph.
I would highly recommend this book, it gives a fascinating insight into Mao's China and the struggles of life in early revolutionary China.
I would highly recommend this book, it gives a fascinating insight into Mao's China and the struggles of life in early revolutionary China.
June 14, 2022
With Refugee Week (19-25 June 2022) coming up this Sunday, this was a good time to read Andrew Kwong's memoir of a childhood in Mao Zedong's China, and his escape to freedom in Australia.
Winner of the the Michael Crouch Award for a debut work in the 2021 National Biography Awards, One Bright Moon refers to an image of hope that sustained the author's family through long years of hardship, oppression and separation. The memoir begins with the author's childhood in Shiqi, an administrative town in Zhongshan, not far from the South China Sea. At this time, his parents were denied work because they had been high school teachers in Hong Kong before the revolution in 1949, and thus were deemed high intellectuals. For them, their initial hope that the new China would bring opportunities and benefits for them all soon turned to dust when they had to share their house with strangers and no jobs were allocated to them. They were subjected to years of political persecution including compulsory nightly political meetings and re-education camps, and were reliant on money sent to them by Grandmother in Hong Kong.
Little Ah-mun (who renamed himself Andrew as a teenager) was born into the first pure proletariat generation.
School consisted of mainly shouting slogans and participating in communal projects such as The Four Pests campaign to support Mao's grand plans for development. But from half-heard worried conversations at home and the propaganda he was learning at school, Ah-mun soon discovered that his parents were not as progressive and communistic as he thought they were. In 1955 the District Head told Baba that he was a capitalist intellectual with an outdated education and this meant that there was no future for the family in China. It was this District Head who had the power to approve visas for the only places they could go: Hong Kong (then a British colony) and Macau (at that time a Portuguese territory but now an autonomous region on the south coast of China, across the Pearl River Delta from Hong Kong.) At five, (after bribes, of course) Ah-mun was approved to visit his grandmother in Hong Kong, but he was too homesick to stay there for long. It was not long after his return that he witnessed his first public execution of a 'class traitor'.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/06/14/o...
Winner of the the Michael Crouch Award for a debut work in the 2021 National Biography Awards, One Bright Moon refers to an image of hope that sustained the author's family through long years of hardship, oppression and separation. The memoir begins with the author's childhood in Shiqi, an administrative town in Zhongshan, not far from the South China Sea. At this time, his parents were denied work because they had been high school teachers in Hong Kong before the revolution in 1949, and thus were deemed high intellectuals. For them, their initial hope that the new China would bring opportunities and benefits for them all soon turned to dust when they had to share their house with strangers and no jobs were allocated to them. They were subjected to years of political persecution including compulsory nightly political meetings and re-education camps, and were reliant on money sent to them by Grandmother in Hong Kong.
Little Ah-mun (who renamed himself Andrew as a teenager) was born into the first pure proletariat generation.
On my first day at kindergarten in September 1954, I was proud to already know the revolutionary slogans, songs and jingles. I'd been born amid the drone of them, into a noisy world filled with enthusiasm for a good life and hatred for the evildoers, both local and foreign who had exploited China for centuries. Since infancy I'd been infused with cries of revolution, denunciation and the struggle for freedom — indeed, they were my first babbling words, and now I loved shouting them with the other children. The red stars on the flaps of our schoolbags shone in the morning sun and reflected in our happy faces. We were a sea of little soldiers in khaki, ready to conquer the bad world under Chairman Mao. (p.11)
School consisted of mainly shouting slogans and participating in communal projects such as The Four Pests campaign to support Mao's grand plans for development. But from half-heard worried conversations at home and the propaganda he was learning at school, Ah-mun soon discovered that his parents were not as progressive and communistic as he thought they were. In 1955 the District Head told Baba that he was a capitalist intellectual with an outdated education and this meant that there was no future for the family in China. It was this District Head who had the power to approve visas for the only places they could go: Hong Kong (then a British colony) and Macau (at that time a Portuguese territory but now an autonomous region on the south coast of China, across the Pearl River Delta from Hong Kong.) At five, (after bribes, of course) Ah-mun was approved to visit his grandmother in Hong Kong, but he was too homesick to stay there for long. It was not long after his return that he witnessed his first public execution of a 'class traitor'.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/06/14/o...
