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Jan Wong’s China |
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| Jan Wong’s China: Reports from a Not-So-Foreign Correspondent by  Jan WongDoubleday Canada 320 pages, September 2000 ISBN 0385259395 Reviewed by Andrea Collare Although Jan Wong was born in Canada, she chose to explore her Chinese roots as a student in Beijing in the Maoist 1970’s. Later, she was to return as a journalist during the late 80’s and early 90’s witnessing a multitude of the continuing historical changes occurring during these tumultuous years, including the horrors of the Tiananmen Massacre. Through her years of work, and a risky return trip in 1999, Jan Wong has compiled an insightful and sometimes disturbing journal of Chinese life in the late 20th century. A benefit of her heritage, Jan Wong has been able to blend within the Chinese and gain access to areas and situations unattainable to most foreign correspondents. She walks into the poverty stricken villages of which there are a disheartening many. She explores the political corruptions that have been destroying lives in China for thousands of years. She draws out the old and the young, the fundamental and the modern, to share their lives. Most importantly, Jan Wong is highly sensitive to her cast and her audience. She carries the reader with her on her travels. Although many of the names of those she meets on her journey have been changed for their safety, she still brings the essence of each individual to the reade, sharing their lives and stories. To help the reader understand this unfamiliar world, Wong makes it a point to explain the strict cultural traditions of the Chinese and even goes as far as translating the Chinese names into English words the reader can relate to. Guided by an insatiable curiosity, Jan Wong not only covers the events and lives in China as a journalist, but as a fellow human being. Her style is insightful and humorous and reveals a deep respect for human life and for the Chinese culture. Jan Wong’s China is an enlightening and important work that many will benefit from reading. I look forward to learning from her future works. |
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