Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who

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

The dramatic real life stories of four young people caught up in the mass exodus of Shanghai in the wake of Chinaâ€™s 1949 Communist revolutionâ€”a heartrendingÂ precursor to the struggles faced by emigrants today.Â

â€œA true page-turner . . . [Helen] Zia has proven once again that history is something that happens to real people.â€â€”New York TimesÂ bestselling author Lisa See

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR AND THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR â€¢ LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/JACQUELINE BOGRAD WELD AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY

Shanghai has historically been Chinaâ€™s jewel, its richest, most modern and westernized city. The bustling metropolis was home to sophisticated intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and a thriving middle class when Maoâ€™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 fatherâ€™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.

â€œZiaâ€™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.â€â€”Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club
Country USA
Manufacturer Ballantine Books
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2019-01-22
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Ballantine Books
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2019-01-22
Format	Kindle eBook

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

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