Jing-Jing

This is the story of Sophia Pirrone, a fourteen-year-old girl who was among the first American teenagers to live in China for a year (1982) after the U.S. normalized relations with the People's Republic of China.

Called "Jing-Jing" by her Chinese schoolmates, she attends middle school where she makes friends and learns Chinese. She lives in a local residence with her father, an American professor teaching at a famous university, and other foreign experts from around the world.

Jing-Jing experiences customs and relishes delicious foods wherever she goes in China. She views gorgeous scenery--climbs mountains, boats through gorges, and rafts on rivers. She visits temples and communes and the cities of Beijing, Hangzhou, and Nanjing and other places for a unique cross-cultural experience. Jing-Jing gains new insights into an ancient culture while she experiences once in a lifetime adventures.

Dan Tannacito is a writer, teacher of writing and linguistics, and professor of English. He has lived and traveled extensively in the U.S., China, Italy, and Turkey. Murder at Point Lookout Beach was his first novel.