No comments about Beijing Diary: The personal story of a remarkable theatrical and political event- the production of an all-Chinese version of The Caine Mutiny Court-martial in Bejiing..

5 comments about Daughter of the River.

1. Whats annoying is that the author passes this all off as autobigraphical and historically true, when it is NOT. YH was/is from a very elite background, and like other expats making bucks off of US readers in search of melodramas of oppressed Chinese, this works poorly as history or politics. MOreover, the prose is labored and purple, though this might be the translation's fault.



2. It is true that this autobiography is bleak. It is dark, but it is a reflection of the poverty and oppression experienced by the peasant class in China, now and all during the rule of the Communist regime. How Hong Ying is able to evoke absolute beauty from this seemingly unending ugliness is beyond me. But she expertly does just that. Without thought or pretense, Hong Ying's writing sings immaculately from the page. Amazing prose. This book's importance lies in that it is the story of someone from the peasant class, and since it is always good to hear all different perspectives of the same or similar events in order to get a good all around picture of the times, Hong Ying's book is a must read. In commenting on the book to a friend, I said that perhaps Hong Ying and her family's saving grace was that they were already at the bottom of the totem pole. Because of this they didn't have to experience the worst of what the Cultural Revolution had to offer eventhough it touched their lives daily. The peasant class of China is what Mao Zedong strived to make all the people of China in the name of proletarianism. The fact that Hong Ying and her family were already of this class meant that many of the dynamics of the time that were sweeping through all classes above them settled into their class as normalcy somewhat. It's like a line from Joan Chen's movie "Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl;" at one point when Xiu Xiu is questioning where she is being sent, she is told that it doesn't matter because it's the same everywhere; a simple statement but poignant in just how dead on right it is. Therefore, you must appreciate even moreso when we are allowed to read of these events by all those who were a part of them be it peasant or merchant. If it's done well, it is the most captivating of things to read because it means they made it out and are able to share it with us now. Before, any scraps of paper containing this type of writing would have been confiscated and burned, a black mark put in your file, or perhaps you'd be arrested. Hong Ying has done a brilliant job telling of her coming into womanhood in those times and of the exuberant curiosity she had about her family and herself, always having been treated as the outsider.



3. I cannot say that I enjoyed reading this book ... it was too raw to bring pleasure. But it did keep me captivated until the end. I felt that I wanted to reach out to Hong Ying and comfort her in some way as she lived through such excruciating poverty and endured the even greater agony of not feeling loved. I hope that she has found love and is at peace now. I also wonder about the fate of her family. Did they ever find release from such grinding poverty?

   Hong Ying obviously has a great talent and I look forward to reading more of her writings.




4. The non linar approach kept me thinking there would be some big supprizing reward at the end of the book. To my disappointment there was no such revolation. Not an awfully written story but certinally no prize winner in my book!



5. Dear Hong Ying

   Thank you so much for sending me your book. I was totally gripped by your narrative and when I finished it I found myself weeping uncontrollably. There is so much in your story which strikes my raw emotion and which touches my heart deeply.This is not just because I feel instinctively tuned into the underworld you depicted so vividly due to similar experiences in my life in Chongqing. More importantly, it embodies almost exactly the literary project which has long been fermenting in my mind. I have always longed to read something or even write something which could show that big words such as freedom, democracy and human rights are not just some high-sounding principles; that they affect millions of ordinary people's lives in many concrete ways.

   In my discipline of political science, the rise of East Asia in the 1980s spawned a huge industry of academic research on the relathionship between political system and economic development. For quite a while, Western scholars who were critical of their own democratic system joined the chorus of East Asian dictators such as Suharto, Lee Kuan Yew and Dr Mahathir (of Malaysia) to defend the "necessity" of authoritarianism for the sake of economic development and political stability. I think your book would be an ideal antidote to this typical "arm-chair" scholarship devoid of any sense of reality. To me, your book serves as a powerful warning that development without democracy simply

   creates another privileged class standing above the law and everyone else. I am often angered and depressed by the world I live in. It seems to me so many human injustices stem ultimately from the fact that too many human beings are greedy and cruel.

5 comments about For My Hands Only.

