What do you think?
Rate this book
A Comrade Lost And Found: A Beijing Memoir – A Canadian Woman's Search for the Classmate She Betrayed During the Cultural Revolution
In the early 1970s, at the height of the Cultural Revolution, Jan Wong traveled from Canada to become one of only two Westerners permitted to study at Beijing University. One day a fellow student, Yin Luoyi, asked for help getting to the United States. Wong, then a starry-eyed Maoist from Montreal, immediately reported her to the authorities, and shortly thereafter Yin disappeared. Thirty-three years later, hoping to make amends, Wong revisits the Chinese capital to search for the person who has haunted her conscience. At the very least, she wants to discover whether Yin survived. But Wong finds the new Beijing bewildering. Phone numbers, addresses, and even names change with startling frequency. In a society determined to bury the past, Yin Luoyi will be hard to find. As she traces her way from one former comrade to the next, Wong unearths not only the fate of the woman she betrayed but a web that mirrors the strange and dramatic journey of contemporary China and rekindles all of her love for—and disillusionment with—her ancestral land.
336 pages, Paperback
Published February 2, 2010
5 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Jan Wong
12 books70 followersJan Wong was the much-acclaimed Beijing correspondent for The Globe and Mail from 1988 to 1994. She is a graduate of McGill University, Beijing University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is the recipient of a (US) George Polk Award, the New England Women’s Press Association Newswoman of the Year Award, the (Canadian) National Newspaper Award and a Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Silver Medal, among other honours for her reporting. Wong has also written for The New York Times, The Gazette in Montreal, The Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal.
Her first book, Red China Blues: My Long March From Mao to Now, was named one of Time magazine’s top ten books of 1996 and remains banned in China. It has been translated into Swedish, Finnish, Dutch and Japanese, and optioned for a feature film.
Jan Wong is a third-generation Canadian, born and raised in Montreal. She first went to China in 1972 at the height of the Cultural Revolution as one of only two Westerners permitted to enrol at Beijing University. There, she renounced rock music, wielded a pneumatic drill at a factory and hauled pig manure in the paddy fields. She also met and married the only American draft dodger from the Vietnam War in China. During those six years in China, she learned fluent Mandarin and earned a degree in Chinese history.
From 1988 to 1994, Jan Wong returned as China correspondent for The Globe and Mail. In reporting on the tumultuous new era of capitalist reforms under Deng Xiaoping, she reacquainted herself with old friends and enemies from her radical past. In 1989, she dodged bullets in Tiananmen Square, fought off a kidnapping attempt and caught the Chinese police red-handed driving her stolen Toyota as a squad car. (They gave it back.)
She returned to China in 1999 to make a documentary and to research her second book, Jan Wong’s China: Reports from a Not-So-Foreign Correspondent. It tells the story of China’s headlong rush to capitalism and offers fresh insight into a country that is forever changing.
Jan Wong lives with her husband and two sons in Toronto where she is a reporter at The Globe and Mail. The best of her weekly celebrity-interview columns, “Lunch With,” which ran for five years, have been published in a book of the same name.
[From Random House's Jan Wong Author Spotlight]
Her first book, Red China Blues: My Long March From Mao to Now, was named one of Time magazine’s top ten books of 1996 and remains banned in China. It has been translated into Swedish, Finnish, Dutch and Japanese, and optioned for a feature film.
Jan Wong is a third-generation Canadian, born and raised in Montreal. She first went to China in 1972 at the height of the Cultural Revolution as one of only two Westerners permitted to enrol at Beijing University. There, she renounced rock music, wielded a pneumatic drill at a factory and hauled pig manure in the paddy fields. She also met and married the only American draft dodger from the Vietnam War in China. During those six years in China, she learned fluent Mandarin and earned a degree in Chinese history.
