We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,578,621.03 | Books Available: 794,009 | Members Online: 244

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution

Last Boat Out of Shanghai The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution
Author: Helen Zia

The dramatic real life stories of four young people caught up in the mass exodus of Shanghai in the wake of China?s 1949 Communist revolution?a heartrending precursor to the struggles faced by emigrants today. — ?A true page-turner . . . [Helen] Zia has proven once again that history is something that happens to real people.??New York Times best... more »selling author Lisa See

Shanghai has historically been China?s jewel, its richest, most modern and westernized city. The bustling metropolis was home to sophisticated intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and a thriving middle class when Mao?s proletarian revolution emerged victorious from the long civil war. Terrified of the horrors the Communists would wreak upon their lives, citizens of Shanghai who could afford to fled in every direction. Seventy years later, members of the last generation to fully recall this massive exodus have revealed their stories to Chinese American journalist Helen Zia, who interviewed hundreds of exiles about their journey through one of the most tumultuous events of the twentieth century. From these moving accounts, Zia weaves together the stories of four young Shanghai residents who wrestled with the decision to abandon everything for an uncertain life as refugees in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States.

Benny, who as a teenager became the unwilling heir to his father?s dark wartime legacy, must decide either to escape to Hong Kong or navigate the intricacies of a newly Communist China. The resolute Annuo, forced to flee her home with her father, a defeated Nationalist official, becomes an unwelcome exile in Taiwan. The financially strapped Ho fights deportation from the U.S. in order to continue his studies while his family struggles at home. And Bing, given away by her poor parents, faces the prospect of a new life among strangers in America. The lives of these men and women are marvelously portrayed, revealing the dignity and triumph of personal survival.

Herself the daughter of immigrants from China, Zia is uniquely equipped to explain how crises like the Shanghai transition affect children and their families, students and their futures, and, ultimately, the way we see ourselves and those around us. Last Boat Out of Shanghai brings a poignant personal angle to the experiences of refugees then and, by extension, today.

?Zia?s portraits are compassionate and heartbreaking, and they are, ultimately, the universal story of many families who leave their homeland as refugees and find less-than-welcoming circumstances on the other side.??Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club

ISBN-13: 9780345522320
ISBN-10: 034552232X
Publication Date: 1/22/2019
Pages: 544
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 11
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

Biographies & Memoirs >> Community & Culture >> Chinese
Biographies & Memoirs >> Community & Culture >> Japanese
Biographies & Memoirs >> Historical >> Asia >> China
Biographies & Memoirs >> Memoirs
History >> Americas >> United States >> State & Local
History >> Asia >> China
History >> Asia >> Hong Kong
History >> Asia >> Japan
History >> World
Nonfiction >> Social Sciences >> Emigration & Immigration

Back to the Top ↑

Search - Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution

Loading...