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I know it's another name for the game of Telephone, and it's fitting given the subject of the book, but the title was so distracting. Every time I looked at the cover of the book, I sang George Michael's "Careless Whisper" in my head and replaced the words with "Chinese whispers": "Time can never mend / The Chinese whispers of a good friend. / To the heart and mind, / Ignorance is kind. / There's no comfort in the truth, / Pain is all you'll find."
Actually, though, I think the author did find c...more
Actually, though, I think the author did find c...more
This was an interesting book. On the cover The Times (I wonder which one) says it is 'the future of travel writing'. This i am not so sure about - in many ways I do hope not.
Jan Wong, the author, is a Canadian Chinese woman who, in the 70s, was all fired up with the dream of Mao and went off to study in Beijing. There she encountered a young woman, Yin Luoyi who was disenchanted by the Chienese dream and wanted out. She asked Wong if she would help her get to America. What Wong did would should...more
Jan Wong, the author, is a Canadian Chinese woman who, in the 70s, was all fired up with the dream of Mao and went off to study in Beijing. There she encountered a young woman, Yin Luoyi who was disenchanted by the Chienese dream and wanted out. She asked Wong if she would help her get to America. What Wong did would should...more
I was able to read this book in about a day. One long day but still.
And having been to Beijing, it was interesting to read a book set there.
The author tells her real life tale of turning in a fellow student during the Cultural Revolution and then going back to Beijing years later to try to find the woman and ask for forgiveness. The book very nicely weaves history from the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square Massacre and current times in Beijing (well, up until 2007 when the book was publ...more
And having been to Beijing, it was interesting to read a book set there.
The author tells her real life tale of turning in a fellow student during the Cultural Revolution and then going back to Beijing years later to try to find the woman and ask for forgiveness. The book very nicely weaves history from the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square Massacre and current times in Beijing (well, up until 2007 when the book was publ...more
Another random pick in the library that I enjoyed. Having read quite a lot of books about China's history, it was really interesting and different to read a book set in modern day China.
Jan Wong has returned to China, 33 years after she willingly reported a fellow student to the Chinese authorities for wanting to leave the country. Jan was a 'starry-eyed Maoist' and paid no thought to what would happen to Yin as a result of her actions. Yin disappeared.
Jan returns to Beijing in 2006 set on find...more
Jan Wong has returned to China, 33 years after she willingly reported a fellow student to the Chinese authorities for wanting to leave the country. Jan was a 'starry-eyed Maoist' and paid no thought to what would happen to Yin as a result of her actions. Yin disappeared.
Jan returns to Beijing in 2006 set on find...more
I read my first Jan Wong book, Red China Blues, when I was in third year at UBC, Vancouver, Canada. I was an aspiring sinologist at the time, eager to learn more about the country which would become the heart of my studies until this very day. At the time, I thought Red China Blues was a great book. Easy to read, intersecting between history, personal anecdotes, and stories of places that I had never been to, but would love to visit some day.
And so, I had much anticipation when I started reading...more
And so, I had much anticipation when I started reading...more
The author, a Canadian, while studying at Beijing University in the beginning of the 70s, denounced a Chinese student who dreamed of going to America. She, the Chinese student, had to go through the Cultural Revolution punishments. The author returns to Beijing in the 2000s trying to find the student.
While I enjoyed the insight into life in China in the 1970s, I found the author a little grating. More anecdotal than insightful, I thought Wong was a little too self-obsessed and inward looking than she needed to be. It seemed like her journey seeking out this woman was more about curiosity than forgiveness or redemption. She never came across as truly concerned for the girl she exposed (not least because she forgot about it for years). Seemed disingenuous at times, and I'm not sure I trusted...more
Her first book, Red China Blues was heavy going but only because I didn't know any of the information or history she was relating. Chinese Whispers is about her trip back to China 33 years later and is an easier read.
May 19, 2013
Deirdre
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Jan 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 Trave...more
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Jan 28, 2013 03:10pm