From 1988 to 1994, Jan Wong returned as China correspondent for The Globe and Mail. In reporting on the tumultuous new era of capitalist reforms under Deng Xiaoping, she reacquainted herself with old friends and enemies from her radical past. In 1989, she dodged bullets in Tiananmen Square, fought off a kidnapping attempt and caught the Chinese police red-handed driving her stolen Toyota as a squad car. (They gave it back.)
She returned to China in 1999 to make a documentary and to research her second book, Jan Wong’s China: Reports from a Not-So-Foreign Correspondent. It tells the story of China’s headlong rush to capitalism and offers fresh insight into a country that is forever changing.
Jan Wong lives with her husband and two sons in Toronto where she is a reporter at The Globe and Mail. The best of her weekly celebrity-interview columns, “Lunch With,” which ran for five years, have been published in a book of the same name.
[From Random House's Jan Wong Author Spotlight]
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
April 20, 2010
I really wanted to like this book. After all, it was Wong's debut book, Red China Blues, that first whetted my appetite for visiting China five years ago. The premise of this follow-up memoir intrigued me: seeking some form of redemption, Wong set out to find a former Beijing University classmate whom she snitched on during the Cultural Revolution and whose life she likely ruined.
But having just finished another book about contemporary China--Peter Hessler's excellent Country Driving--I found Wong's book terribly disappointing. Like Hessler, Wong interweaves her personal story with reporting and commentary about the dramatic changes taking place in China today. However, Wong's memoir is much clunkier than Hessler's elegant narrative and, worse, much less reliable. Whereas Hessler backs up his commentary about China with detailed reporting, Wong tends to make generalizations about Chinese society based on one or two personal examples. For instance, after a grand total of two people tell her how much their pet cost, Wong concludes, "Dogs really are like real estate. Everybody wants to talk about how much they paid and what the animal is worth now."
These small liberties that Wong takes with the truth--her tendency to overgeneralize--undermine her credibility when she is commenting on much more serious issues, such as censorship around the Tiananmen massacre. She claims that in 2006, when a documentary maker showed Beijing University students photographs of the Tank Man, the students were completely stumped and asked if the pictures came from a parade or a piece of artwork. If this is true and an accurate reflection of a broader phenomenon, it would be a dramatic manifestation of Chinese censorship, but I really have no idea whether I can trust Wong's reporting here.
Other smaller issues detracted from my enjoyment of the book. A former history major, Wong's memoir includes many historical tangents, but rather than deftly weaving these tidbits into the rest of the narrative, she just plunks them down in clumsy multi-page chunks.
Another minor irritation: when referring to her husband, Wong has an annoying tendency to switch constantly between his English and Chinese names. On one page, he's "Fat Paycheck"; then suddenly, he's "Norman" and then back to "Fat Paycheck" again, for no good reason.
The strongest part of the book is when Wong lets Lu Yi, her lost comrade, tell the story of what happened after her expulsion from Beijing University. Lu's story is truly inspiring. Instead of reading this book, I would much rather have read an entire memoir about Lu's remarkable life.
But having just finished another book about contemporary China--Peter Hessler's excellent Country Driving--I found Wong's book terribly disappointing. Like Hessler, Wong interweaves her personal story with reporting and commentary about the dramatic changes taking place in China today. However, Wong's memoir is much clunkier than Hessler's elegant narrative and, worse, much less reliable. Whereas Hessler backs up his commentary about China with detailed reporting, Wong tends to make generalizations about Chinese society based on one or two personal examples. For instance, after a grand total of two people tell her how much their pet cost, Wong concludes, "Dogs really are like real estate. Everybody wants to talk about how much they paid and what the animal is worth now."
These small liberties that Wong takes with the truth--her tendency to overgeneralize--undermine her credibility when she is commenting on much more serious issues, such as censorship around the Tiananmen massacre. She claims that in 2006, when a documentary maker showed Beijing University students photographs of the Tank Man, the students were completely stumped and asked if the pictures came from a parade or a piece of artwork. If this is true and an accurate reflection of a broader phenomenon, it would be a dramatic manifestation of Chinese censorship, but I really have no idea whether I can trust Wong's reporting here.
