| I have always considered myself reasonably well read | | | | the murky waters of politics he went. Eugene Chen's |
| and reasonably well versed in modern history. As | | | | story is worthy of a book by itself, and indeed there |
| soon as I started to read Return To The Middle | | | | is at least one. Eugene rose to the lofty position of |
| Kingdom, I realized just how little I really knew about | | | | Foreign Minister in Sun Yatsen's Kuomintang party and |
| the birth of modern China. We all have seen pictures | | | | was a key figure in trying to broker peace between |
| of the remnants of the great Dynasties that ruled | | | | both the internal and external interested parties. In |
| for thousands of years, the magnificent wall that | | | | many ways China was in the midst of a civil war, and |
| was erected to keep their enemies out, the fabulous | | | | at the same time its sovereignty was being |
| terracotta armies to protect the dead, and the | | | | threatened by Europe on one front, Japan on |
| priceless ornaments and works of art. | | | | another, and Russia on the third. Interestingly enough |
| We also think we know a little about today's China, | | | | it was Russia that Eugene turned to for support, yet |
| we have all seen the National Geographic style | | | | Eugene was far from enamored with the Russian |
| photos of downtrodden workers wearing drab unisex | | | | style of communism feeling that it could not be made |
| outfits and peddling their rattley bicycles through the | | | | to work within the social structure of China. |
| smog laden cities. Having never been to China I | | | | The third generation of the Chen family is Jack, and |
| cannot comment on whether this is the way it is, or | | | | it is Jack that was the reason for Yuan-Tsung Chen |
| the way it is portrayed by western eyes, though | | | | to write this book. She was his wife from 1958 until |
| one thing is clear, China has a less than stellar | | | | his death in 1995. Jack too was political animal, and a |
| reputation in the areas of free speech and human | | | | highly successful one until Mao's Cultural Revolution, a |
| rights. | | | | decade of intellectual purges (1966-1975). Even with |
| The question is, How did this Country move from | | | | friends in high places, and a sometime acquaintance |
| one system to another? Author Yuan-Tsung Chen | | | | with Mao himself the couple found themselves staring |
| has taken a very unique approach, her book covers | | | | down the gun barrel of the feared Red Guards. |
| three generations of the Chen family, and this was | | | | Interrogated, humiliated, and finally exiled, political life |
| three generations that each in their own way helped | | | | in China at least, was at an end for the Chen family. |
| forge the country and the politics. By following the | | | | This is an incredibly well researched and well written |
| Chen's the veil is lifted. | | | | book. Part biography, part history book, Return To |
| Most of us in the west have heard the names Mao | | | | The Middle Kingdom sheds much light on a fascinating |
| Zedong, Chaing Kaishek, and Zhou Enlai, but how | | | | period of history. It also explores everyday life, and |
| many can explain the delicate, and on occasion not so | | | | lifestyles, something that few straight history books |
| delicate interplay between them? Who were these | | | | do. The family sacrifices that all three generations |
| men, and what drove them? | | | | made for their country are almost unbelievable. |
| Author Yuan-Tsung Chen explores almost 150 years | | | | This book also gave me an understanding of maybe |
| of tumult, her story begins with the Birth of Ah | | | | why China is such an insular society today, and that |
| Chen, roughly translated Grandfather Chen in 1830, a | | | | reason has its roots in the 1800's Opium War, China |
| peasant farmer, carpenter, and even on occasions | | | | was being turned into another India, a plaything for |
| barber, who became involved in the abortive Taiping | | | | the Europeans to rape and pillage. |
| rebellion. This resulted in him becoming an indentured | | | | I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to |
| laborer in order to make his hasty escape to Trinidad. | | | | anyone that has an interest in modern history. I will |
| As famous as the following two generations he may | | | | warn you though, this book has so much detail within |
| not be, but it is clear where the revolutionary gene | | | | its 400 pages that it will take you a while to read. As |
| comes from. | | | | a reviewer I usually budget 3 days for a book this |
| His son Eugene Chen became the first Chinese | | | | size, it took three times that to read it! My wife was |
| lawyer in Trinidad, and although he became very | | | | beginning to think I had forgotten how to read. |
| successful the call of his mother country was too | | | | You can order your copy from Amazon or through |
| strong, and in 1912 he journeyed to Peking and into | | | | Yuan-Tsung Chen's web site. |