1. Funny, poignant and educational, Mr. Ling's book has me anxiously waiting to see what happens next! At times I wanted to wrap my arms around this child and wipe the dirt from him and at others wanted to turn him over my knee! "For My Hand's Only" comes at a time in U.S. history when everyone needs a reminder of the hardships that are willingly endured to participate in the freedoms and opportunities some Americans accept as a God-given right.



2. "Shades of Dick Whittington, Horatio Alger and Oliver Twist--one
   young man's quest for freedom, an education and a new life. For My Hands
   Only accounts such a struggle by one undaunted by life's hurdles and
   vicissitudes." Lorraine Hildebrand, Gig Harbor, Washington



3. Stephen Ling's memoir, For My Hands Only, is a rollercoaster of a read. His childhood was filled with highs, lows, twists, and turns. I laughed. I cried. My heart ached at times at the injustices he had to face as a young boy in Malaysia. From opium dens, to rubber tree fields, to listening to his inner voice and ultimately finding freedom, Stephen Ling experienced it all. It's an unforgettable tale, and I encourage everyone to take the rollercoaster of a journey with him.



4. Local author Stephen Ling's autobiography "For My Hands Only" is the inspiring story of one young man's struggle to overcome poverty and oppression as the adopted son of Chinese immigrants in Malaysia. Set during the last days of World War II, the book recalls in vivid detail the daily life of his family as they grind out an existence in a tiny Malaysian village. Determined to escape these oppressive conditions, Ling finds solace in academics, eventually studying well enough to attend college in Singapore and graduate school in America. Ling's style is boisterous and overflowing, reminiscent of Henry Miller's, and his insightful observations about history and colonialism reveal a great deal about the circumstances in Malaysia during World War II. His writing has also drawn praise from readers as the next Malaysian Frank McCourt. After returning from a trip to Malaysia to visit family and promote his book, Ling took some time to talk with Northwest Asian Weekly about his life and journey to America.
   
   The title of your book is "For My Hands Only". What is the significance of the title? How did your experiences as an adopted "hand" affect your goals and ambitions as an adult?
   
   I must have been a perspicacious child! Because I sensed at an early age (before 10) that I wasn't adopted for a better future or a better life, for me. People talk. People adopt children for diverse reasons: because they feel sorry for the orphans; because they are barren; because they want to help the world; because they want a better future for the children; because they love children; because they want to make money out of them. I was adopted strictly for my hands only. I chose the title FOR MY HANDS ONLY because it reflects the very crux and kernel of the book, that I was adopted for my hands, brawn and not for my brain. The farm became my school. And I rebelled against it. Also it should pique a potential reader's interest in what is between the covers. Someone said at a book-signing: Is it about piano playing? Seriously speaking, I wasn't about to let my hands determine my life's journey. The Almighty has planted within the core of my being great potential to pursue after and achieve marvelous things in my life. I went after my dreams with determination and the what-come-what-may attitude.
   
   You write about how your family, especially your mother, did not consider education to be a worthy pursuit, to the point of actively discouraging you from studying. How did poverty and the struggle to survive affect their attitudes to academics? Under such adverse circumstances, what motivated you to succeed academically?
   
   There are so many pockets of poor people in India that I don't expect many of them to rise above their status quo. You accept poverty as the norm! Same could be said about Mother. Mother helped her father raised a family because her mother died young. All her life she knew of nothing but work, work and work. None of her brothers and sisters had any formal education. I grew up in a village of pig farmers, rubber tappers and fishermen. Less than a handful in the village had any kind of education or worked in 8-5 jobs. Going to school wasn't Mother's top priority. Eking a living out of the soil was their chief preoccupation. The Almighty must have surreptitiously spoken to me by a Burning Bush that education is my key out of poverty, desperation, deprivation and cycle of poverty in a farm. I think Margaret Mead--the eminent American anthropologist--would have a tough time understanding me. At the time having a good education meant I could live a better life outside the village. That is enough incentive for anyone to free himself from the bondage of grinding poverty and debilitating traditions.
   
   You write about how in your youth you considered America the land of dreams and opportunity. In what ways has your experience in America matched the youthful vision that you describe in your books? In what ways has it not?
   