Other smaller issues detracted from my enjoyment of the book. A former history major, Wong's memoir includes many historical tangents, but rather than deftly weaving these tidbits into the rest of the narrative, she just plunks them down in clumsy multi-page chunks.
Another minor irritation: when referring to her husband, Wong has an annoying tendency to switch constantly between his English and Chinese names. On one page, he's "Fat Paycheck"; then suddenly, he's "Norman" and then back to "Fat Paycheck" again, for no good reason.
The strongest part of the book is when Wong lets Lu Yi, her lost comrade, tell the story of what happened after her expulsion from Beijing University. Lu's story is truly inspiring. Instead of reading this book, I would much rather have read an entire memoir about Lu's remarkable life.
February 23, 2019
The story is very documentary like. The facts about China surrounding Jan’s visit are now dated because the book was written about 2007. I still found it interesting reading because it gives me a glimpse into the social changes that people live within.
March 10, 2018
Terrible read. Author mentions her other books at least three times. Why does she switch back and forth for her husband's name from Norman to Fat Paycheck? Several times within one paragraph. Why? And she told her 6-year-old son about how she turned in her classmate during the Cultural Revolution to try to teach him about tattle-telling and consequences. Wow. I found her narrative all over the place, mentioning ancient history as if to fill in. In fact, there is at least one chapter toward the beginning which seems like just filler, all ancient Chinese history. What sealed the one-star review for me was when she compared the odor of a durian fruit to the smell of rotting corpses from the Tianenmen Square riot. Unbelievable arrogance and self-centeredness. Again, a terrible read. Skip this one for sure.
January 26, 2014
This book is a very interesting look at modern China vs. the China of the Cultural Revolution. The writer talks about her experiences with both. she was a Canadian who just wanted to fit into Maoist China so she reported a woman who wanted to go overseas. She, once she remembers what she did is full of guilt and brings her husband and children on a journey through modern Beijing.
Also durian seems really, really gross. Chinese Chinese food isn't like American Chinese food at all.
I learned a lot about modern China from this book. For example, I didn't know that parents are reporting their kids for internet addiction. I knew about people losing their homes for the Olympics, but there was quite a lot of information about modern China that was totally shocking to me.
Also durian seems really, really gross. Chinese Chinese food isn't like American Chinese food at all.
I learned a lot about modern China from this book. For example, I didn't know that parents are reporting their kids for internet addiction. I knew about people losing their homes for the Olympics, but there was quite a lot of information about modern China that was totally shocking to me.
December 16, 2010
This was a lighter read that I expected. It was actually pretty funny sometimes. I learned two new words: catamite (a boy or youth having a sexual relationship with a man) and tout (in the noun form: a person who urgently or persistently solicits support). Wong made the new Chinese sound like materialistic mega-consumers. Her descriptions of Beijing leave me without a single desire to see China. Apparently, China is the new US, making all our same mistakes. Sad. Oh yeah: the book was also about her attempt to rectify having turned in a classmate back in the 70s. Although that was the reason for her trip to China and was the supposed basis for the story, it was incidental.
July 20, 2012
The three books I’m sharing with you today are stories of women faced with enormous challenges and finding the strength to achieve their dreams despite the daunting odds.
King Peggy - Eleanor Herman and Peggielene Bartels
Ghanaian native and naturalized U.S. citizen Peggielene Bartels, at home in her Washington, D.C. apartment, received a telephone call she’d never dreamed of one night. She’d been chosen by the ancestors of Otuam, Ghana, to be their king. The story of King Peggy, who is the third female king in Ghana, is a lively one. Her transformation from a secretary with a sharp tongue to a discerning king with her city’s best interests at heart is a fascinating story.
