Han Suyin

Zhou Enlai was one of the greatest statesmen of the twentieth century. Long overshadowed by the more visible - and charismatic - Mao Dzedong, he and his life and extraordinary accomplishments remain little recognized outside China, where he is still revered as the beloved father of the modern nation. In Eldest Son, Han Suyin brings this towering figure to life in a profoundly human and intimate portrait - the first full-scale biography of the late premier to be published in English. Between 1956 and 1974, Dr. Han conducted a series of eleven unprecedented interviews with Zhou, each of them lasting for several hours. Drawing upon these encounters, and on further meetings with his widow, his family and colleagues, as well as her unusual access to the Communist Party archives, Dr. Han presents a nuanced portrait of this deeply committed Chinese nationalist and Communist. Here is the full sweep of Zhou's remarkable life: his early schooling in Japan and Europe, his complex and loyal relationship to Mao, his historic meetings with other world leaders such as Khrushchev, Nehru, and Nixon which opened China to the global community. And Dr. Han gives us the private man as well as the public figure: his loving and formative marriage to Deng Yingchao, the murder of his adopted daughter at the hands of the Red Guards, and ultimately his painful battle with cancer . Like no other, Zhou's life is the history of modern China. Through the lens of his experience we see unfolding the dramatic, sometimes violent, decades of change: the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, the galvanizing Long March, the social convulsions of the Great Leap Forward, the violent excesses of the Cultural Revolution, and the diplomatic rapprochement with the West in the 1970s. Dr. Han weaves these decisive events with the impressions and memories of hundreds of ordinary citizens from every sector of Chinese society to create a rich historical tapestry. Compellingly written, unique in its perspective, Eldest Son is masterful social history and an indispensable portrait of a legendary leader whose political legacy continues to influence the course of China today.

The events of Chinese history between 1938 and 1948 are reconstructed in this 3rd volume of Han Suyin's autobiography.

Author explores China and her family's story from the Taiping Rebellion in the middle of the nineteenth century through the Kuomintang.

Love story of an Englishwoman and a Hindu who meet in a romantic valley in Nepal.

Mark Elliot, a married British foreign correspondent in Hong Kong, falls in love with a Eurasian doctor originally from Mainland China, only to encounter prejudice from her family and from Hong Kong society. On the surface it is a love story but there is a historical perspective relating to China, Hong Kong, and the peoples and societies that populated the island. It is also strongly autobiographical.--From publisher description.

Un complément au vaste récit autobiographique de l'auteure, en cinq volumes, qui accorde une large place à la Chine du 20e siècle. Le présent document évoque le mariage de l'écrivaine chinoise avec un Indien (Vincent), son intégration à la famille indienne de son conjoint et les problèmes de Peter, fils de Vincent lors de son premier mariage. Peter était ingénieur; il fut atteint d'un handicap profond à la suite d'une méningite tuberculeuse; la famille s'occupe de sa rééducation.

L'auteure qui a connu personnellement Chou En-lai et qui a recueilli le témoignage de centaines de ses collaborateurs, présente ici une biographie de cet homme d'Etat qui, avec Mao, a contribué à l'édification de la Chine d'aujourd'hui.