Flowing with the Pearl River: Autobiography of a Red China Girl is a young adult memoir about Amy Chan Zhou and her familyâs struggles to survive in China from the time the Communists took power in 1949 through the end of the Mao era in 1976. Narrated through the eyes and voice of Chan Zhou, Flowing with the Pearl River is an insightful, accurate, and in-depth look at the devastating impact the many political campaigns and revolutions had on multiple generations of her family.
As the Communists take control of the country in 1949, we follow the harrowing experiences of Chan Zhouâs great-grandparents, grandparents, father, and mother during the branding of landlords, business owners, and scholars as âbad elementsâ and âclass enemies.â The author and her family members were among those whose lives were shattered and who suffered from the political campaigns and revolutions.
The struggles continue as the Communist political leaders pit people against people and breed fear and distrust by coercing informants to turn on innocent citizens, forcing re-education in labor camps and instigating the Cultural Revolution. Chan Zhouâs personal observations and emotional experiences are at the heart of the story from her childhood and middle school years in China to her fatherâs escape to Hong Kong and Chan Zhouâs eventual immigration to the United States at age 14.
Chan Zhouâs childhood stories as a wild child growing up in the countryside with primitive conditions are marked by the familyâs everyday struggle to obtain food, the hardship that resulted when Chan Zhouâs school became a child labor camp, and the horror of attending âpublic denouncingâ meetings and witnessing relatives being tortured on a stage.
However, Chan Zhouâs childhood also featured rural beauty and the simple joys of raising farm animals or catching fish in a local river. When Chan Zhou sells vegetables in the black market, she is accused of being a âlittle capitalist traderâ; the death of Mao ultimately saves her from being sent to a detention center, and her familyâs destiny is forever altered by Deng Xiaoping's reform that allowed Chan Zhou's family to reunite in Hong Kong and their subsequent immigration to the USA.
A blend of Wild Swans and The Red Scarf Girl, Flowing with the Pearl River presents rich and detailed depictions of one familyâs painful experiences during Communism and the Cultural Revolution in China. It is a comprehensive and vividly accurate portrayal of the impact of those events on Chinese culture and society that remains largely unknown to modern readers and risks being forgotten. Flowing with the Pearl River aims to ensure that this history and the memories of millions of families similar to Chan Zhouâs remain alive and remembered for eternity.
Industry Reviews
"Zhou chooses the Pearl River as her story's central emotional symbol. During times of displacement for Ah Jade's (the author's nickname) family, the river is a stark reminder of death as bloated bodies flow past her five-year-old eyes, and just a few pages later, her mother contemplates suicide by emptily peering into the water. But the river also provides fish for sustenance to the village and serves as a place to get swimming lessons. This emotional balancing act is the strength of Zhou's voice. . . . Zhou's narrative is marked with short, powerful moments of trauma, such as nervous breakdowns, physical deformities, uncontrollable crying, vacant stares, and musings on ghosts and souls. In a book of constant movement, Zhou's mother is the book's hero and moral center. After her birth during the Japanese occupation during WWII, she bears the brunt of peasant motherhood during Mao's reign. She keeps her daughters alive and does not let them join in on the emotionally-charged mobs that enforce revolutionary ideology and engage in the public shaming of political enemies. . . . The pacing is fast, and the book is stuffed to bursting with details. . . . For the curious reader of the Cultural Revolution era or of historical memoirs, you will find a quick and relatively affecting set of stories in its pages. . . . Fans of writing from the Chinese diaspora or memoirs will enjoy this."-Youth Services Book Review
"[Chan Zhou] never forgets to express her feelings and let readers feel the truth! . . . Her writing is exquisite. . . . You can feel the plot and heart of each and every paragraph of text."-Chinese American Voice
"Zhou's memory is precise and nuanced. . . . Perhaps only deeply compelling narratives, such as Flowing with the Pearl River, and skilled authors like Amy Chan Zhou can keep the lessons, experiences, and stories of our past alive."-Asia Media International