Some aspects of Ghanaian culture were particularly interesting to me: the reverence for the opinions of ancestors and the rituals honoring them; and the habit of never referring to a previous king as having died. Instead, the villagers talk about not seeing the king anymore, as his cure will take a long time. As time passes, they call him “the king in the fridge,” as his funeral cannot take place until his palace is sufficiently repaired to honor his memory in front of the mourners. Since my frame of reference doesn’t include these practices, I had to set aside my own beliefs and merely follow King Peggy as she brings her Ghanaian background and adopted American ways to her new role as king.
After paying her own way to Otuam, Peggy arrives for her enstoolment, or coronation ritual. Upon arrival, it is quickly evident that the palace is literally falling apart, and that it will take a great deal of money to repair. The city’s coffers are empty, the council of elders inform their new king. In a city of farmers and fishermen, this doesn’t seem out of the question at first. King Peggy honors the financial responsibilities of the king: she buys food and drinks for all who come to visit, consult with, or advise her. She pays for the stool that will represent her while she is away. She pays for the first stage of repairs to the palace. Slowly, King Peggy uncovers the depth of need, and the prevalence of corruption, in Otuam.
For an American secretary to successfully win the respect of her elders and people, root out corruption, and bring about her vision of building wells, latrines, banks, libraries, and schools seems more than daunting. To me, it seemed impossible. Despite some missteps and unexpected betrayals, King Peggy learns to navigate her kingship to benefit the people of Otuam. Her irrepressible spirit, sense of humor, sharp eye, and willingness to work with others aid her in seeing the first part of her vision completed. A collaboration with Shiloh Baptist Church of Landover, Maryland, continues to benefit the city of Otuam and King Peggy. Completion of the goals set by King Peggy and her revamped council of elders will take time, but taking note of all the progress made thus far reminded me of the power of internal belief and determination.
Childhood favorite book of many, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is Betty Smith’s squeeze-the-breath-out-of-you story of Francie Nolan, growing up in poverty in Brooklyn in the early 1900′s. This novel, inspired by events of author Betty Smith’s childhood, chronicles the story of Francie’s parents, hardworking, frugal Katie and charming alcoholic Johnny, and the life they eke out for Francie and her brother, Neeley. The small dreams of the hardworking poor are heartbreaking, both in their scale and their futility. Inventiveness and intelligence help Francie observe her life without getting swallowed by it. Her pleasure in the occasional, tiny treats that come her way and her determination to seek out education, at considerable inconvenience to herself, endeared Francie to me. As her story concluded, the hope that had long been secretly nurtured began to grow, as had the hardy, uncared for tree in Francie’s neighborhood.
I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as a child, but as an adult, I began to empathize with the stoic perseverance of Francie and her mother Katie. Though its category as a novel does not seem to fit the “doing the impossible” theme, I felt that Betty Smith’s triumph in writing this luminous, stark book achieved it by honoring her childhood while refusing to stay stuck there.
Staying stuck in the past can lead to lifelong regrets, as Jan Wong details in her memoir, Comrade Lost and Found. In the 1970′s, Wong was one of the first two Western students allowed to study at Beijing University. During her time in China, Wong embraced Maoism enthusiastically, not only studying but also participating in labor projects in support of Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Wong relates the story of Yin, a classmate who approached her with the request to help Yin get to America. Wong, enthralled by Mao, recoiled from such an idea, and turned in her classmate. Turned her in to authorities who were not bound by the limits of a court system or popular opinion. And then Wong promptly dismissed the event from her active memory of her year in Beijing.
Years later, reading her earnest diary from her university years, she stopped short at the account of what she had done to Yin. The reality seized her: people denounced for such things in the 1970′s were not treated with regard to their rights. They were expelled, ostracized, beaten, even killed. Wong’s worry about the fate of her classmate began then. Years of regret later, Wong takes her family back to Beijing in an attempt to track Yin down, offer an apology, and try to make it up to her.
