by Marsha Bryant (Author), Eileen Kan (Author)
War, rape, slave labor, starvation. Alone and on the run, Eileen Kan survived them all, protected only by her resourcefulness and tenacious will to survive. This is her fearlessly honest story, told in her own words.
As the child of a wealthy general under the Last Emperor, Eileen had everything except love. But when war shattered her self-indulgent life, she was forced to flee from one end of China to the other, shedding family, treasure, and her pride along the way. Destitute and desperate when the Communists took over, she was imprisoned in a commune to do slave labor. And when her health was broken, she was exiled to the countryside, where she endured the grueling poverty of the peasants. Many of her ordeals are forbidden knowledge in China today.
Unlike the millions who perished in those deadly years, Eileen endured, ultimately forging an independent life. Set against the backdrop of the 1989 student democracy demonstrations, Eileen's unique story is a moving narrative of resiliency and the strength of the human spirit.