San Francisco Public Library

Colors of the mountain, Da Chen

eng

autobiography

no index present

non fiction

Colors of the mountain

45872991

Da Chen

A Chinese American lawyer shares his memories of growing up in rural China during Mao's Cultural Revolution, describing how he struggled to overcome persecution and adversity to achieve an education, both in China and the United States. Colors of the Mountain is a classic story of triumph over adversity, a memoir of a boyhood full of spunk, mischief, and love, and a welcome introduction to an amazing young writer. Da Chen was born in 1962, in the Year of Great Starvation. Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution engulfed millions of Chinese citizens, and the Red Guard enforced Mao's brutal communist regime. Chen's family belonged to the despised landlord class, and his father and grandfather were routinely beaten and sent to labor camps, the family of eight left without a breadwinner. Despite this background of poverty and danger, Da Chen grows up to be resilient, tough, and funny, learning how to defend himself and how to work toward his future. By the final pages of his memoir, when he says his last goodbyes to his father and boards the bus to Beijing to attend college, Da Chen has become a hopeful man astonishing in his resilience and cheerful strength. A story about suppression, humiliation, vindication and, ultimately, triumph. The New York Times Book Review. A defiantly happy book, big-hearted and sincere. Newsweek. Da Chen has written a remarkable coming-of-age memoir filled with humiliation, revenge, vindication, and ultimately, pride ... A book of great dignity. Lisa See. A personal story that is crafted with dignity and literary skill ... The narrative voice is clean, spare, precise, often cheerfully poetic, with deft little flashes of imagery coming as surprises. The Baltimore Sun. Vibrant ... A rich account ... We cannot help but rejoice with him. Richmond Times-Dispatch