   Isn't it ironic that many in the world today criticize America and the so-called evils of the capitalistic culture and society (America is not a genuine capitalistic society!). Yet given the opportunity people from every niche of the world would come to this land of milk and honey, the land of opportunities. And I was one of them. The grocery bags in my village were actually heavy layers of pages from western magazines. The pictures of fashion, mansions, gardens and beautiful white people, and the glossy advertisements in National Geographic magazines in my school library, enticed and enriched my imagination of the wealth, charm and beauty of European countries (growing up the word European covers everything that was non-white; none of us then made any distinction between USA or England or Europe). America, of course, is much more than all the images I had encountered when I was growing up poor in a Chinese village.
   
   Are Asian American youth today any different from how they were when you first started teaching? What advice do you have for Asian Americans who wish to succeed today?
   
   The concept of being Asian American is a new reality or phenomenon in America today. The new economic dragons of our time in this century are India and China. Importing, borrowing, adapting, stealing and sharing Asian cultural manifestations, expressions and products are infusing new blood into our American culture and economy. The most beautiful woman in the world, featured in elegant TV commercials, hails from India. The most daring nine hundred page novel set in India is penned by an Indian man teaching in Berkeley, just off the press to wow literary audiences in America. Witness the rise of Assunta Ng, Publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly, in a series of articles she is writing about how an Asian American and a female--like her--is carving her niche in a male-dominated world of newspaper publishing. And she did it quietly but aggressively her way, determined to march according to her own drum beat, and stood up to her own ethical, business and moral principles against anyone who dared challenge her resolve and convictions.
   
   You mentioned how reading your English teacher's Reader's Digests taught you the value of good writing. What other early experiences influenced you to become a writer? Did you have any favorite authors as you learned to write?
   
   Brother's wife was an incredible raconteur in the family. Usually at the end of a busy day toiling out in the farm or feeding the pigs, we would spend some "leisure" time together before going to bed in our family parlor. She told us stories she must have heard from parents or relatives who had immigrated from China because they were her versions of the many mythological figures and stories that were similar to the ones found in Classical Chinese Myths or anthologies of Chinese short stories. Many adults shared incredible stories of life growing up in mainland China, for example. A writer is essentially a good story-teller. I wrote great English compositions in high school. I did extensive research and crafted A-plus papers in college. During high school I was introduced to English and Irish authors and poets--Charles Dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott, Oliver Goldsmith and Charlotte Bronte. I grew up in a mission school (American Methodist) but our curriculum was strictly English (our exams came directly from Cambridge University, England). I enjoy both male and female American authors, more for their style than content.
   
   
   Your story ends with the move to Singapore with Father. What happened after that? What obstacles/experiences led to your coming to America?
   
   Let me share a quote or two from the Epilogue to the new Malaysian edition of my book.
   "Armed with optimism and high expectations, I followed Father and the family (the mistress and the kids) to the island of Singapore after finishing high school....One day a fat cousin took me on his army motorcycle to an interview at a police academy of some kind because Father's older brother's oldest son had a high position in the Singapore police department. Yes, I had connections, but I was not the right height. To them I was a dwarf! That was not my choice of a career. However, I did start knocking hard at one door, and less than a year after high school, I was offered a full scholarship to study at Trinity College, Singapore, voraciously feasting on psychology, philosophy, theology, and sociology. I wanted to teach in a college some day. I found my calling. I was sure. At the time, I was innocent of the fact that graduating from Trinity would eventually be my ticket to the United States of America, the true Promised Land." In one word, I became a scholar and America was the key to realizing my dream of becoming a college teacher.
   
   
   What motivated you to become an English teacher? How have your early experiences contributed to your role as a teacher and example to your students?
   
