Daughter of Shanghai [Paperback]

Tsai Chin (Author), Tsai Chin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1994

The daughter of China's greatest classical actor, Chin grew up in cosmopolitan Shanghai; her youth saw Japanese occupation, civil war, and Communist takeover. Moving to England in 1960, she became the China doll sex symbol in The World of Suzie Wong. This memoir follows Chin through those years and to the present with her role in the film The Joy Luck Club. 40 photos.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

How it was to live in the shadow of a changing China and later in England amidst the vagaries of the British theater are described by the actress whose career peaked in 1960 with her eponymous role in the stage production of The World of Suzie Wong. Raised in Shanghai--her father a classical actor, her mother of Westernized background--Tsai Chin enjoyed the perquisites of her family's caste. The charming glimpses she offers of her childhood in a close-knit family provide also an informal history of Chinese theater. With this as prelude, the author's re-creation of her transformation as a sex symbol of the '60s, involved in a highly public affair with critic Kenneth Tynan, is especially jarring alongside her description of the fate of her family who were jailed and died during the cultural revolution in China. Her affecting memoir bridges two disparate worlds and eras. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Daughter of China's leading classical actor, Tsai Chin was raised in a liberal, westernized home in Shanghai, which she left in 1949 to study acting in London. Though she assimilated easily into England, Chin never lost her sense of being Chinese, nor her worry for her parents still in China during the decades following the Communist takeover. Her successful career included the title role in The World of Suzie Wong as well as films and cabaret. In later years, she returned to graduate study and teaching drama. Chin skims over her two marriages and several romantic liaisons (most notably with critic Kenneth Tynan), as well as a nervous breakdown. These somewhat rambling reminiscences cover all the dramatic events of recent Chinese history, but fail to grip the reader. One senses an emotional distance despite the author's assertion that writing the book was cathartic.
- Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 245 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (September 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312112580
• ISBN-13: 978-0312112585
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,172,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)