There was another famous book about a woman who grew up in China and left in the 1950s. It's driving me crazy; I can't remember the name, and various kinds of searches aren't bringing it up. It was a novelized account of her life and eventual escape. It was even made into a very successful movie.
So I give up. But as I recall, the woman had grown up in a prominent and wealthy--though not crazy wealthy--Christian Chinese family. She dealt with the privations of WWII and the subsequent civil war. When Mao's forces eventually won, she gave up the house she'd always lived in with good grace, because what was important was the community. She felt she had an obligation to try to help make a new way of life for herself and for everyone around her.
Eventually it became clear that that wasn't going to work out, and she was able to escape--I think through Vietnam--and make her way to the States. But she wasn't resentful, and didn't hate Mao and his people. She saw it all as part of the very long history of the country and its culture.
I think trying to do what's best for the community--as opposed to doing what's best for oneself--is still very important to the Chinese.
Naturally there was a love interest and a lot of drama, but that was what struck me most about the book.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
