Escape From China : The Long Journey From Tiananmen to Freedom
- Book Review,
by Zhang Boli
Amazon.com
When the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations became a bloody massacre, Zhang Boli, a prominent student leader, was placed on China's most wanted list. Of the 21 listed, he is the only one to elude authorities. Escape from China is Zhang's first-person account of his perilous two-year flight from his pursuers, a flight that eventually brought him to America. Fleeing from a regime that had "lost rationality and humanity", he went north--crossing into Russia for a while--relying not only on the kindness of friends, relatives, and strangers, but also on his own ingenuity. He spent months living rough in the harsh, wild, Russian-Chinese border region east of Mongolia. Zhang's narrative is blunt, precise, and commendably modest. Especially compelling are the conversations he had during his odyssey. Much of their power derives from Zhang's rendering--unblinking, no matter how gruff and vulgar. Escape from China is at once an indictment of authoritarianism and a gripping story of hardship, bravery, and determination. --H. O'Billovich
From Publishers Weekly
One of the prominent student leaders of the democracy movement so brutally crushed in Tiananmen Square 13 years ago, Zhang spent a harrowing two years as a fugitive in rural northeastern China before finding asylum in the U.S. and eventually becoming a Christian priest (and prominent speaker) in Los Angeles. Zhang's searing memoir incisive, fast-paced and full of textured details begins with the collective experience of the democracy movement. He recalls the cultural and political atmosphere at Beijing University during the spring of 1989; the circle of ebullient Chinese intellectuals passionate about social reforms; the hunger strikes; the negotiations; and finally the bloody terror of the crackdown. Turning to his two-year-long attempt to evade the Chinese authorities, Zhang presents his exploits modestly, but one is awed at every turn by his steely nerve and street savvy, and by the compassion that he liberally accords humans, animals and the land that gave him shelter. Most moving, however, are the portraits of the ordinary people of northeastern China among whom he hid. These peasants, laborers and fishermen, with whom the incognito Zhang shared the arduous fight for subsistence, were often illiterate and far removed from Tiananmen physically and culturally, yet they understood Zhang's personal plight and its significance for the country. Through these sketches, Zhang memorably shows the real people who make the fight for democracy in China worthwhile. 8 pages of b&w photos. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Although many students and intellectuals in China will say that the Democracy Movement and the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 are well behind them, Zhang's well-told story of his participation in these events as a student organizer and his harrowing escape to the West will be welcomed by many readers. The refugee memoir is by now an established genre, presenting a personal and bottom-up view of China's tumultuous modern history for Western audiences. This story adds to the literature in telling how Zhang survived as a fugitive in China, making a living as a country fisherman, fleeing across the frozen landscapes of inner Asia, relying on old and new friends, adopting Christianity, and eventually being smuggled out to Hong Kong. Along the way, we are introduced to his family and to the many colorful people who helped him survive. Zhang is now a pastor at a Chinese American church in California. Recommended for large public libraries. Charles W. Hayford, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Now residing in the U.S., one of the 21 students named responsible for leading the 1989 student demonstration at Tiananmen Square recounts his harrowing journey to freedom. Boli and his fellow demonstrators never expected that their cry for democracy would be greeted with machine guns and tanks, but the government's declaration of martial law and classification of the student movement as counterrevolutionary would spin out of control and spawn terror throughout the city. The outcome would bloody the streets of Beijing with the bodies of innocent people, and Boli and his comrades would become fugitives in their own homeland. Boli's two-year journey to find asylum would rob him of his wife and child and force him to endlessly wander China's vast and rugged terrain in search of sustenance and shelter. Fearing for his life and evading a relentless secret police force, Boli's amazing story of survival is full of hope for the future and anguish for those whose lives were lost in the struggle for democracy. Elsa Gaztambide
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Perry Link Professor of East Asian Studies, Princeton University, author of China's New Rulers This book should be required reading for those who accept uncritically Chinese government claims to represent 'China.' The little people in this saga, generous and quiet, are China, too.
Book Description
Who can forget the searing images, telecast around the world, of the brave Chinese students facing the tanks that rolled toward them in Tiananmen Square as they rebelled against their Communist government? After a two-week standoff, the military forces charged in and brutally suppressed the revolt, killing many students and issuing a warrant for the arrest of all responsible for the insurgence. As one of the top student leaders in the demonstrations at Tiananmen Square, Zhang Boli became even more famous as he managed to evade a ruthless nationwide police manhunt. After two years as a fugitive, he was the only leader who had not been accounted for. Among the twenty-one students placed on the government's most-wanted list, Zhang knew that he would never again be able to live openly in China and that he must bid his beloved country -- as well as his wife and baby daughter -- farewell. In Escape From China, Zhang Boli tells the fascinating, inspirational story of how he avoided capture and surpassed overwhelming obstacles in his struggle to survive and ultimately find freedom in the West. Traveling across the frozen terrain of the former Soviet Union, where Russian peasants rescued him, and finding his way through the deserted lands of China's precarious borders, Zhang had little but his extraordinary will to propel him, subsisting for months at a time on the flesh of wild animals. In the course of his long ordeal, he loses his love, finding God and, eventually, freedom. Although Zhang's incredible journey was filled with many harrowing experiences, he chooses, in this gripping first-person account, to focus on the many kind people who helped him through his darkest days. A powerful memoir of great drama and historical resonance, Escape From China will not only astound you, but renew your faith in humanity and in the power of the human spirit.
About the Author
Zhang Boli was a student organizer during the 1989 uprisings in Tiananmen Square. He is now a pastor in Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife and daughter. He is a prominent figure and speaker in Chinese communities around the world.
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