   When I was in high school, I "earned" the tile Mrs. Malaprop (a character in Sheridan's play The Rivals, who makes ludicrous blunders in her use of words). Someone took notice of me. I acted in Shakespeare's plays. I was proud of my English compositions (in America, we say essays) in high school. I spent all my savings on English story books I bought from an Indian store growing up. Books then were published cheaply in India. I wrote my first book review when I was in college and some said it was worse than the book I reviewed. My travel grant put me on a cargo-cum-passenger ocean liner on my way to study in America. I read the dictionary from A to Zen while the storms threatened to swallow us all. I continue to read my dictionaries (6 of them). A professor called me in to his office my first year in America and said, "I consider your writing a little ostentatious (I didn't know the meaning of the word then) but since you are a Chinese, I am very proud of your mastery of the English language." I wrote Notes From My Diary for a college newspaper and wrote extensively in my journals about life, with all the ups and downs. I have every reason to want to teach English. To me a teacher is like a beggar, he tells the others (the students) where to find the food. If you are smart, you listen to your teacher. Most importantly, I believe everyday I am helping to mold the future pillars and leaders of our nation! And education is the key to everything! I do profoundly care for my students because nobody cared for me when I was crying for help!
   
   
   History plays an important part in your book, from the Japanese surrender in WWll to the return of the British Military Administration to Malaya in 1945. In what ways do you think history has affected your life, either directly or indirectly? What lessons can we learn from history?
   
   We all are a part of history in the making. History encompasses everything we do in life--social, cultural, economic, political, and now global. History is the milieu within which we grow, live and die. We affect it or it affects us. Reading my book you will realize that I am not waiting around for history to affect me. I want to be the captain of my own ship! I want to affect history, especially those parts that I have control over. A smart man realizes that we can all be instruments of change for the good...As a teacher I hope to make a difference in the life of one student, not the whole universe. The words of George Santayana (American Philosopher 1863-1952) come to mind: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Some say Iraq is another Vietnam! History is our teacher and we should learn from it. It is Confucius (Chinese philosopher 551-479 BC) who said: "A man who knows he has committed a mistake and who doesn't correct it is evoking a series of misfortunes."



5. An interview with the author, Stephen Ling that appeared in StarMag, part of Sunday Star, most widely read English language newspapers in Malaysia. Sunday November 5, 2006
   
   OUR OWN M cCOURT?
   
   A young man flees home and poverty and builds a new life as a teacher. Four decades later, he digs into his past to tell SHARON BAKAR his story.
   
   When Stephen Ling ran away from Sitiawan, Perak, Malaysia, as a young man, he thought it was for good. Ling's childhood, recorded in his memoir For My Hands Only, had been a particularly difficult and unhappy one.
   
   His Family lived in poverty, depending on a rubber smallholding and pig farming for their livelihood and Ling felt that he was valued only for the manual work he could do (hence the title of the book).
   
   Denied the opportunity of an education, and desiring a great deal more for himself, Ling left for Singapore to attend Trinity College on a scholarship and later won a scholarship to study in the United States, where he built a successful career as a teacher.
   
   I caught up with Ling recently when he returned to Malaysia after a 45-year absence, to attend his Brother's 80th birthday. It was an emotional return for Ling, who had felt unwilling to revisit "the place of so much bitterness, harshness and neglect", until his niece cajoled him into returning to celebrate the auspicious event.
   
   The idea of writing a memoir dawned slowly on him. It is impossible not to draw parallels with the story of Frank McCourt, whose books of memoir include the Pulitzer-winning Angela's Ashes. Like McCourt, Ling spun his tales of childhood hardship for students in English classes, hoping both to entertain and inspire them.
   
   But he only thought of writing them down when he realized that many Asian-American writers were not only doing the same, but also winning international critical acclaim. He had the privilege of appearing with novelist Bharti Kirchner (author of 8 books) at the 4th Annual Seattle Rainbow Bookfest and continues to be inspired by her exquisite writings.
   
   Once began writing, he says, the process took over his life. Memories long dammed up inside him flooded back--even while he was sleeping or engaged in other tasks.
   
   Realizing that "when you don't write it the way it comes to you, you can't capture it again," he kept index cards all over the house and in the car to scribble down the thoughts as they came to him.
   
   When the time came for him to put the material together, he sat under a tree in his driveway with a big white sheet of butcher paper and arranged his cards into blocks, slowly watching the documentary of his come into life.
   
   Then once he had the framework, he began to write, as quickly as he could, all the time conscious of the advice he gives to his own students in their writing classes--not to break the flow by stopping to check grammar or correct. Writing had to be fitted in around the demands of a full teaching schedule, and took about nine months.
   
