The Friendship Store

"A wonderful memoir, beautifully written and very funny, but building up to a cold indictment of a tragic system imposed on a whole people forced to be complicit." - Adam Williams, Author of 'The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure'

â¨

"An endlessly entertaining series of vignettes of life as a foreign student in post-Mao China (1976-77), totally riveting and literally jaw-dropping, all observed with Andy's customary wit and keen eye. Much as China has changed since then, readers will recognise that in some ways it has remained very much the same, like the proverbial leopard's spots." - Tony T.N. Hung, Professor Emeritus, Hong Kong Baptist University

"A fascinating account of a westerner's experiences in China in the immediate aftermath of Mao's death in 1976. This memoir will strike a chord with younger observers of China, offering a captivating glimpse into an otherwise hard-to-envision post-Cultural Revolution landscape. It will also surely resonate strongly with those who lived in China in the 1970s and early 1980s, especially those who eagerly awaited a weekly visit to the (infamous) Friendship Store." - Professor Susan Trevaskes, Griffith University, Australia

"The Friendship Store is an insightful and entertaining account of life for foreign students in 1970s China. One of the first foreign students to enter the People's Republic, Kirkpatrick arrives in time to experience the grief and turmoil that followed the death of Mao Zedong and stays long enough to see the reemergence of Deng Xiaoping. His reflections are perceptive and, at times, very funny, as he conveys the constant challenges of dealing with the Chinese bureaucracy in his many and varied attempts to experience what normal daily life is like for ordinary Chinese people. Kirkpatrick is a great story teller and even readers who know little about China will find much here to enjoy." - Brian Moloughney, Professor Emeritus of Chinese History, Otago University