Product Description
Who can forget the images, telecast worldwide, of brave Chinese students facing down tanks in Tiananmen Square as they took on their Communist government? After a two-week standoff in 1989, military forces suppressed the revolt, killing many students and issuing arrest warrants for top student leaders, including Zhang Boli. After two years as a fugitive, Zhang — the only leader to elude capture — knew that he must bid his beloved country, as well as his wife and baby daughter, farewell. Traveling across the frozen terrain of the former Soviet Union, where peasants rescued him, and through the deserted lands of China’s precarious borders, Zhang had only his extraordinary will to propel him toward freedom. As told in Escape from China — a work of great historical resonance — his story will renew your faith in the human spirit.Amazon.com Review
When the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations became a bloody massacre, Zhang Boli, a prominent student leader, was placed on China’s most wanted list. Of the 21 listed, he is the only one to elude authorities. Escape from China is Zhang’s first-person account of his perilous two-year flight from his pursuers, a flight that eventually brought him to America. Fleeing from a regime that had “lost rationality and humanity”, he went north–crossing into Russia for a while–relying not only on the kindness of friends, relatives, and strangers, but also on his own ingenuity. He spent months living rough in the harsh, wild, Russian-Chinese border region east of Mongolia. Zhang’s narrative is blunt, precise, and commendably modest. Especially compelling are the conversations he had during his odyssey. Much of their power derives from Zhang’s rendering–unblinking, no matter how gruff and vulgar. Escape from China is at once an indictment of authoritarianism and a gripping story of hardship, bravery, and determination. –H. O’Billovich
Escape from China : The Long Journey From Tiananmen to Freedom
I have read the original Chinese version of the book, and found the conversations the most interesting. There are indeed times when the language becomes vulgar – the dialogues between the commoners and the officers, for example – but this shows the author’s honesty in writing his book. I found the chapter dealing with his journey to the Soviet Union the most brilliantly written. The author goes through some reflection, admitting the mistakes of the student leaders, including his own. His journey witnesses his change from playing the role of an intellectual to that of a commoner, and it is through this change that he truly understands the fate and lives of the Chinese people.
The relationship (and its development) between the author and his wife is very sad, but worth the reader’s attention.
Rating: 4 / 5
First, a short response to the review “telling truth or not” by “a reader”. Shortly after the June 4th massacre the Chinese government broadcasted on television a video (apparently taken by the secret police) mockingly claiming that “while the ‘poor worms’ were on hunger strike, the leading ‘turmoil elements’ were eating in local restaurants using the donations intended for the movement.” Almost immediately after the broadcast a university student in Hong Kong (a student of Chinese Universtiy of HK, if I remember correctly), whose face also appeared on the video, came out and clarifed that the dinner took place AFTER the hunger struck (the hunger strike ended at 10:00p.m. May 16). He was a representative of the universtiy students from HK, and he invited the leaders for dinner and he paid the bill — no money was used from donations. When the video was replayed in slow motion, one could see what they were eating and would appreciate that it was indeed a very, very simple meal.
One may find that the way the officers conduct their business and the way the commoners response are somewhat beyond believe. I know that the author is genuinely telling the truth, for I was detained in China twice, once for a month and once for 3 days.
I have read the original Chinese version of the book and also some background material about the author. Within three months after he arrived at US he was diagnosed to have final stage liver cancer. The auther immediately started writing his memoir in the hospital bed hoping that he would leave something valuable for his daughter Little Snow. Miraculously his cancer was gone when he finished writing his book!
Rating: 5 / 5
Just a simple response to Mrs. G’s review. Firstly, I wanted to ask Mrs. G, Could you read Chinese to decide whether the English version is good or bad? I found the translation a lot better than the original Chinese version. That is, the original Chinese is even more vulgar in many contexts, and I appreciated the translator’s job, with some British taste indeed. A translator can only do so much to improve on a text that was not brilliantly written to begin with. If the translator’s English is not refined enough, then it should be the editor’s job to edit and revise it. Since you think the English version is exciting, what flaws is there that made you blame the translator? Indeed, I am glad that the translator has beautifully REwritten some content in a way that is acceptable to the American readers, and that shows that the translator is actually a good English writer and also well learned in Chinese studies. Maybe it does not occur to Mrs. G that even a pastor can be biased. It’s regrettable if Mr. Zhang, who has apparently converted many Chinese, still cannot acknowledge the translator’s efforts and achievement.
Rating: 5 / 5
This is a fast paced, insightful account of a dramatic journey in (and out of) China.
I like the attention to detail the author pays to daily life aspects.
Rating: 5 / 5
The events in Tiananmen Square in June 1989 are one of the 20th century’s defining moments. Chinese students took on their communist government & after a 2 week stand-off military forces used overwhelming force to brutally suppress the revolt.
The government issued a warrant for the arrest of the leaders of the insurgence. Zhang Boli was one of the 21 most wanted & the only one not captured. This is his story of how he evades a ruthless nationwide manhunt to escape to freedom in the west.
Zhang Boli comes across as a very brave & intelligent student & in writing this story he wants to not only tell the story of his escape but also of some of the great people who helped him along the way. Worth reading.
Rating: 3 / 5