Beijing Bastard, Val Wang
Beijing Bastard, Val Wang
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Beijing Bastard
Into the Wilds of a Changing China

Author: Val Wang

Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller

Unabridged: 10 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/30/2014


Synopsis

Raised in a strict Chinese-American household, Val Wang dutifully got good grades, took piano lessons, and performed in a Chinese dance troupe—until she shaved her head and became a leftist. But Val's true mutiny was when she moved to China, the land her parents had fled.

In 1998, Val arrives in Beijing expecting to find freedom . . . but she finds her traditional relatives instead. She discovers a city rebelling against its roots, struggling to find a new, modern identity like her. A thriving avant-garde subculture makes art out of the chaos in Beijing's gritty outskirts.

Brilliantly observed and winningly told, Beijing Bastard is a compelling story of a young woman finding her place in the world and of China, as its ancient past gives way to a dazzling but uncertain future.

About Val Wang

Val Wang is an author and multimedia storyteller. Her multimedia projects work at the edge of digital innovation in journalism. She most recently created and produced Planet Takeout, an interactive, multi-platform documentary on the role of Chinese takeouts as a vital cultural crossroads in America. The project incubated at WGBH Radio as part of the nationwide Localore initiative. Before that, she produced OpenCourt, a Knight News Challenge-funded project from WBUR that used digital technology to open a district court south of Boston. She teaches in the English and Media Studies Department of Bentley University. Val lives in Boston, but her heart is still partly in Beijing.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Josie

I loved it! It made me want to go on an adventure. :)......more

Goodreads review by Jill

Memoirs are not autobiographies but rather a shorter, snapshot look at a particular part of the author's life. The best memoirs are those who capture that segment of life in a beginning, middle, and end. Val Wang, in her memoir, "Beijing Bastard: Into the Wilds of a Changing China", brilliantly writ......more

Goodreads review by Maura

I borrowed Beijing Bastard from the library after hearing it recommended on an episode of the Sinica podcast that discussed Beijing in the 1990s. I think anyone who spent time in China during the late 1990s-early 2000s will enjoy Val Wang’s memoir of her three years in Beijing; those who have no fam......more

Goodreads review by Lee

I hate books that are poorly edited and lacking a thesis. Wang sets off to Beijing to piss off her parents, who fled China in 1949. Wang says she wants to make a documentary, but it is never really clear if this is her main motivation. She sees one documentary in the US and decides she wants to do s......more