Swimming to Freedom - My Untold Story of Escaping the Cultural Revolution by Kent Wong

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Web ID: 17693608

A deeply personal, heart-wrenching memoir of the author's upbringing in Communist China during the Cultural Revolution and his tenacious flight to freedom against all odds When Kent Wong was a young boy, his father, a patriotic Chinese official in the customs office in Hong Kong, joined an insurrection at work and returned with the family to the newly established People's Republic of China. Hailed as heroes, they settled in the southern city of Canton. But Mao's China was dangerous and unstable, with landlords executed en masse and millions dying of starvation during the Great Leap Forward. Kent Wong's Swimming to Freedom is a memoir of a childhood amid revolutionary times, where boyish adventures and school days mixed with dire poverty and political persecution, and a moving story of an inextinguishable yearning to be free. Mao's Hundred Flower Campaign ensnared Kent's father. A decade later the Cultural Revolution closed schools, plunged the country into chaos, and scattered Kent and his sisters to disparate villages where they struggled to eke out a bare existence. Kent began to realize that with higher education closed to him as the son of a , he had no future in China.

  • Product Features

    • Suggested age range - Adult
    • Format - Hardcover
    • Dimension - 5.3" W x 8.3" H x 1.4" D
    • Genre - Biography
    • Publisher - Abrams Press, Publication date - 04-27-2021
    • Page count - 320
    • ISBN - 9781419751509

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4 years ago
from Kansas

Determination!

The reader relives a young boy's maturing into adulthood in the hopeless and cruel environment of Communist China. His self worth diminished and intelligence battered, Kent Wong makes three valiant attempts to flea mainland China for Hong Kong before becoming successful and then moving on to the United States. A family split apart in its homeland, members of the family are reunited to build a new home in Seattle. This is the story of a hope that could not be squelched, although beaten down time and time again. Lyrically narrated and uplifting!

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com

4 years ago
from USA

Absolutely riveting!! Must read!!

Absolutely riveting - 5 stars There is definitely a lack of both books and general education surrounding the Cultural Revolution in China, and for good reason - those who lived through it have been mostly silenced. On a trip to China in 2018 all that would be said to me was, "It was a crazy time". Crazy, indeed. Thankfully, some people have been able to recount the horrors of what really went on through stories such as that of Kent Wong. You will be completely pulled in to his family and all the trials they went through. Thankfully, you will have a reprieve as you see tender moments and you learn who was able to make it out of communist China to freedom. There are so many lessons to be learned while you are engrossed in the personal story of Kent and his family. Super highly recommend. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book as a reviewer.

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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com