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China's Son: Growing Up in the Cultural Revolution
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$ 5.40
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| Retail Value |
$ 6.50 |
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$ 1.11 (17%) |
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| Item Number |
2418600 |
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Item Description...
Overview
Despite being an excellent student, Da Chen's dreams of a successful future end when he is forced to quit school, but after Mao's death, Da decides to try again and soon is performing well, earning him a seat at Beijing University. Adapted from Colors of the Mountain. Reissue.
Publishers Description
A candid memoir about growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, adapted by the author from his Colors of the Mountain, published by Random House.
Da Chen was born in China in 1962. The grandson of a landlord, he and his family were treated as outcasts in Communist China. In school, Da was an excellent student until a teacher told him that, because of his “family's crimes,” he could never be more than a poor farmer. Feeling his fate was hopeless, Da responded by dropping out and hanging around with a gang. However, after Mao's death, Da realized that an education and college might be possible, but he had to make up for the time he'd wasted. He began to study–all day and into the night. His entire family rallied to help him succeed, working long hours in the rice fields and going into debt to ensure that Da would have an education. When the final exam results were posted, he had one of the highest scores in the region and had earned a place at the prestigious Beijing University. Now his family's past would not harm their future.
From the Hardcover edition.
Da Chen is a graduate of Columbia University Law School.
From the Hardcover edition.
I was born in southern China in 1962, in the tiny town of Yellow Stone. They called it the Year of Great Starvation. Chairman Mao had had a parting of the ways with the Soviets, and now they wanted all their loans repaid or there would be blood, a lot of it.
Mao panicked. He ordered his citizens to cut down on meals and be hungry heroes so he could repay the loans. The superstitious citizens of Yellow Stone still saw the starving ghosts of those who had died during that year chasing around and sobbing for food on the eve of the spring Tomb Sweeping Festival.
That year also saw a forbidding drought that made fields throughout China crack like wax. For the first time, the folks of Yellow Stone saw the bottom of the Dong jing River. Rice plants turned yellow and withered young.
Dad wanted to give me the name Han, which means "drought." But that would have been like naming a boy in Hiroshima Atom Bomb. And since the Chinese believe that their names dictate their fate, I would have probably ended up digging ditches, searching for water in some wasteland. So Dad named me Da, which means "prosperity."
The unfortunate year of my birth left a permanent flaw in my character: I was always hungry. I yearned for food. I could talk, think, and dream about it forever. As an infant, I ate with a large, adult spoon. I would open wide while they shoveled in the porridge. My grandmother said she had never seen an easier baby to feed.
Ours was a big family, and I was at the bottom. There were a great many people above me, with, at the top, my bald, long-bearded grandpa and my square-faced, large-boned grandma. Dad looked mostly like Grandma, but he had Grandpa's smiling eyes. Mom seemed very tiny next to my broad-chested dad. Sister Si was the eldest of my siblings, a big girl who took after Dad in personality and physique. jin, my brother, had Mom's elegant features; we still haven't figured out just who my middle sister, Ke, looks like. Huang, who is a year older than me, grew up to be a tall, thin girl, a beauty with enormous eyes.
We lived in an old house that faced the only street in Yellow Stone. Our backyard led to the clear Dong Jing River, zigzagging like a dragon on land. The lush, odd-shaped Ching Mountain stood beyond the endless rice paddies like an ancient giant with a pointed hat, round shoulders, and head bent in gentle slumber.
We rarely left our house to play because Mom said there were many bad people waiting to hurt us. When I did go out to buy food in the commune's grocery store a few blocks away, I always walked in the middle, safely flanked by my three sisters as we hurried in and out. Neighborhood boys sometimes threw stones at us, made ugly faces, and called us names. I always wondered why they did that. It was obviously not for fun. My sisters often cried as we ran and dodged and slammed our door shut behind us.
From the Hardcover edition. |
Item Specifications...
Pages 224
Dimensions: Length: 0.75" Width: 4.5" Height: 7"
Weight: 0.12 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Jul 13, 2004
Publisher Laurel Leaf
ISBN 044022926X
EAN 9780440229261
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Availability 56 units.
Availability accurate as of May 24, 2012 12:41.
Usually ships within one to two business days from Momence, IL.
Orders shipping to an address other than a confirmed Credit Card / Paypal Billing address may incur and additional processing delay.
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About this Author/Artist Da Chen is a graduate of Columbia University Law School.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | China's Son Dec 3, 2006 |
I think china's Son by Da Chen is a great book. It talks about what had happened during the Culture Revolution which the author Da Chen had lived between. Also since his family was a landlord, and Mao didn't like rich people. Their land were taken and their father was sent to labor camp.
I think this book-China's Son would be great for people who are from 12~16 and who wants to learn about what had happened during the Culture Revolution. | | |  | Great Story Dec 1, 2006 |
| This was a great story but in order to enjoy the WHOLE story one must read the WHOLE story. This book is the abridged version of Colors of the Mountain. While this book grabs all the highlights if you're as nitpicky as I am I recommend you read Colors of the Mountain instead. Either is bound to give you a great tale; it's just a question of whether you want it all or just the highlights. | | | | under an unlucky star. Apr 6, 2006 |
I like learning about China and what happened back in the days. I just can't figure out why anyone would want to write an autobiography shamelessly asking for sympathy. Oh, I was the son of a rich family, and therefore I suffered. Woe was I.
I think I wouldn't mind if the protagonist failed the test. He sounded selfish and too arrogant--bitchy even. | | | | An inspirational, insightful autobiography Mar 4, 2003 |
| China's Sons is the intensely personal account of Da Chen, born in China in 1962, is reviewed here for its importance to many an adult reader as well. Chen and his family were outcasts in Communist China, and Da had to drop out of school as a result. When Mao died, Da faced a long struggle to regain his education and go to college � and his entire family helped him succeed. China's Son is an inspirational, insightful autobiography. | | | | Interesting child account of the Cultural Revolution Dec 2, 2002 |
| As an adult interested in China and the Cultural Revolution and having traveled many times to China, I read this book not really expecting to glean much from it. It was well written though and appropriately rated. I found Da Chen a character I could relate with (even as an adult) and discovered his account to be full of emotion: frightened, bitter, angry, excited, happy etc.. I think most of the "facts" were presented in truth. | | | Write your own review about China's Son: Growing Up in the Cultural Revolution
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