Beijing Bastard

Into the Wilds of a Changing China

Val Wang

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Hardback

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English

Gotham Books
30 October 2014

Biography; Autobiography: general; Bargains

A humorous and moving coming-of-age story that brings a unique, not-quite-outsider s perspective to China s shift from ancient empire to modern superpower

Raised in a strict Chinese-American household in the suburbs, Val Wang dutifully got good grades, took piano lessons, and performed in a Chinese dance troupe until she shaved her head and became a leftist, the stuff of many teenage rebellions. But Val s true mutiny was when she moved toChina, the land her parents had fled before the Communist takeover in 1949.

Val arrives inBeijingin 1998 expecting to find freedom but instead lives in the old city with her traditional relatives, who wake her at dawn with the sound of a state-run television program playing next to her cot, make a running joke of how much she eats, and monitor her every move. But outside, she soon discovers a city rebelling against its roots just as she is, struggling too to find a new, modern identity. Rickshaws make way for taxicabs, skyscrapers replace""hutong"" courtyard houses,"" ""andBeijingprepares to make its debut on the world stage with the 2008 Olympics.

And in the gritty outskirts of the city where she moves, athriving avant-garde subculture is making art out of the chaos. Val plunges into the city s dizzying culture and nightlife and begins shooting a documentary, about a Peking Opera family who is witnessing the death of their traditional art.

Brilliantly observed and winningly told, ""Beijing Bastard""is a compelling story of a young woman finding her place in the world and ofChina, as its ancient past gives way to a dazzling but uncertain future.""

By: Val Wang
Imprint: Gotham Books
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 231mm, Width: 163mm, Spine: 36mm
Weight: 544g
ISBN: 9781592408207
ISBN 10: 1592408206
Pages: 340
Publication Date: 30 October 2014
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Val Wang is a writer and multimedia documentarian who has lived in Beijing, Baltimore, and Brooklyn. She now lives in Boston.

Reviews for Beijing Bastard: Into the Wilds of a Changing China

Advance Praise for Beijing Bastard Val Wang has given us a memoir perfectly suited to the Beijing that she brings to life so well: heedless, pungent, and proudly insubordinate. She is both American and Chinese, fascinated by her ancestors' history and desperate to escape it. Like contemporary China itself, Wang is torn between the aspirations for success, idiosyncrasy, and belonging. A vivid and evocative read. --Evan Osnos, author of Age of Ambition Val Wang spins a rollicking tale of misadventure in Beijing, wonderfully engaging, filled with astute observations of modern China, and edged by a sharp wit that left me laughing out loud on the subway even as I concealed a tear at the last page. --Ann Mah, author of Kitchen Chinese and Mastering the Art of French Eating A spectacular debut by a writer with the most enviable gift a storyteller can have: timing. Like Arthur Phillips' Prague and other generation-defining works that capture a fleeting, golden moment in both the lives of a group of expatriates and a larger-than-life place, Val Wang's memoir of Beijing is shot through with insight, beauty, humor and sadness. --Ben Ryder Howe, author of My Korean Deli Takes readers effortlessly through the seemingly disparate worlds of a family divided across distance and generations. Wang's Beijing is gritty and bleak but also hopeful and exciting, and her affection for the city is palpable.... A deftly written and entertaining memoir that offers a fresh perspective on contemporary China and the people caught in its rapid transformation. -- Kirkus Reviews