July 24, 2021
I enjoyed this story from Ah-mun or Andrew, Kwong, as it details the life of his family during the development of modern China, and his later life as an Australian citizen, allowing him to reflect from both sides of the political fence, so to speak.
He was.born in Zhong Shan, the Pearl River Delta region and writes with a strong sense of his ancestors from the past. Many of his extended family are named with numbers used to distinguish between aunts and uncles .
His Mama Wai-syn Young and Baba Shek-tong Kwong are the primary figures from his childhood, an educated couple who are shunned by the People's Communist Party and forced to endure poverty rather than mobilised to assist the development of the new communist natíon.
The poverty that this family endured was described in a natural way, showing how the bureaucracy forced citizens to accept gradual change for their own survival.
I found the concept of the Sojourner so interesting; the departure of Chinese to the world to find jobs and support their family at home has been well established over the centuries. Andrew and his family relied on family overseas to send money during his childhood for basic survival, and then when family needed money to leave China and in Andrew's case needed money for education.
The writing is purely biographical, in real time sequence and details all the movement of various family, with the eventual reunion as his Mama wished, but in America rather than Australia. Ironically the English test for Australian visas precluded his mother coming to Australia.
The life of each member of the family is quite a contrast; Andrew managed to train as a doctor but in contrast to his sister Wang, who was sentenced to community placement and never received an education. The efforts of his sister Ping, who moved to the US, were remarkable in resettling and welcoming family. Also his Baba who escaped from China yet left his wife there without assistance for 20 years before she managed to leave, yet they reunited after this period.
This is an excellent background to understanding the actual experience of citizens of the modern Chinese state, from 1950 to the current time. It is a great gift for the author's children, Serena, Harmony and Andrew-James who are the new Australian adults taking his inheritance into the future relationship of Australia and China with an understanding of the recent past.
Highly recommended
He was.born in Zhong Shan, the Pearl River Delta region and writes with a strong sense of his ancestors from the past. Many of his extended family are named with numbers used to distinguish between aunts and uncles .
His Mama Wai-syn Young and Baba Shek-tong Kwong are the primary figures from his childhood, an educated couple who are shunned by the People's Communist Party and forced to endure poverty rather than mobilised to assist the development of the new communist natíon.
The poverty that this family endured was described in a natural way, showing how the bureaucracy forced citizens to accept gradual change for their own survival.
I found the concept of the Sojourner so interesting; the departure of Chinese to the world to find jobs and support their family at home has been well established over the centuries. Andrew and his family relied on family overseas to send money during his childhood for basic survival, and then when family needed money to leave China and in Andrew's case needed money for education.
The writing is purely biographical, in real time sequence and details all the movement of various family, with the eventual reunion as his Mama wished, but in America rather than Australia. Ironically the English test for Australian visas precluded his mother coming to Australia.
The life of each member of the family is quite a contrast; Andrew managed to train as a doctor but in contrast to his sister Wang, who was sentenced to community placement and never received an education. The efforts of his sister Ping, who moved to the US, were remarkable in resettling and welcoming family. Also his Baba who escaped from China yet left his wife there without assistance for 20 years before she managed to leave, yet they reunited after this period.
This is an excellent background to understanding the actual experience of citizens of the modern Chinese state, from 1950 to the current time. It is a great gift for the author's children, Serena, Harmony and Andrew-James who are the new Australian adults taking his inheritance into the future relationship of Australia and China with an understanding of the recent past.
Highly recommended
July 24, 2022
Profoundly Moving And Spellbinding Story
One Bright Moon is an exceptionally well written book and a very powerful story of the life of Andrew Kwong and his family. A very Deeply moving story of how the family survive and how the whole family triumph over adversity from rural China to Hong Kong then Australia with part of the family heading to Washington DC after many years of waiting and wanting to leave China and become a family once again together.
Andrews family are hardworking people who are trying to get away from oppression and starvation in Mao's China. Each day they are subjected with political slogans being broadcast over loudspeakers to entice conformity every day. Andrew’s family are members of the intellectual class, and Andrew and his family were subject to unfair levels of scrutiny and police brutality.
Andrew discusses his painful coming of age in Chairman Mao's China and how when he was only seven, he witnessed his first execution. Andrew’s father was put on trial shortly after this and was sentenced and banishment to a re-education camp for three years. This was during the terrible years of persecution and famine known as the Great Leap Forward.