The task, in 2008, just prior to the Beijing Olympics, loomed large. China had undergone rapid change not only from 1973 to the 1990′s, but even more rapidly in the decade of the 2000′s. Buildings and homes were demolished to burnish Beijing’s image to Olympic visitors. People moved often as private home ownership took root; phone numbers changed even more often. Wong’s first task at hand was tracking down people who might remember the incident with Yin, even though most of them were hostile to Yin at the time. Then would come establishing her full identity, following any leads, and hopefully, making contact with her.
All without even knowing if Yin had survived after Wong denounced her.
The title refers to the “found” part of the story, so it’s not a spoiler to mention Wong’s success in finding Yin. A more stirring question for me: Was Yin ruined by the thoughtless act of a 21-year-old college student?
You see, I understood Wong’s motivation. I carried a regret for years myself. In fourth grade, I took part in making fun of the boy in our class who everyone made fun of. I did it to try to curry favor with kids who seemed “cool” to me. In high school, I looked over a class photo and realized what I’d done: contributed to the daily misery of a nine-year-old boy. A darling nine-year-old, as I saw in the picture. I tried for years to track him down.
Wong’s reunion with Yin, as impossible as it seemed, forms the emotional core of the book. I learned lessons about doggedness, acceptance of tangents as part of the search, and most of all, about the nature of memory. All lessons I had first seen play out when I finally tracked down my own long-ago classmate. Wong and I would agree, I daresay, in encouraging others to seek to wrap up loose ends that eat at you.
Ignoring loose ends, I feel, is harder than attempting to do the “impossible.” Thanks to King Peggy, Francie Nolan, and Jan Wong, my desire to meet future challenges with determination is renewed.
King Peggy - Eleanor Herman and Peggielene Bartels
Ghanaian native and naturalized U.S. citizen Peggielene Bartels, at home in her Washington, D.C. apartment, received a telephone call she’d never dreamed of one night. She’d been chosen by the ancestors of Otuam, Ghana, to be their king. The story of King Peggy, who is the third female king in Ghana, is a lively one. Her transformation from a secretary with a sharp tongue to a discerning king with her city’s best interests at heart is a fascinating story.
Some aspects of Ghanaian culture were particularly interesting to me: the reverence for the opinions of ancestors and the rituals honoring them; and the habit of never referring to a previous king as having died. Instead, the villagers talk about not seeing the king anymore, as his cure will take a long time. As time passes, they call him “the king in the fridge,” as his funeral cannot take place until his palace is sufficiently repaired to honor his memory in front of the mourners. Since my frame of reference doesn’t include these practices, I had to set aside my own beliefs and merely follow King Peggy as she brings her Ghanaian background and adopted American ways to her new role as king.
After paying her own way to Otuam, Peggy arrives for her enstoolment, or coronation ritual. Upon arrival, it is quickly evident that the palace is literally falling apart, and that it will take a great deal of money to repair. The city’s coffers are empty, the council of elders inform their new king. In a city of farmers and fishermen, this doesn’t seem out of the question at first. King Peggy honors the financial responsibilities of the king: she buys food and drinks for all who come to visit, consult with, or advise her. She pays for the stool that will represent her while she is away. She pays for the first stage of repairs to the palace. Slowly, King Peggy uncovers the depth of need, and the prevalence of corruption, in Otuam.
For an American secretary to successfully win the respect of her elders and people, root out corruption, and bring about her vision of building wells, latrines, banks, libraries, and schools seems more than daunting. To me, it seemed impossible. Despite some missteps and unexpected betrayals, King Peggy learns to navigate her kingship to benefit the people of Otuam. Her irrepressible spirit, sense of humor, sharp eye, and willingness to work with others aid her in seeing the first part of her vision completed. A collaboration with Shiloh Baptist Church of Landover, Maryland, continues to benefit the city of Otuam and King Peggy. Completion of the goals set by King Peggy and her revamped council of elders will take time, but taking note of all the progress made thus far reminded me of the power of internal belief and determination.
