Culture | The empire strikes back

A moving memoir probes the contradictions of modern China

Edward Wong narrates his father’s journey from servant of the party to escapee

Edward Wong with his parents and younger sister, Eliza, at Mount Vernon in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1979.
Photograph: Courtesy of Edward Wong

Many of the too many books published about China focus on the economic, political and military details of the country’s rise. In an absorbing new memoir, Edward Wong takes a different tack. He explores the country through a triple prism of history, geography and ancestry.

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From the August 3rd 2024 edition

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