   Reading the memoir, you realize just what an extraordinary witness to the events of his life. Ling is able to recall whole scenes in vivid detail.
   
   He thinks it's because he was a particularly sensitive and emotional child, yet at the same time very curious about things happening around him. Many of the memories are extremely painful. "Everything is very much alive and I sometimes wish someone could help me erase it."
   
   Certain events, he says, are imprinted on his mind. "As a teacher you know that kids remember things best at the point of crisis and the episodes remembered clearly are often those which left the biggest scar. Other things were committed to memory because they were part of the tradition."
   
   The memoir records a way of life now past, and he notes with regret that many of the old traditions are now sacrificed for the sake of convenience.
   
   Although Ling largely relied on memory to write the book, the help and support of his niece, now working as a psychiatric nurse in Australia, was invaluable. She gave him every encouragement, constantly reassuring him that "your perspective counts".
   
   She travels back to Sitiawan frequently to visit her father, and was the go-between when Ling needed to check details. Sadly, his sister, now living in London, refused to give him information and felt he had "no shame" for letting the family secrets out of the bag.
   
   Ling says he deeply regrets not having flown home to research his book on the ground, as once he did return home, he found that the people he met kept telling him stories.
   
   When I suggest that there might be a sequel to his memoir, he seems most pleased with the idea. Not that he needs any prompting--he seems to be an endless repository of fascinating stories!
   
   Ling's memoir was published in Seattle, in the United States, in June 2006, and available to order from Kinokuniya and Borders bookstores in Kuala Lumpur. A Malaysian edition of the book is planned for next year.
   
   Perhaps we have our Malaysian Frank McCourt at last?
   
   Sharon Bakar, a long time Brit in Malaysia and organizer of the Kuala Lumpur International Literary Festival, holds credentials from Birmingham and Exeter Universities and Royal Society of Arts Diploma in the teaching of English, She has written extensively and teaches creative writing in Word Works, a company she's set up. w

No comments about The True Story of Lu Xun.

5 comments about Tracing It Home: A Chinese Journey (Kodansha Globe).

1. First of all 'Tracing it Home' is a story and not history. More accurately it is a narrative as the author relives her past and builds up a vibrant and rich tapestry of life in China as we follow the fortunes of her family. Unlike many other bestseller authors this is not stilicized fiction created out of facts gathered from second-hand accounts.
   
   Though "Tracing it Home" could be criticized for the many things it is not, it is fascinating and engages the reader. She describes the traumatic events that still haunt Chinese society yet in the character of the loyal Hanze she finds forgiveness. The distinction that she makes between surrendering to tyranny and accepting the inexplicability of what happens is very crucial to creating a positive approach in bridging conflicts. "All I know is that Hanze doesn't hate his oppressor because to hate your enemy is to let him do worse to you - in hatred as in love, you grow like the one who absorbs you."
   
   Lynn Pan is an author who takes the reader on a journey into the turbulent past of China without judgement or an overseas Chinese or Western bias. She grew up in Malaysia's dynamic Chinese population and in England and Hong Kong, but was born in and now lives in Shanghai. Warmly recommended reading.



2. Lynn Pan's "Tracing It Home" is a resonant and beautiful memoir that stayed with me long after I finished reading it. She has a particular gift for intertwining family issues with historical ones, leading to a very rich narrative. As I look over the book, I see many, many pages I have turned down so that I can revisit a particularly poignant turn of phrase. If you are interested in the history of Shanghai or in Chinese family relationships, you will learn a great deal from this book and experience a very enjoyable read in the process.



3. "Tracing it Home" could be criticized for the many things it is not, but for what it IS, it is wonderful. Lynn Pan is one of the best, if not THE best writer around on subjects of Old Shanghai and the Chinese Diaspora. She is a Writer, however, and not a historian or a journalist. She tells a story, and tells it engagingly and beautifully.