Childhood favorite book of many, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is Betty Smith’s squeeze-the-breath-out-of-you story of Francie Nolan, growing up in poverty in Brooklyn in the early 1900′s. This novel, inspired by events of author Betty Smith’s childhood, chronicles the story of Francie’s parents, hardworking, frugal Katie and charming alcoholic Johnny, and the life they eke out for Francie and her brother, Neeley. The small dreams of the hardworking poor are heartbreaking, both in their scale and their futility. Inventiveness and intelligence help Francie observe her life without getting swallowed by it. Her pleasure in the occasional, tiny treats that come her way and her determination to seek out education, at considerable inconvenience to herself, endeared Francie to me. As her story concluded, the hope that had long been secretly nurtured began to grow, as had the hardy, uncared for tree in Francie’s neighborhood.
I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as a child, but as an adult, I began to empathize with the stoic perseverance of Francie and her mother Katie. Though its category as a novel does not seem to fit the “doing the impossible” theme, I felt that Betty Smith’s triumph in writing this luminous, stark book achieved it by honoring her childhood while refusing to stay stuck there.
Staying stuck in the past can lead to lifelong regrets, as Jan Wong details in her memoir, Comrade Lost and Found. In the 1970′s, Wong was one of the first two Western students allowed to study at Beijing University. During her time in China, Wong embraced Maoism enthusiastically, not only studying but also participating in labor projects in support of Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Wong relates the story of Yin, a classmate who approached her with the request to help Yin get to America. Wong, enthralled by Mao, recoiled from such an idea, and turned in her classmate. Turned her in to authorities who were not bound by the limits of a court system or popular opinion. And then Wong promptly dismissed the event from her active memory of her year in Beijing.
Years later, reading her earnest diary from her university years, she stopped short at the account of what she had done to Yin. The reality seized her: people denounced for such things in the 1970′s were not treated with regard to their rights. They were expelled, ostracized, beaten, even killed. Wong’s worry about the fate of her classmate began then. Years of regret later, Wong takes her family back to Beijing in an attempt to track Yin down, offer an apology, and try to make it up to her.
The task, in 2008, just prior to the Beijing Olympics, loomed large. China had undergone rapid change not only from 1973 to the 1990′s, but even more rapidly in the decade of the 2000′s. Buildings and homes were demolished to burnish Beijing’s image to Olympic visitors. People moved often as private home ownership took root; phone numbers changed even more often. Wong’s first task at hand was tracking down people who might remember the incident with Yin, even though most of them were hostile to Yin at the time. Then would come establishing her full identity, following any leads, and hopefully, making contact with her.
All without even knowing if Yin had survived after Wong denounced her.
The title refers to the “found” part of the story, so it’s not a spoiler to mention Wong’s success in finding Yin. A more stirring question for me: Was Yin ruined by the thoughtless act of a 21-year-old college student?
You see, I understood Wong’s motivation. I carried a regret for years myself. In fourth grade, I took part in making fun of the boy in our class who everyone made fun of. I did it to try to curry favor with kids who seemed “cool” to me. In high school, I looked over a class photo and realized what I’d done: contributed to the daily misery of a nine-year-old boy. A darling nine-year-old, as I saw in the picture. I tried for years to track him down.
Wong’s reunion with Yin, as impossible as it seemed, forms the emotional core of the book. I learned lessons about doggedness, acceptance of tangents as part of the search, and most of all, about the nature of memory. All lessons I had first seen play out when I finally tracked down my own long-ago classmate. Wong and I would agree, I daresay, in encouraging others to seek to wrap up loose ends that eat at you.
Ignoring loose ends, I feel, is harder than attempting to do the “impossible.” Thanks to King Peggy, Francie Nolan, and Jan Wong, my desire to meet future challenges with determination is renewed.
