Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China

John Pomfret

ISBN 10: 0805086641 / ISBN 13: 9780805086645

Published by Holt Paperbacks, 2007

About this Item

[ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ][ Ships Daily ] [ Underlining/Highlighting: NONE ] [ Writing: NONE ] [ Edition: first ] Publisher: Holt Paperbacks Pub Date: 7/24/2007 Binding: Paperback Pages: 336 first edition.

Seller Inventory # 6656235

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805086641
• ISBN 13: 9780805086645
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

A first-hand account of the remarkable transformation of China over the past forty years as seen through the life of an award-winning journalist and his four Chinese classmates

As a twenty-year-old exchange student from Stanford University, John Pomfret spent a year at Nanjing University in China. His fellow classmates were among those who survived the twin tragedies of Mao's rule―the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution―and whose success in government and private industry today are shaping China's future. Pomfret went on to a career in journalism, spending the bulk of his time in China. After attending the twentieth reunion of his class, he decided to reacquaint himself with some of his classmates. Chinese Lessons is their story and his own.

Beginning with Pomfret's first days in China, Chinese Lessons takes us back to the often torturous paths that brought together the Nanjing University History Class of 1982. One classmate's father was killed during the Cultural Revolution for the crime of being an intellectual; another classmate labored in the fields for years rather than agree to a Party-arranged marriage; a third was forced to publicly denounce and humiliate her father. As we watch Pomfret and his classmates begin to make their lives as adults, we see as never before the human cost and triumph of China's transition from near-feudal communism to first-world capitalism.

About the Author

John Pomfret, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, served as a correspondent for the Washington Post for two decades, covering wars, revolutions, and China. His recent book, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom, won the Arthur Ross Book Award from the Council on Foreign Relations. The recipient of numerous journalism awards, he lives with his wife and three children in Berkeley, CA.