   "Tracing it Home" is a vastly superior alternative to the sloppy, melodramatic and orientalized literature from other Overseas Chinese women writers like Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan. Their works, yes, appeal to western readers, but only because they present the stylized characature of Chinese history and culture that western readers imagine, rather than the complicated reality. That is because these Chinese Americans know China only through the lens of immigrant idealized mythology and American misperceptions, rather than their own experience.

   Lynn is a world different from those poseurs, because she knows and understands China, as it was and as it is. She gives context to the historical cruelties that most ABC writers eroticize. She grew up in Malaysia's dynamic Chinese population and in England and Hong Kong, but was born in and now lives in Shanghai.

   The story of the Pan family is fascinating and elegantly presented. Lynn's builder grandfather was the Horatio Alger type that made Shanghai famous. The travails his success created for his offspring are remarkable yet common among Shanghai families. Lynn Pan knows this, and avoids the wallowing in self-importance that makes most "I survived China" memoirs tedius (ie "Red Azalea", "Life and Death in Shanghai").

   Lynn is an elegant, evocative writer, and perhaps the greatest pleasure of "Tracing it Home" is its purveyance of Shanghai as a place, and her grandfather's large role in shaping the city's geography. The post-modern white box of a 1940s mansion that he built and where Lynn was born is just down the block from my current home, and I can see the Picardie, which he built, out my window. Small pleasures, slices of personal history, are contained in this big little story.




4. When Lynn Pan tells the stories of her family's past, the work is riveting, but too often she inserts herself in the story. Not only does it fracture time in a confusing way (unlike the way Chang-Rae Lee fractures time to a purpose), but it interupts the through line, making it difficult to remember where we are in the overall story. There are too many excellent books about modern China (Shanghai, Chiang KaiShek, the Cultural Revolution, etc.) to recommend this one.



5. When Lynn Pan tells the stories of her family's past, the work is riveting, but too often she inserts herself in the story. Not only does it fracture time in a confusing way (unlike the way Chang-Rae Lee fractures time to a purpose), but it interupts the through line, making it difficult to remember where we are in the overall story. There are too many excellent books about modern China (Shanghai, Chiang KaiShek, the Cultural Revolution, etc.) to recommend this one.

5 comments about My Country Versus Me: The First-Hand Account by the Los Alamos Scientist Who Was Falsely Accused.

1. 
   
   Dr Lee told his story in this book. As a naturalized American citizen, he does his professional job, raised a family with a typical middle class profile. But he was the wrong man as in the Chinese saying "The city gate fire victimized the fish in the pond" in the struggle of two parties ugly politics. Reading this book creates the following questions.
   
   1. Where is due process for Dr. Lee?
   2. What is the role of free press in democracy?
   3. Why a free press is enthusiastic to make a guilty assumption on him?
   4. Why there is silence on the spy on Crown Jewel Rocket secret afterward?
   5. Why US Court Judge Parker ended the case with an unusual apology to Dr. Lee, an alleged felon in 9-month solitary confinement with 59 charges?
   6. Why there is a plea bargain for one small charge to cover up lost face?
   7. Why this case is important relating to US Constitution and the rule of law?
   
   Dr Lee warns readers "Do not talk to FBI without your lawyer." This book gives the reality lesson of politics, humanity and justice.
   All men are created equal - some are more equal than others?



2. This book is a self-serving woe-is-me diatribe against the US government because it dared to charge a non-white individual with the crime of espionage. Lee claims this happened to him by virtue of the fact that he is Chinese, and in spite of the fact that he is a naturalized American citizen. Hence, the title.
   
   First, I do not consider naturalized citizens to be American in the full sense of the word. It is simply amazing that people like Lee get hired to positions such as the one he held.
   
   Second, having served in the US Air Force with a top secret crypto clearance, I know from experience that people working in the intelligence community are very aware that they are not to share any sensitive data with anyone unless he/she has the appropriate clearance as well as "the need to know." Yet Lee downloaded all kinds of classified data onto his home computer, a huge no-no for anyone working with sensitive data. And why did he do so, pray tell? What was he going to do with the data he stole? Are we to assume he had no intentions of sharing this information with anyone? According to Lee, to think otherwise makes one a racist.
   