December 19, 2016
"I was that very dangerous combination: fanatic, ignorant and adolescent."
This is a tricky book to rate that comes to around 3.5 stars for me.
I found the book engaging and difficult to put down. With the promise of this great mystery I felt compelled to keep reading and find out what happened to the woman the author turned in. I haven't read anything else by Jan Wong so this was my first introduction to the premise of the story and the author's dilemma in finding the truth.
While the book is repetitive at times, it also focuses less on the hunt for the specific woman the author turned in years ago but rather about changes in Beijing, life under Mao, and how the country has moved on (or not) from Tienanmen Square. It's the author sharing her personal experiences and observations while traveling.
My biggest problem Maybe I expected too much because I was sucked in by the idea of unraveling the mystery (I told myself after all, for there to be a book about this it would have to be interesting) but I felt the ending was rather unsatisfying.
The book is certainly an interesting look at the author's life in China, but it also seemed like a way to publicly seek forgiveness which seems to put a new light on it.
This is a tricky book to rate that comes to around 3.5 stars for me.
I found the book engaging and difficult to put down. With the promise of this great mystery I felt compelled to keep reading and find out what happened to the woman the author turned in. I haven't read anything else by Jan Wong so this was my first introduction to the premise of the story and the author's dilemma in finding the truth.
While the book is repetitive at times, it also focuses less on the hunt for the specific woman the author turned in years ago but rather about changes in Beijing, life under Mao, and how the country has moved on (or not) from Tienanmen Square. It's the author sharing her personal experiences and observations while traveling.
My biggest problem Maybe I expected too much because I was sucked in by the idea of unraveling the mystery (I told myself after all, for there to be a book about this it would have to be interesting) but I felt the ending was rather unsatisfying.
The book is certainly an interesting look at the author's life in China, but it also seemed like a way to publicly seek forgiveness which seems to put a new light on it.
March 31, 2009
This book is a memoir covering the author's experiences in China when she was college-aged up until just before the Beijing Olympics. The frame story is about her month-long trip to Beijing to find and apologize to a woman she betrayed when she was much younger. As the author tells about her present-day trip, she segues into relevant information about what China is like now and what it used to be like.
It's China like you probably never imagined it. The descriptions of city life are vivid and made me feel as if I was experiencing the trip with her. From the party held in her honor by her old teachers to roaming the streets and looking into bars and massage parlors, the trip is a fascinating one.
The author has the ability to laugh at herself and all but the most serious parts are told with a touch of loving humor.
Overall, the book was well-written and very interesting. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in what China (or, at least, Beijing) is like now and how it's changed in the last forty years.
Note: For those who feel buying this book would be exploiting the woman who was betrayed, you should know that Jan Wong found the woman and the woman DOES NOT blame Jan Wong for it. [spoiler:] The woman explains exactly what happened and, while what Mrs. Wong did was wrong, the lady explains that Jan Wong was at the end of a long list of people who turned her in. She would have suffered exactly the same if Jan Wong hadn't turned her in. If anything, I was left feeling that Jan Wong wrote this book as penance for what she did.[end spoiler:]
It's China like you probably never imagined it. The descriptions of city life are vivid and made me feel as if I was experiencing the trip with her. From the party held in her honor by her old teachers to roaming the streets and looking into bars and massage parlors, the trip is a fascinating one.
The author has the ability to laugh at herself and all but the most serious parts are told with a touch of loving humor.
Overall, the book was well-written and very interesting. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in what China (or, at least, Beijing) is like now and how it's changed in the last forty years.
