Books Books on China -- Out of the Gobi

[Allon]

I know we started a book discussion topic at some point but it's probably long lost in the paleontology here.

 

I thought I would mention a great book I have been reading about China called, Out of the Gobi, by Weijan Shan.

 

Shan is a globally recognized financier who went from literally nothing to a Ph. D. in Economics in 10 years. The book is a memoir, not a history, of his life, but quite revealing in its portrayal of life in China during the Cultural Revolution.

 

He was sent to the Gobi desert as part of Mao's re-culturation of China in the mid-60's. He provides a deep discussion of what it was like to be uprooted from Beijing and sent to a place to work in the harshest of conditions, little food or water, with work every day going into the night. He was appointed a "barefoot doctor" for his company of men (and women), and then lost that job due to corruption of the local commanders.

 

A lot of his writing explains to me why the Chinese are the way they are. Mao is still in the blood of our wives, husbands, and children now. Such things as why there is little display of affection, or an over-compensation for not having it. The one child policy. The complete separation of men and women, boys and girls. Entire families broken and sent to camps, never to be re-united. It reads like an adventure, but one steeped in sadness, and triumph.

 

From the Foreword by Janet Yellen

Weijian Shan's Out of the Gobi is a powerful memoir and commentary that will be one of the most important books on China of our time, one with the potential to re-shape how Americans view China, and how the Chinese view life in America.

Shan, a former hard laborer who is now one of Asia's best-known financiers, is thoughtful, observant, eloquent, and brutally honest, making him well-positioned to tell the story of a life that is a microcosm of modern China, and of how, improbably, that life became intertwined with America. Out of the Gobi draws a vivid picture of the raw human energy and the will to succeed against all odds.

Shan only finished elementary school when Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution tore his country apart. He was a witness to the brutality and absurdity of Mao’s policies during one of the most tumultuous eras in China’s history. Exiled to the Gobi Desert at age 15 and denied schooling for 10 years, he endured untold hardships without ever giving up his dream for an education. Shan’s improbable journey, from the Gobi to the “People’s Republic of Berkeley” and far beyond, is a uniquely American success story – told with a splash of humor, deep insight and rich and engaging detail.

This powerful and personal perspective on China and America will inform Americans' view of China, humanizing the country, while providing a rare view of America from the prism of a keen foreign observer who lived the American dream.

* * *

I highly recommend this book for anyone curious of how the history of China affects the ones we love, even when they may not be aware of how.

[Randy W]

I found several old 'Books' threads (but I only went back about 4 or 5 years), which I've tagged with the 'Books' tag. Click the 'Books' tag above.

[amberjack1234]

A lot of things are hard to unlearn. I remember my first wife's parents. They were from the Great Depression era (farmers). If they didn't grow or raise it they didn't eat it. Kept their money hid in the house.

 

One of my aunts married into a family that owned almost all of the town here locally (farmland wise). Her husband's father died in 1959. I almost stay at her home as one of my first cousins and I were best friends. The old guy (Mr. Mack died in 1959. We kids ran and played around an old pump house in the back yard all the time. About 10 years later the pump quit working and the sister to the rest, that all lived only about 50 yards apart, called two of the brothers over to see if they could fix it. In the corner of that pump house, when they took off the lid, there sat a 3 lb. Folgers coffee can. They opened it and inside was $50,000 cash. I guess that was the money the old man was going to take with him.

 

My grandmother lived with my aunt where I use to stay all the time. He kept his money in an old steamer trunk. Grandmother slipped in there one day while everyone was gone and counted it. There was $150,000 in cash in there. That was in 1964. When Douglas wanted a Coke or Pepsi & a Moon Pie I had to buy it for him or eat mine in front of him wile he went hungry. When he went on a date with a girl Grandmother had to give him the money. Now he is one of the richest men in town. Well over 20 million dollars selling property in 3 housing developments from his father's farmland and from his wife's family that inherited her mothers family's farmland. They were all just a tight on a dollar. There are no more farms left here now not one. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren are reaping and taking in the rewards.

 

The thing is that if the government hadn't subsidized those farms and give them money for soil banking too ( paying the farmers to not plant crops) plus having the cheapest taxes on their land, except for swampland, they would never have been able to have kept those farms. So I kinda feel like the taxpayers actually paid for that land in the grand scheme of things. I know for a fact that hundreds of those acres of land were bought for $1 per acre. You heard that right $1 per acre. Once those children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren graduated high school not one of then ever worked another day on the farm. Not one.

 

So how does that compare to China's farmers and their airs? I think China's farmers got the short end of the stick. This is just a little comparison between the two countries and the two government systems.

Edited March 23, 2019 by amberjack1234 (see edit history)