   Third, when the story first broke in the media, I knew it was only a matter of time until Lee or his attorneys would play the race card. If you go to Lee's website and check the names of those that have signed a petition in behalf of Mr. Lee, you will notice that the vast majority are Chinese. How many of these signatories put their names on the petition out of a knee-jerk tribalistic instinct rather than through a sincere effort to discern the truth?
   
   And now we have the case of Chi Mak, a Chinese-born engineer recently found guilty of handing over classified data on electronic propulsion systems for stealth submarines to the People's Republic of China. One wonders why Chi Mak did not play the race card as did Lee. One wonders how many signatories to a petition he could garner from fellow Chinese living in the United States. One wonders what he was doing in such a position to begin with. Maybe we'll find out when Chi writes his book.



3. The book is an interesting account of Lee's "persecution", but anyone who reads the book without understanding that the author is writing about HIMSELF - not exactly an impartial source for the facts - will come to the conclusion that he was a victim of an insane government.
   
   If you don't have time to read the book, here's a synopsis - The US government knew that classified material was getting from Los Alamos to China, and targeted me for investigation not because of my admittedly suspicious and illegal activity but because I'm Asian.



4. Mr. Lee is an amazing author and does an excellent job portraying the "all-righteous" government so many americans think that we have in this country. The truth is that corruption does exists, which is evident in all of the ways that the FBI, DOE, courts, and all of the other Federal organizations dealt with Mr. Lee. My hat is off to him for his courage, fortitude, and skill in creating a wonderful written work straight from his heart.



5. In December 1999, when the threat to national security posed by Elian Gonzales had yet to be discovered and neutralized by the Reno Justice Department, another plot, equally dastardly, was uncovered by the FBI. Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwan-born American, was found to be working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory alongside America-born Americans on our nation's most sensitive nuclear secrets. With an alacrity that impressed even Reno's political opponents, the FBI clapped Lee into leg and arm shackles and an orange jumpsuit and put him into solitary confinement in a prison in Santa Fe. In so treating him *before* he had committed his crime, Reno was able to stop him from doing the sorts of things that Timothy McVeigh and Ramzi Yousef had done to get themselves the same sort of rough justice. Of course, Mr. Lee is not happy about these preventive measures, and it shows in his book, but the reader must keep in mind that he was born in Taiwan and doesn't understand our ways.
   
   It is distressing to all patriots that a judge ordered Mr. Lee's release before the Justice Dept was able to fully punish him for what they thought he might have done. Lee's lawyers cleverly played on the so-called "no evidence" loophole to get him sprung after a mere nine months in prison.
   
   Espionage and treason investigations are usually begun when there is evidence of a government employee in a sensitive post spending beyond his or her means: Clyde Conrad with his stash of gold coins; Ed Wilson with his vast Virginia real estate holdings; John Walker with his yacht. Lee's lawyers were able get him freed on the "no evidence" technicality before the FBI had time to find out what it was about Mr. Lee's lifestyle that made them understand that he was a spy. We know now that his stated hobbies of gardening and fly-fishing might well have been covers for illicit activities. Rare coins, might have been buried under the carrots. The whereabouts of an excellent trout pool in a New Mexico creek might have been only the first in a long line of secrets that Lee might have disclosed to the Chinese communists.
   
   Given that the FBI was not accorded sufficient time to uncover his crimes, the whole investigation appears to have rested on Mr. Lee's own admission of the fact that he was born in Taiwan, which has a clear link to China, which in turn is one of our nation's greatest enemies. It sends a chill down my spine to think of how many others might have used the "great scientist" guise to spy on us. Albert Einstein, to name only one, was allowed access to some of our most sensitive data on physics relating to atoms and neutrons and so forth, and no one seems to have noticed that he was born in *Germany*, one of our chief enemies in Europe during World War II. He managed to infiltrate the community of America-born scientists and might well have passed on a massive amount of vital intelligence to his erstwhile compatriots, the Nazis. In fact, it's no exaggeration to say that if he'd been properly incarcerated like Mr. Lee, the war in Europe might have ended many months sooner.

No comments about Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew (1923-1965) ('Li guang yao hui yi lu1923-1965', in traditional Chinese, NOT in English).

5 comments about Daughter of Heaven: A Memoir with Earthly Recipes.

