Childhood of Genghua in a capitalist family -- Life little Genghua remembered under Japanese occupation -- How Chinese people keep their festivals before 1949 -- Life of Wu family before Communist Party takes over Shanghai -- The first two political movements have no effect on Wu family -- How capitalists get first financial blow & how Genghua fares in middle school -- Genghua's friend returns to Germany & capitalists get second financial blow -- Anti-rightist movement has little effect on Wu family -- The great leap-forward & steel-making movement -- Genghua learns English from some old scholars & makes new friends -- Tours in West-Suburb Park & to Suzhou City -- Genghua makes more friends & Mrs. Wu's afraid to bribe the policeman -- Capitalists get final financial blow in Cultural Revolution -- Rebels seize power of local governments & armed fights begin the nation over -- How Wu family fares in later period of Cultural Revolution -- Wu family seeks help for permits to Hong Kong & Lin Biao dies -- Genghua starts to translate classics & Cultural Revolution ends -- Genghua gets jobs & shows his talent in English teaching -- Genghua's friend Bai helps to get permits for his mother and brother to go to Hong Kong -- Genghua gets married -- How Genghua and his wife live and work -- Genghua publishes his first book & has a daughter -- Genghua and his family go to the United States
Summary
Life in Shanghai played out against a backdrop of shifting political maneuvers until World War II burned off the patina that had made 'Old Shanghai' a world unto itself. In this personal history we follow one man through Japan's conquest of Shanghai in 1937 to the Chinese civil war and Communist takeover, Mao's desperate attempts to modernize a medieval country and Deng Xiaoping's opening the economy but not social freedoms. The protagonist lees burgeoning corruption and makes it to the United States to see for himself what the tales of freedom and democracy might offer
