Chinese Girl in the Ghetto [Paperback]

Ying Ma (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 18, 2011

As China opens itself to the world and undertakes historic economic reforms, a little girl in the southern city of Guangzhou immerses herself in a world of fantasy and foreign influences while grappling with the mundane vagaries of Communist rule. She happily immigrates to Oakland, California, expecting her new life to be far better in all ways than life in China. Instead, she discovers crumbling schools, unsafe streets, and racist people. In the land of the free, she comes of age amid the dysfunction of a city's brokenness and learns to hate in the shadows of urban decay. This is the unforgettable story of her journey from China to an American ghetto and how she prevailed.

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"Direct and unvarnished, this book describes the endless possibilities of a free society that allows its citizens to chart their own destiny. Ying Ma takes her readers to dark corners where poverty, crime, and racism reign, all the while reminding us that even amid a sea of hate, individuals can choose to believe in kindness, decency, personal responsibility, and racial equality."
-- Ward Connerly, Founder and President, American Civil Rights Institute, and Author, Creating Equal: My Fight Against Race Preferences

"A beautiful account of a young girl's encounter with the insidiousness of authoritarianism in China and the tragedies of inner-city America. Ying Ma boldly details some of the worst imperfections of American society, all the while showing, with her own example, why freedom is worth choosing."
-- Xiao Qiang, Adjunct Professor, University of California at Berkeley, and Founder and Editor-in-Chief, China Digital Times

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Told with...simplicity and frankness" -- John Derbyshire, National Review Online

"Fascinating memoir....[Ying Ma's] journey has made her the very best kind of conservative -- one whose love of liberty, order and self-reliance has been forged through gritty experience." -- Mona Charen, nationally syndicated columnist

About the Author

Ying Ma is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal Asia, the International Herald Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, National Review Online, Policy Review, and other publications. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Her full bio and additional information are available at yingma.org.

Product Details

• Paperback: 155 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (March 18, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1460970454
• ISBN-13: 978-1460970454
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #608,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ying Ma writes regularly about China, international affairs and the free market. Much of her writing and research explores the nexus between political and economic freedom, especially with respect to China's rising influence on the global stage. Her articles have covered issues such as the Internet revolution, democratization, climate change and state capitalism, and have appeared in The Wall Street Journal Asia, the International Herald Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, The Weekly Standard, National Review Online, Policy Review and other publications. More information is available at http://yingma.org.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read! June 14, 2011

By Michael Z

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Ying Ma's inspirational story should be required reading for anyone wishing to understand the results of forty years of failed social policies in inner city America, while at the same time gaining insight into the recent Asian American immigrant experience. Instead of finding streets paved with gold, Ms. Ma arrives on our shores to find streets filled with potholes, crack-heads and thieves. The inner city America of Ying Ma's youth is a welfare state, where criminal behavior, anti-Asian prejudice, and an entitlement mentality prevail over the rule of law, education and work. An instant classic, Ms. Ma's engaging narrative pulls no punches in its critique of policies which have rewarded laziness and have excused anti-Asian bigotry by certain members of traditionally underrepresented groups. Thankfully, Chinese Girl in the Ghetto concludes with a positive lesson for all of us: Through perseverance, education and personal responsibility, we can extricate ourselves from the confines of the ghetto and achieve greatness. I would highly recommend this book.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than a Memoir March 27, 2011

By Florio Marchione

Format:Paperback

Chinese Girl in the Ghetto shattered my preconceptions about life in inner city America. In trying to make sense of the senseless violence she witnessed in Oakland, as well as the challenges her family underwent while living under an autocratic regime, Ying Ma tells a tale that is much more than a memoir. On its surface, the book offers a poignant story about one family's cross-cultural experience. But at a deeper level, it is a fascinating anecdotal account of the the unintended results of government planning in two very different societies. Sometimes funny, often tragic, but always brutally honest, Chinese Girl in the Ghetto is a gripping read that challenges us to question what freedom really means.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening and Inspiring March 25, 2011

By Gorgias

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Inspiring! The author -- a successful lawyer -- grew up middle class in China until age 10, then moved to a modern-day American slum without speaking a word of English. This book is her story ... a fascinating read for anyone interested in what it's really like to be one of those "starving kids in China" for which your mother used to make you clean your plate ... or for anyone who wants a tells-it-like-it-is, firsthand -- though not always politically correct -- account of the inter-minority hostility and other obstacles a poor immigrant child must overcome to realize the American Dream these days. The author has done a terrific job breaking the silence of many other similarly situated Asian immigrants, and has told an entertaining and endearing story with heart and candor. This book is worth a lot more than the price, and it feels good to support an author who had to endure our national embarrassment (the ghetto), but still ended up loving American freedom.