Wandering Knights: China Legacies, Lived and Recalled

by Robert W. Barnett

Overview

A memoir of China during World War II, when Barnett, a US airman, shared friendship and scholarly interests with a young Chinese historian. They translated part of an ancient Chinese history, and met again in 1982. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781315492476
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/22/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Barnett, Robert W.

Table of Contents

Chapter I A Letter Evokes a Name; Chapter II Kunming Knights; Chapter III Washington Reunion; Chapter IV Prose and Poetry; Chapter V Unfair Ordeals; Chapter VI Substance and Maneuver; Chapter VII Source of Memory: Eight Squares; Chapter VIII Tsinghua / Tientsin / Tokyo; Chapter IX Friends, Lovers, and Betrayals; Chapter X Genesis of Cultural Revolution; Chapter XI Essences of Mandate; Chapter XII Picnic; Chapter XIII Human Rights and Solarz; Chapter XIV Friendly Critic; Chapter XV Washington to Peking: Attenuation of Voice; Chapter XVI Eulogy and Quietness;

Editorial Reviews

While serving in China during WW II, Barnett, then a U.S. Army Air Force lieutenant, formed a friendship with a young historian named Sun Yutang, which, 37 years later, in 1981, they were finally able to renew in America. They caught up on each other's news and resumed their discussions on ``Chineseness,'' on ``the unmistakable style, behavior, and social structure'' of China. Sun had paid dearly for his earlier association with Barnett: in 1952, in '57, and again in '68 during the Cultural Revolution, he was forced to confess to this ideological ``crime.'' The author had parallel troubles of his own: in 1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy charged him with ``definite Communistic connections,'' and he was subpoenaed to testify before a congressional committee. Perhaps the most memorable aspect of this deeply felt memoir is the re-creation of talks between Barnett, a retired diplomat, and the late Sun about individual freedom in China. According to Sun the Chinese have difficulty understanding the American concept of that term, or of human rights. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A memoir of China during World War II, when Barnett, a US airman, shared friendship and scholarly interests with a young Chinese historian. They translated part of an ancient Chinese history, and met again in 1982. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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