Grace in China: An American Woman Beyond the Great Wall, 1934-1974 [Hardcover]

Eleanor Cooper (Author), William Liu (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: River City Pub (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157966024X
• ISBN-13: 978-1579660246
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #173,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE AND HISTORY IN CHINA, February 17, 2000

By 

Elinor D. Benedict (Rapid River, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grace in China: An American Woman Beyond the Great Wall, 1934-1974 (Hardcover)

GRACE IN CHINA reveals both a fascinating true love story of a Chinese-American marriage and a unique personal insight into Chinese-American history during the tumultuous years of 1934-1974. These years of violent change still influence the future of China and the United States and indeed the world. If you've watched the presidential debates, you know that China policy is one of the top issues, an issue which demands better understanding by leaders and citizens alike. This book can help, and what's more, it's a great read!

Grace meets FuChi Liu--her beloved "F.C."--in New York City where she is training to become an opera singer and he is working as a hydraulic engineer. Their heart-tugging courtship and marriage is followed by Grace's exciting journey to China with her baby daughter to make a new life with her husband. For 40 eventful years she is an eyewitness to history in China.

The early years are full of vivid scenes of the social life and corruption of the "old ways," mixed with her husband's struggle to bring change. Then come harsh stories of the Japanese invasion and occupation, the joyful arrival of U.S.Marines, and finally disenchantment with Chna's post-war leaders. As the Communists approach her city of Tientsin, Grace resolves to stay with F.C. instead of fleeing with other "foreigners." With a sense of history in the making, she watches hordes of "apple-cheeked" young soldiers of the Red Army march down her street.

For the Liu family, life goes on surprisingly well under the new regime as Grace and F.C. work hard "for the Chinese people." Unfortunately, F.C. dies from lung cancer at the height of his national career of bringing modern water systems to many regions of China. How Grace manages to survive with the help of her three children and warm-hearted neighbors makes an inspiring story. With "gumption," this southern girl undertakes a fulfilling career of her own by developing new methods of teaching English at Nankai University. But what happens to her and her family during the Cultural Revolution provides hair-raising reading. Finally in 1974, after Nixon's visit to China, she comes back to the United States to reunite with her American relatives. But China is her true home now. Her ironic return to Tientsin (now Tianjin) gives a moving conclusion to this unusual and significant biography of a woman who possessed a special kind of "grace under pressure" in time of war,social upheaval and personal challenge.

The authors of GRACE IN CHINA, who are her cousin and son, have skillfully created a vivid document that reads like a novel, using well-preserved letters, memoirs, interviews, articles, photographs and other primary resources blended seamlessly with excellent background narration. The editing is a triumph of weaving many voices into strong, intimate storytelling. Many scenes are so humorous, passionate, or dramatic that the reader can almost see the action on a movie screen compelling as one's own imagination. But it's all true--and it's a story that begs to be heard.

The small press editor of GRACE IN CHINA, Randall Williams of Black Belt Press in Montgomery, Ala., deserves praise for recognizing an important, memorable book that deserves both critical and popular acclaim. Since a small independent press doesn't have the resources for extensive publicity, "word of mouth" will have to spread the news.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Grace, February 12, 2000

By 

Gretchen McCausland (Laguna Niguel, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grace in China: An American Woman Beyond the Great Wall, 1934-1974 (Hardcover)

Grace Devine Liu was already wary of questions when I happened to meet her in Los Angeles in 1978. My questions were naïve and how could she answer? Where would she start? Now there is this magnificent, surprising book, "Grace in China," that swept me up and carried me through four decades of her life. Brought up in Chattanooga, Grace studied opera in New York and met and married a young Chinese engineer who had studied at Cornell. She followed him to China not knowing what to expect, but who could have anticipated what would happen in China during the next forty years? Her life there, living in the British area of Tientsin, was comfortable and fun. Lots of parties and socializing and isolation from the realities of China's problems. She didn't even notice the Japanese advancing toward Tientsin until they marched in and occupied the city. From that point on, Grace became part of the history of China. She was in it for the whole ride, occupation, floods, government corruption, civil war, communism, Red Guards and the lifting of the "Bamboo Curtain." She lived the story on the inside, an American alien, trying to learn, trying to help, and most of all, trying to survive. Grace had taught English at Nankai University in Tientsin. She passed her enthusiastic interest in linguistics on to her son, Willie Liu, which brought them to Los Angeles for his work at UCLA in 1978. It was during this visit that Grace and my mother, Katie, 1st cousins, were reunited after 64 years. Katie, the family historian, was able to give her the only surviving letter from her husband written in 1931. Grace's own letters tell a fascinating story. "Grace In China" is a beautifully written book that grabs you from the first page and holds on through the unexpected twist at the end. You will go on thinking about this book long after you have layed it down.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Uncommon Perspective, February 8, 2000

By 

Deede Gram (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grace in China: An American Woman Beyond the Great Wall, 1934-1974 (Hardcover)

I felt like I was right beside Grace when she stepped aboard the boat to China alone with her small child! The opportunity to view life in China during such a crucial period is rare....the opportunity to view it through eyes that seem so familiar is almost unimaginable.

The authors create such a complete picture of what life was like for this American woman who had left everything she knew to begin a new life in a foreign culture, that you feel like the experience is yours. You get a glimpse of daily common life in China like going to the market, the education of children, housing, vacationing, and being part of the workforce. Blend this with the amazing political front row seat Grace had,....entertaining and boldly sharing ideas with military and cultural leaders....and you truly get an uncommon perspective. This is a story that is a true treasure that could easily had been left to deteriorate in a cardboard box in a family attic somewhere. Instead it's here for us to enjoy. I highly recommend it.