Daughter of Shanghai - Hardcover

Tsai Chin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0701133066 ISBN 13: 9780701133061

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 1988

Synopsis

Tsai Chin rose to fame in London when she appeared in "The World of Susie Wong" in 1960. The third daughter of one of modern China's most famous classical actors, she tells how she was born on tour in a trunk and of her childhood in a wealthy, but unconventional theatrical household in Shanghai, surrounded by brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and artists. She chronicles her life, recounting how she left for Hong Kong and England to become an actress, her time at RADA, her affair with Kenneth Tynan, the death of her parents during the Cultural Revolution and her own despair and her new life in America. In 1982 she returned to China to direct "The Tempest". She now often visits China to direct plays and lecture and has also appeared in "Virgin Soldiers" and Granada TV's "A Subject of Struggle".

About this title

From Library Journal:

Daughter of China's leading classical actor, Tsai Chin was raised in a liberal, westernized home in Shanghai, which she left in 1949 to study acting in London. Though she assimilated easily into England, Chin never lost her sense of being Chinese, nor her worry for her parents still in China during the decades following the Communist takeover. Her successful career included the title role in The World of Suzie Wong as well as films and cabaret. In later years, she returned to graduate study and teaching drama. Chin skims over her two marriages and several romantic liaisons (most notably with critic Kenneth Tynan), as well as a nervous breakdown. These somewhat rambling reminiscences cover all the dramatic events of recent Chinese history, but fail to grip the reader. One senses an emotional distance despite the author's assertion that writing the book was cathartic.
- Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

How it was to live in the shadow of a changing China and later in England amidst the vagaries of the British theater are described by the actress whose career peaked in 1960 with her eponymous role in the stage production of The World of Suzie Wong. Raised in Shanghai--her father a classical actor, her mother of Westernized background--Tsai Chin enjoyed the perquisites of her family's caste. The charming glimpses she offers of her childhood in a close-knit family provide also an informal history of Chinese theater. With this as prelude, the author's re-creation of her transformation as a sex symbol of the '60s, involved in a highly public affair with critic Kenneth Tynan, is especially jarring alongside her description of the fate of her family who were jailed and died during the cultural revolution in China. Her affecting memoir bridges two disparate worlds and eras. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Chatto & Windus
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0701133066
• ISBN 13: 9780701133061
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240