Even after his father returned, things remained desperate. Escape seemed the only solution, and it would be twelve-year-old Andrew who undertook the perilous journey first being smuggled from China to Hong Kong. Andrew writes the moving journey from oppression to freedom and the terror of the times and the irrepressible yearning for something better begins. Andrews father’s words of the value of education encourages Andrew to learn English and eventually Andrew will emigrate to Australia and become a doctor and open his own General Practitioner on the central coast of NSW. Eventually both of Andrews parents and siblings escape China to all be reunited eventually in the United States.
A life story which is well told and is an extremely interesting book to discover how Andrew’s survival from such a tender age and his photographic memory has now produced such a profoundly moving and spellbinding story. A very well written book and I truly recommend this book for readers who enjoy nonfiction.
I am part of the ARC group for Wildblue Press and BookSirens and I am leaving this review voluntarily
One Bright Moon is an exceptionally well written book and a very powerful story of the life of Andrew Kwong and his family. A very Deeply moving story of how the family survive and how the whole family triumph over adversity from rural China to Hong Kong then Australia with part of the family heading to Washington DC after many years of waiting and wanting to leave China and become a family once again together.
Andrews family are hardworking people who are trying to get away from oppression and starvation in Mao's China. Each day they are subjected with political slogans being broadcast over loudspeakers to entice conformity every day. Andrew’s family are members of the intellectual class, and Andrew and his family were subject to unfair levels of scrutiny and police brutality.
Andrew discusses his painful coming of age in Chairman Mao's China and how when he was only seven, he witnessed his first execution. Andrew’s father was put on trial shortly after this and was sentenced and banishment to a re-education camp for three years. This was during the terrible years of persecution and famine known as the Great Leap Forward.
Even after his father returned, things remained desperate. Escape seemed the only solution, and it would be twelve-year-old Andrew who undertook the perilous journey first being smuggled from China to Hong Kong. Andrew writes the moving journey from oppression to freedom and the terror of the times and the irrepressible yearning for something better begins. Andrews father’s words of the value of education encourages Andrew to learn English and eventually Andrew will emigrate to Australia and become a doctor and open his own General Practitioner on the central coast of NSW. Eventually both of Andrews parents and siblings escape China to all be reunited eventually in the United States.
A life story which is well told and is an extremely interesting book to discover how Andrew’s survival from such a tender age and his photographic memory has now produced such a profoundly moving and spellbinding story. A very well written book and I truly recommend this book for readers who enjoy nonfiction.
I am part of the ARC group for Wildblue Press and BookSirens and I am leaving this review voluntarily
April 1, 2022
I found this book as a recommendation from a YouTuber and it is one of the first memoirs I've read and the first I can remember reading so quickly. It's hard to capture the thoughts and emotions I felt when reading this book. It was at the same time shocking and eye-opening to read about the harrowing experiences and sights Andrew had to see as a child. The overall story is heart-wrenching and inspiring, showing the impact of hard-work, dedication and diligence, and family love and sacrifice is. One of the reasons why I couldn't set this book down was how it broadened my awareness and helped me understand, at least at a partial, superficial level, the suffering, hardship, and injustice inflicted upon others in the past and today. The author's hardships and eventual success are humbling reminders that, regardless of what I might be struggling to do today, that I have privileges afforded by my birthplace that others dream of and sacrifice so much for. I hope to remember and remind myself of this on a more regular basis.
August 11, 2020
What a terrific account of a young boy's childhood in the starving and terrorised China of Mao's regime. The detail of Ah-Mun's family and village life is a true eye-opener even if you've read other accounts of survivors from that era.
I guess it's the different perspectives that hold the reader's interest and pull on the heartstrings. They make you realise how lucky you are to be born in a free and hopeful country where you're safe and opportunity knocks on your door.
Ah-Mun's solo escape from China to Hong Kong is miraculous, especially when you consider his young age, his determination to better himself and learn English, as is his equally miraculous rise through years of education to become a doctor.
The closeness of his family, despite their separation, really touched me, as did the reunion many years later.
Well done, Andrew. I wish you and your extended family every success and good health always.
I guess it's the different perspectives that hold the reader's interest and pull on the heartstrings. They make you realise how lucky you are to be born in a free and hopeful country where you're safe and opportunity knocks on your door.
Ah-Mun's solo escape from China to Hong Kong is miraculous, especially when you consider his young age, his determination to better himself and learn English, as is his equally miraculous rise through years of education to become a doctor.
