Narrator Allison Hiroto provides an energetic and intense voice for Kan’s memoir about three generations of family who live in China. The former NEW YORK TIMES reporter explains the intricate details of the One Child policy, including forced birth control and abortions, against the backdrop of her own mother's experiences. Listeners will be spellbound by the intimacy of these little known details of everyday struggles for survival. Hiroto maximizes the spirit of the author's rebellious family—from a mother who hid a forbidden pregnancy to the author herself, a journalist who works in one of the world's most oppressive regimes. Her narration is lively and engaging, well suited to this unexpected feminist memoir of ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances. Listeners will be cheering the Kan women on. M.R. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Under Red Skies: Three Generations of Life, Loss, and Hope in China
Narrated by Allison Hiroto
Karoline KanUnabridged — 8 hours, 42 minutes
Under Red Skies: Three Generations of Life, Loss, and Hope in China
Narrated by Allison Hiroto
Karoline KanUnabridged — 8 hours, 42 minutes
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Overview
Through the stories of three generations of women in her family, Karoline Kan, a former New York Times reporter based in Beijing, reveals how they navigated their way in a country beset by poverty and often-violent political unrest. As the Kans move from quiet villages to crowded towns and through the urban streets of Beijing in search of a better way of life, they are forced to confront the past and break the chains of tradition, especially those forced on women.
Raw and revealing, Karoline Kan offers gripping tales of her grandmother, who struggled to make a way for her family during the Great Famine; of her mother, who defied the One-Child Policy by giving birth to Karoline; of her cousin, a shoe factory worker scraping by on 6 yuan (88 cents) per hour; and of herself, as an ambitious millennial striving to find a job--and true love--during a time rife with bewildering social change.
Under Red Skies is an engaging eyewitness account and Karoline's quest to understand the rapidly evolving, shifting sands of China. It is the first English-language memoir from a Chinese millennial to be published in America, and a fascinating portrait of an otherwise-hidden world, written from the perspective of those who live there.
Editorial Reviews
01/14/2019
Kan, a Chinese millennial and former New York Times reporter based in Beijing, offers an intimate look at the lives of three generations of her close-knit family, from her grandmother, who survived the Great Famine of 1959–1961, on to her principled mother, who sacrificed much to defy both her in-laws’ wishes (by working as a teacher instead of helping with the family farm) and China’s one-child policy (conceiving Kan, her second child, by secretly removing the government-required intrauterine device). This tale vividly illustrates the breadth of the changes China has undergone in recent decades—abruptly switching from population-boosting initiatives in the 1960s to the one-child rule, and from prohibiting to allowing rural people to migrate to Beijing—and how those changes have affected individual lives. While Kan shares her mother’s independent spirit, researching the Tiananmen Square massacre and dating foreign men, the cultural forces she and her fellow millennials face are different. She describes many of them: the Chinese education system, the difficult lives of Chinese factory workers who produce goods for sale overseas, and the prejudice faced by rural workers in Beijing. Kan’s candidness about Chinese culture and her experience, always mediated by affection for her country, makes this an invaluable resource to Western readers interested in Chinese life. (Mar.)
"A heartfelt introduction into China's recent history — and a rare firsthand dispatch from its millennial generation....For those seeking to understand the future of China and U.S.-China relations, voices like hers are an essential part of the conversation."—The Wall Street Journal
Marie Claire, "Inspiring Memoirs by Women That Are More Addictive Than Fiction!"
Bustle, "New Memoirs Out In Spring To Help You Welcome Warm-Weather Reading!"
Financial Times, "Readers' Picks for Summer"
"Vivid and humane, Karoline Kan's memoir of coming of age in China is richly revealing and contemporary, shaped both by the pain of history and the hope for the future - at turns bold and vulnerable, like China itself."—Evan Osnos, National Book Award-winning author of Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China and New Yorker staff writer
"At first glance, Karoline Kan's Under Red Skies is a simple coming-of -age story. A young girl from a poor family grows up, goes to university, falls in love and gets her heart broken (repeatedly), and finally triumphs as a journalist. But contained within is a sharply observed critique of all that is dysfunctional in Chinese society. You can learn more about modern China through this compulsively readable memoir than from many weightier tomes."—Barbara Demick, National Book Award finalist and author of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
"Karoline Kan's intimate portrait of growing up in contemporary China opens a new window onto a country going through lightning-fast change."—Edward Wong, International Correspondent and Former Beijing Bureau Chief, The New York Times
"Under Red Skies is a beautiful look at the struggles of China's fast-changing society. In Karoline's inspiring and heartfelt stories of her family, she voices how much Chinese people have overcome. This book should be read by people from all corners of the world if they want to know the real story of China."—Xinran, author of The Good Women of China
"Karoline Kan's Under Red Skies is an engrossing account of a rapidly changing China seen through the eyes of an imaginative, ambitious young woman... An intimate coming-of-age story, this book should be read by anyone seeking to understand the aspirations and frustrations of young people in China today."—Leta Hong Fincher, author of Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China
"A fascinating memoir about three generations of Chinese women. Whereas classics like Wild Swans end with the Cultural Revolution, Under Red Skies picks up where Jung Chang leaves off in this look at contemporary Chinese life and history as it changes before our eyes."
