helen zia

Shanghai has historically been China’s jewel, its richest, most modern city. The bustling metropolis was home to sophisticated intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and a thriving middle class when Mao’s proletarian revolution emerged victorious from the long civil war. Terrified of the horrors the Communists would wreak upon their lives, citizens of Shanghai who could afford to fled in every direction. Seventy years later, the last generation to fully recall this massive exodus has opened the story to Chinese American journalist Helen Zia, who interviewed hundreds of exiles about their journey through one of the most tumultuous events of the 20th century. From these moving accounts, Zia weaves the story of four young Shanghai residents who wrestled with the decision to abandon everything as refugees in Hong Kong,…