I have to say that if this isn't a polished autobiography, or one of a person of extraordinary interest, it does succeed as a story of an ordinary life that gives us some feeling for a time and place - and a human condition - that is relatively unfamiliar to us. Da Chen portrays himself as an eager but naive student of English in China at a time (the early 1980's?) when this was an unusual, and slightly dangerous, course of study. He is caught between his belief in his roots in traditional village life and the scorn and temptations of his sophisticated city bred fellow students, and between his strong sense of self and the demands of the State to conform to the expectations of the Communist Party. That he is eventually telling this story from an academic posting in the United States is no surprise.

This is slow moving, and the naivety can be wearing - but that is only because it is genuinly conveyed. Life didn't move with great rapidity for Da Chen, and the road wasn't studded with great events or meetings with extraordinary people. But move it did, and in this sense this is a story of the whole of China in its slow liberalisations through the 1980's and 90's, up until the time of the Tienanmen massacre. And Da Chen's story, from village to Beijing, to the United States is a story of tremendous change, and of holding onto what makes each of us who we are. Recommended, but as an unremarkable but authentic story of that time. It is interesting to compare this with Jan Bredsdorff's 'Revolution, there and back', a story of a westerner teaching English in China during the same period. ( )

Not quite as mesmerizing as the first, but nevertheless an engaging read, about a sidelined country boy who made it to the most famous university in the country, and how he overcame all odds there to fulfill his dream.

An inspiration for people who may be thinking that circumstances are too much for them to handle, this book tells us "don't give up!" ( )

A very good sequel to the first memoir by Chen, which encompassed his formative years until age 16. This book picks up where the other leaves off and carries us through college, teaching, and his eventual dream-come-true adventure of leaving for the U.S. ( )