Spring Winds of Beijing

Spring Winds of Beijing is a vivid and passionate account of the events in Beijing during the spring of 1989. The reader "takes to the streets" to mingle with the people from the early days of exhilaration through the silence of horror that enveloped the city following the Tiananmen Massacre. Giving voice to the ordinary Chinese people--the laobaixing--Spring Winds of Beijing provides insight into the social, economic, and political problems of modern China, while recounting the dramatic effects of the student movement on government and student leaders. Above all, it pays tribute to the character and courage of the Chinese people. Most foreigners in China have limited access to the Chinese people. Government authorities have assumed them to be spies. Each group then sees a different side of China with their impressions drawn from their restricted contact. Gail Copeland has had the advantage of living and traveling in China as a member of a business delegation, a potential investor, an independent traveler, a student, and a writer. Her various experiences, coupled with a gregarious nature and a warm personality, have earned her the friendship and trust of Chinese from all walks of life.

Businesswoman, entrepreneur, author, photographer, lecturer, and China Hand, Gail Copeland first traveled to the People's Republic of China in 1982. It was love at first sight! Over the next decade, she has returned repeatedly, to live, to study, and to travel in China. As a result, Gail Copeland has developed an extensive knowledge of the Middle Kingdom and an appreciation and affection for the Chinese people, giving her keen insight into a culture that she describes as "overwhelmingly complex at times, and incredibly simple at other times."