The closeness of his family, despite their separation, really touched me, as did the reunion many years later.
Well done, Andrew. I wish you and your extended family every success and good health always.
August 1, 2020
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a free copy of the book. The fact that I got it for free does not influence my review in any way.
I got roughly a fourth of the way through this book, and while I enjoyed the story, the writing just didn't hit the spot and felt dull at times. A child speaking of the intricacies of communism in a very complicated way and from time to time scattering a "but I didn't understand that" in it felt very, very unnatural (at least the chapters I read so far had been from a child's perspective - as it is a memoir, I understand that it may have changed further on as the author/character grows). With time, my curiosity as to what happens next was overshadowed by it almost seeming like a chore to keep reading.
I got roughly a fourth of the way through this book, and while I enjoyed the story, the writing just didn't hit the spot and felt dull at times. A child speaking of the intricacies of communism in a very complicated way and from time to time scattering a "but I didn't understand that" in it felt very, very unnatural (at least the chapters I read so far had been from a child's perspective - as it is a memoir, I understand that it may have changed further on as the author/character grows). With time, my curiosity as to what happens next was overshadowed by it almost seeming like a chore to keep reading.
November 16, 2020
I feel like I didn’t really get to know the person who wrote this book. He lived through a famine and the persecution of his family. He saw executions as a 7 year old, the arrival of famine victims to his town, and the toll of imprisonment on his father. He was torn between what he learned at school and what he overheard at home - about their leader Chairman and the communist party. Yet He spent more time and words describing flying a kite than describing his feelings and experiences. The book was distant and detached from the author and his experiences. The story was interesting, I just wish it had a better connection to the person that wrote it.
December 3, 2020
A first hand account of being a young child in Communist China in the 1950s and what life was like under the regime for an ordinary family. The author does an excellent job of transporting the reader to a time and place that must have required him to recall some very painful childhood memories.
Driven to seek a better life through education, the story is particularly timely in describing what it must be like to risk all to escape the deprivations of a system not able to provide for its own people.
I highly recommend this memoir that shows what perseverance and love of one’s family can achieve.
Driven to seek a better life through education, the story is particularly timely in describing what it must be like to risk all to escape the deprivations of a system not able to provide for its own people.
I highly recommend this memoir that shows what perseverance and love of one’s family can achieve.
January 21, 2021
While Andrew Kwong’s story is not as harrowing personally as similar memoirs such as that of Yeonmi Park, who escaped from North Korea at a similar young age, it is still an intense and gripping read. In fact, in an age when we are all bemoaning not being able to travel for a whole year, this book has lessons to teach us on endurance and long distance relationships. This family doggedly clung on to the hope that all its scattered members would eventually be free and reunited, in the face of Communist China, vengeful officials, poverty and huge distances. A paean to the philosophy that if you can dream it, you can do it
December 4, 2022
A remarkable story about Mao's China and the story of a family's dogged determination to create a better life beyond it even if that meant not being able to spend it together. Made even more impressionable because the author was a GP in my mother in law's practice and they worked together for many many years before she was able to discover the details of his plight.
The starvation, the things that mattered in day to day life (like simple bickies smuggled from Hong Kong!), the escapes and the strength to keep trying made me just so grateful for my own circumstances, and equally deeply of the belief that everyone should be able to have a life with choice.
The starvation, the things that mattered in day to day life (like simple bickies smuggled from Hong Kong!), the escapes and the strength to keep trying made me just so grateful for my own circumstances, and equally deeply of the belief that everyone should be able to have a life with choice.
November 2, 2020
This memoir managed to tear my heart apart and get excited at the same time. The author's story is written with lyrics that are both beautiful and painful but also interesting. The struggle started in the 1940's when a child wanted to look to a bright and free future. But the doctrine of communism continues to attack which is sometimes difficult to avoid. Apart from that, the author describes honestly about family values, courage and efforts to seek a better life. It is worth reading for anyone in this world.
July 18, 2021
If you need to be inspired and reminded of the true love and resilience of this book, then read this. The heartbreak and challenges faced not only by Andrew, but his whole family, is honestly hard to fathom. It is therefore such an important reminder of how privileged my own life has been. I loved every member of Andrew’s family- Mama, Baba, Ying, Ping, Weng and then all his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I’m so happy that so many of them found a better life in the end was the family was able to have a final reunion all together some 30 years after being separated.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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