1. In "Daughters of Heaven: A Memoir with Earthly Recipes," Leslie Li wrote about her life, growing with a Chinese father and an American mother in New York City. When her paternal grandmother, Nai Nai came to live with them in the U.S., Leslie's life was very much altered. Her Nai Nai took over the kitchen and soon, the family started having very traditional Chinese cuisine. It was difficult for Leslie as she was perceived "different," since she did not bring the typical lunch to school. It took some time for Leslie to realize the wonders of her Nai Nai's cooking. The second half of the book dealt mostly with Leslie's career, raising her son alone, and her conflict with her dad.
   
   The first half of the book was interesting as the author wrote about having to adjust life when her grandmother moved in with them. However, I felt that the second half of the book was somewhat unorganized. She mentioned in passing about her college life and her having gone to France. In addition, the author wrote about her relationship with her parents but she hardly mentioned her sibblings at all. This was still quite an interesting book to read, and I especially enjoy the recipes that the author gave throughout the book.



2. I enjoyed this book very much. Daughter of Heaven is thoughtfully composed and at the same time enormously energetic and energizing. I love the way the story coils back on itself toward the end and packs a wallop! There is a breath-like quality to the last third of the book.
   
   The book includes many great recipes, but what I enjoyed most were all the stories about stones! My parents are both geologists so I am used to hearing fascinating stories about stones. I loved them all: the stone soup, Li's centering rock, the stone bridge between Li and her father, and especially the Afterward and the author's conversation with Old Man Hill! Lovely! 'Keep your voice low' and 'Don't swallow!'
   
   I also found Li's description of her life as a hermit-writer inspiring. I appreciated her description of her days writing on the island in Finland- struggling not to spend to much time on survival so that more can be spent in fantasy.
   
   My father died when I was young and as I never knew him well, I find stories about fathers and daughters very interesting. I understand that this mythical relationship is not often harmonious. I loved it when Li heaved out that her father was 'not an articulate man, even in Chinese'. (Sadly her great strength was his great weakness.)
   
   There were many parts that moved me: when the banana leaf dragon boats appear in the pond, Li waiting in the bank on Mott and Canal with an article on Guilin to show her father, the jagged rhythm of that conversation in the restaurant, her reflections on suffering in fiction and memoirs.
   
   Li's memoir transported me to a fascinating new world and I thank her warmly for that! This is a most inspiring reflection on the complications and adventures of growing up in a multi-cultural family.



3. I found Li's book excellent on several levels. Firstly, there is the quality of her prose -- it's elegance and quiet power. Secondly, there is the honesty coupled with a hard-earned candor which informs the entire book and keeps it anchored in the personal. But, unlike many other memoirs I was struck by the deep wisdom Leslie Li brought to family matters and to the art and craft of writing a memoir. There were passages were I was stunned by her insight not only about others, but also about writing about others.
   
   Li creates an American girl who is more of many of us than even we know. She also is a hybrid, and her status as such has given her a unique of deep vantage point from which to write history and story. Never does she allow polemic to take the place of the particular; never can we escape into caricature. She forces us to see her, and those who made her in their complex humanity.
   
   As with any book where one has fallen in love with those in it, I did not want the story to end. Yet, I knew that she was teaching me that the telling did have to end, as we continue to live the mystery.
   
   A wonderful wonderful work.



4. Leslie Li's memoir is nothing less than astonishing! Beautifully written, it is a true gem, a heavenly memoir, subtle, mythical, evocative and strong, the real deal so to speak. Li is a writer of extraordinary talent, don't miss out on this one, it will give you pleasure and food for thought!



5. Author, Leslie Li, guides us through her life as a Chinese-American. You will journey through her ancestry, her relationships with her family and growing up in New York with the strictness of the Chinese beliefs. Well written and easily read, this work gives you insight into the author's life and way of life. This work also includes stories from her grandmother, Nai-Nai and recipes from her heritage. Four stars for Li, a novelist writing her family story. ****

No comments about Birdless Summer (China : Autobiography, History, Book 3).

No comments about Contradictions: Artistic Life, the Socialist State and the Chinese Painter Li Huasheng (Jackson School Publications in International Studies).