—Lijia Zhang, author of Socialism is Great! A Worker's Memoir of The New China
"With her revealing and introspective account of growing up in post-1989 China, Kan fills a void in contemporary literature on the country. While the profound societal shakeup that unfolded during that period has left everyone of her generation with a remarkable story, few have possessed such skill and courage in telling theirs."—Eric Fish, author of China's Millennials: The Want Generation
"Poignant, humane, and insightful, [Under Red Skies] brings the extraordinary story of the last fifty years in China vividly alive. The Kan family's struggles to survive and prosper through many adversities, largely inflicted on them by government, are a moving testament to the resilience and determination of three generations of women."—Isabel Hilton, OBE, founder of China Dialogue and author of The Search for the Panchen Lama
"A remarkable multigenerational memoir that clearly explores 'the real China-its beauty and ugliness, the weird and familiar, the joyful and sad, progressive and backward at the same time.'"—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Kan presents an engaging debut memoir that would make an excellent book club choice."—Library Journal
"[Kan is] an eloquent, restrained and gripping writer."—TruthDig
"[Kan] has written the gripping autobiography of a generation—and a superpower—caught between tradition and ambition."—The Economist
"Razor sharp... [this book is a] coherent explanation of the dizzying changes that have affected daily life in contemporary China."—The South China Morning Post
"[Kan] is a clear and straightforward writer, walking readers through her own life and that of her family... An impressive [story]."—Asian Review of Books
"Stunning."—Remotelands.com
"It's enjoyable to get to know Kan on the page; she tells moving family tales as well as poignant personal stories, and serves as an engagingly candid guide to the fascinating generation she is a part of. She and they have faced the distinct challenge of coming of age as their country experiences its own dizzying transformations."—New York Times
Narrator Allison Hiroto provides an energetic and intense voice for Kan’s memoir about three generations of family who live in China. The former NEW YORK TIMES reporter explains the intricate details of the One Child policy, including forced birth control and abortions, against the backdrop of her own mother's experiences. Listeners will be spellbound by the intimacy of these little known details of everyday struggles for survival. Hiroto maximizes the spirit of the author's rebellious family—from a mother who hid a forbidden pregnancy to the author herself, a journalist who works in one of the world's most oppressive regimes. Her narration is lively and engaging, well suited to this unexpected feminist memoir of ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances. Listeners will be cheering the Kan women on. M.R. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
A personal examination of rural China and its one-child policy by a millennial Chinese woman who eventually earned an education and employment as a journalist.
A former reporter for the New York Times Beijing Bureau, Kan was born in 1989 in the village of Chaoyang, which was rebuilt after the great Tangshan earthquake of 1976. Since she was her mother's second child, her birth had to be hidden from the registrars; if the secret was revealed, her poor family of farmers would receive a fine that would be difficult for them to afford. In the end, her strong-willed mother was determined not to abort her. While the cost was considerable—and they had to endure friction with their in-laws and shame within their community—the family moved to a larger neighboring town where, unlike her cousins, she and her brother would have a chance to receive an education. Condemned to live in a tiny apartment crammed next to others, the author was subjected to prejudice about her accent and her looks, but she was able to validate herself through dedicated focus and fervent patriotism as a Young Pioneer. At school, she writes, "the lessons were meant to unify us, by pointing at a shared enemy for all—mainly the British, Japanese, and Americans." As a child of conservative parents, Kan, who has no problem with candid introspection, also looked to her beloved grandmother Laolao. During her childhood, Laolao just barely escaped having her feet bound and expressed bitterness about her unjust treatment by the government, but she also automatically spouted the clichés about boys being superior to girls, to the author's dismay. Impressively, Kan beat the odds, managing to steer clear of the ingrained courting rituals and establish herself as a professional journalist.
A remarkable multigenerational memoir that clearly explores "the real China—its beauty and ugliness, the weird and familiar, the joyful and sad, progressive and backward at the same time.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940173671318 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Hachette Audio |
| Publication date: | 03/12/2019 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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