Book Recommendation

Mary from MAC give us the following book recommendation:

Somebody on PAC recommended this book a couple of weeks ago so I checked it out of my local library and found that once I started reading it I couldn't put it down.

"Journey in Tears: Memory of Girlhood in China" by Chow Ching-li is the autobiography of a woman born to an affluent family in Shanghai in 1936. She writes an engaging account of life as a girl growing up in the upper-middle class in the years before the Cultural Revolution.

When her family gets an opportunity to marry her off to the eldest son of one of the richest families in China, she is married...at age 13! The account of her traditional Chinese wedding (1500 guests) is quite interesting. This book is not as depressing as some of the others I've read about women's lives in China. There are hard times but her life has a happy ending.

In this author's view, the Cultural revolution was a good thing that brought an end to some of the more barbaric customs that made Chinese women's lives so difficult and constrained. Definitely a good read!!

Note that the book is out of print, and not available at Amazon.com.