Things That Must Not Be Forgotten: A Childhood in Wartime China - Softcover

Michael David Kwan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1577667840 ISBN 13: 9781577667841

Publisher: Waveland Pr Inc, 2012

Synopsis

Things That Must Not Be Forgotten is a beautifully written collection of Michael David Kwan's childhood experiences in China during the 1930s and 1940s. Born into privilege, David saw his pampered life disintegrate as the Japanese overran China. His father, the wealthy administrator for China's railroads, took a position in the pro-Japanese government to work covertly for the Chinese resistance.

In Beijing, the Kwan household became a gathering place for resistance members. At their summer villa in Beidaihe, the family surreptitiously aided the guerillas in the nearby mountains. In Qingdao, the Kwans lived next door to a Japanese admiral and his wife. From a tree house overlooking their garden, young David enjoyed listening to the music they played, while his father worked secretly for the resistance. David's other memories (for example, cricket hunting with his father's tenant farmer, performing rituals as an altar boy, being tormented in school, gardening with the owner of an antique shop, and participating in Boy Scouts) provide fascinating insights into life in China during those turbulent times.

In August 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Within days, Japan surrendered. Chiang Kai-shek's regime replaced the Japanese puppet government in Nanking. Chiang declared that all who had links to the defunct government would be considered traitors until proven otherwise. David's father was imprisoned. During the Japanese occupation, Chiang's Kuomintang and Mao Zedong's Communists had been united against the invaders, but once Japan was defeated, China moved toward chaos as the two factions vied for power. At age twelve, David was sent to live with relatives in Shanghai before being spirited out of the country, not knowing if he'd ever see his family again. Things That Must Not Be Forgotten will stay in readers' hearts and minds long after they've turned the final, wrenching page.

Winner of the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize

Title of related interest also from Waveland Press: Pa Chin, Family (ISBN 9780881333732).

About this title

Review

"This powerful memoir by writer, screenwriter, and translator Michael David Kwan recounts his tumultuous coming-of-age in China [before,] during and after WWII. This straightforward and poetic work illuminates the contradictions of wartime as seen through the eyes of a child. An astonishing story of family, loyalty, patriotism and war that shows how unforeseen events change people--and how, in turn, they can reshape those events to survive and retain their imprint." --Publishers Weekly

"An eloquent and deeply touching presentation of China in the turbulent 1930s and 1940s. Through the inquisitive, honest eyes of a child, Michael David Kwan shows us the ordinary and the extraordinary in a time of profound change wrought by wars and revolution." --Lu Yan, University of New Hampshire

"Luminous recollections of a lost world, from a writer who recounts how his privileged and sheltered childhood turned into a dangerous adolescence in war-torn China. . . . A lively account, filled with the vivid details of daily and family life that make the best memoirs evocative portraits of their peoples and their times." --Kirkus Reviews

Edition details

• Publisher: Waveland Pr Inc
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1577667840
• ISBN 13: 9781577667841
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240