Note: For those who feel buying this book would be exploiting the woman who was betrayed, you should know that Jan Wong found the woman and the woman DOES NOT blame Jan Wong for it. [spoiler:] The woman explains exactly what happened and, while what Mrs. Wong did was wrong, the lady explains that Jan Wong was at the end of a long list of people who turned her in. She would have suffered exactly the same if Jan Wong hadn't turned her in. If anything, I was left feeling that Jan Wong wrote this book as penance for what she did.[end spoiler:]
May 21, 2010
Newer editions have replaced the word "Comrade" in the title with "Comrades", plural, which is a more accurate description of the book. Although the story revolves around the Chinese-Canadian author's search in a city of about 22 million people for a former classmate she betrayed during China's Cultural Revolution, that classmate appears relatively little. But along the way, the author reconnects with many other people from her past, and seeing how the Cultural Revolution turned out for different people in unexpected ways makes the story fascinating.
I gave this book five stars because Wong, a journalist with access to a wide spectrum of people and information, paints a vivid picture of modern Beijing. I even want to read it again, this time with Wikipedia at my fingertips so I can look up the people and places that Wong describes. However, in spite of the five stars, my soul was never really stirred by what should have been a soul-stirring story. Maybe because I couldn't help but wonder if part of the author's motivation in tracking down her old classmate was so that she could write a story about it--but maybe that goes with the territory of being a journalist.
I gave this book five stars because Wong, a journalist with access to a wide spectrum of people and information, paints a vivid picture of modern Beijing. I even want to read it again, this time with Wikipedia at my fingertips so I can look up the people and places that Wong describes. However, in spite of the five stars, my soul was never really stirred by what should have been a soul-stirring story. Maybe because I couldn't help but wonder if part of the author's motivation in tracking down her old classmate was so that she could write a story about it--but maybe that goes with the territory of being a journalist.
February 3, 2016
Would have enjoyed this book even more if she hadn't referred to her acquaintances using blunt translations of their Chinese names. It annoyed me to no end. I'm sure 'Wang Zheng' wanted to be referred to as just that and not 'Long March'. As a Chinese myself that was annoying. I should hope that no one ever calls me by a word-for-word translation of my Chinese name. Pinyin, please.
Other than that it was an interesting book to read. Boy was she kind of ignorant and arrogant in the past while studying in China, but I guess one cannot blame her for that!
Other than that it was an interesting book to read. Boy was she kind of ignorant and arrogant in the past while studying in China, but I guess one cannot blame her for that!
August 29, 2011
Jan Wong deserves credit for trying to make amends for a grave mistake she made as a youth. She sets out in search of a classmate she ratted out as an idealist Maoist. I was expecting something sorrowful, and there was a bit of that, but mostly the book takes the reader through Chinese history with some light travel essay type family hijinks.
May 7, 2019
A phenomenal follow-up to Wong's equally phenomenal Red China Blues. Wong expertly details the transition of the China of the Cultural Revolution up to it's 21st century modern form while also giving great insight into the far reaching after effects the Cultural Revolution had on the Chinese psyche.
June 22, 2019
Loved this book. I have read a lot of novels regarding the Cultural Revolution which led me to read Anchee Min’s memoirs about it and her life after she left China. This was another perspective from a Canadian Chinese point of view who experienced it but as a foreigner and then went back years later with her family to fix a wrong.
May 26, 2012
Very well written & swift movement of the story. A perfect balance of biography & history to keep me from getting bored and skipping sections. Now I want to hunt down her other books and read them as well.
May 8, 2009
Frustrating. Would have given this 1 star had it not been for the really delicious descriptions of the food.
June 7, 2009
Kind of a "detective" story in her search for the girl she betrayed in the 1970s. Another excellent book that aptly gives a feel for Cultural Revolution times in China.
June 10, 2011
It was a really intriguing book about China, Beijing, and the Cultural Revolution. It was good timing for my upcoming trip to China, and definitely piqued my interest in China.
September 16, 2015
Compelling. Interesting perspective on Beijing today and how greatly China has changed since 1972.
October 31, 2011
Jan's writing makes me smile, always enjoy her wit and sense of humor
April 17, 2013
The book was charming and well-written and an easy read. Wong brings a unique perspective to new Beijing.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews