Peking [Hardcover]

Anthony Grey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 1988

To a China racked by famine and bloody civil war in the 1930s, a young English-born missionary, Jakob Kellner, brings all the crusading passion of his untried Christian faith. He burns to save the world's largest nation from Communism. But on the Long March, amidst horror and despair too great for Christianity to salve, Jakob becomes entangled with Mei-ling, a beautiful and fervent revolutionary. Powerful new emotions challenge and reshape his faith -- and entrap him for life in that vast country's tortured destiny.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although titled Peking, this historical epic about China from the 1930s to the 1970s might more aptly have been called "The Long March": it recounts the legendary Long March of the Chinese Communists in flight from their foes in the '30s, and the "continuation" of the march during the more turbulent moments of Mao Tse-tung's rule. In 1934, Jakob Kellner, a British missionary, his American wife and their child are captured by Chinese Communists who set upon their rural mission. Kellner's wife is ruthlessly executed, his infant sent into hiding with a servant, and Kellner himself, his faith severely tested, forced to march for weeks in ragged clothes through awful weather with his captives. On the march, he is briefly united with Lu Mei-ling, a Chinese woman he met on his voyage to Shanghai. Mei-ling secretly takes care of his daughter and has a brief affair with him on the harsh journey. In the years following the Communist triumph, Kellner returns to China at times of crisis as a China watcher. Eventually, he introduces his grown daughter to the land and to the Chinese woman he loved and left behind. Grey (Saigon) has done a thorough job of conveying the cruelty of wholesale torture, privation and slaughter that accompanied the struggle between the Communists and the Kuomintang during the '30s. His depiction of the troubles during the "Hundred Flowers" purge of the '50s and the Cultural Revolution of the '60s, while instructive, stretches the novel farther than it will comfortably go.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In 1931, Jakob Kellner, a young, zealous missionary arrives in China determined to solve the country's problems with Christianity. Assigned to a post in southern Hunan, Jakob is captured by the Communist soldiers of the Red Army and is forced to endure the infamous Long March. Grey ( Saigon ) has done such a masterful job of describing this arduous trek that the reader suffers with soldier and prisoner alike as they climb icy mountains and sink in grassy swamplands. Ending with the overthrow of the Gang of Four in 1976, Grey illuminates the political events of this complex, detailed story by introducing each section with a short history of the period. Well-written and exciting, definitely recommended. Lydia Burruel Johnson, Mesa, P.L., Ariz.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: Littlehampton Book Services Ltd (June 17, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0297792040
• ISBN-13: 978-0297792048
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,691,819 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely interesting..., March 22, 2005

By 

B. Johnson "acaciatree" (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Peking: A Novel of Chinas Revolution 1921-1978 (Hardcover)

If you read this historic novel, you will come as close as possilbe to actually enduring the entire Long March and Cultural Revolution in tact. I personally find 20th-century Chinese history to be some of the most interesting (and altogether important in understanding its future) and this novel is packed with history that will build a base for understanding modern China. Sure, like most works, it has bits here and there that are hard to believe, but all in all, this book not only informed me, but it encouraged me to visit Beijing (Peking) which I did in Nov 2004. Wonderful!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Available Book On Mao's Great March, February 18, 1999

By 

Old Bruin (Irvine, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Peking: A Novel of Chinas Revolution 1921-1978 (Hardcover)

Peking is a wonderful story of Mao's Great March. The reader will have a very realistic sense of the period and the dedication of Mao's followers.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars sublimely written account of the Long March, August 6, 2000

By 

S.P.W. van der Wal (Utrecht, Utrecht Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Peking: A Novel of Chinas Revolution 1921-1978 (Hardcover)

I just finished the book (in Dutch translation) and I can recommend it to everyone who is interested in Chinese history of the past century. It tells the story of a young man who enters the world of China in the 1930 to spread the word of God among the Chinese. He arrives at the time of communist outbreaks throughout the country and starts his journey for bringing christianity. Being caught by the communists he is forced to walk the long march. During this time he encounters many harsh endearments which determine the rest of his life. The book covers decades of communist uprising and the hardship of this communist belief. It gives the reader a good impression of how life was during the long march, the absolute belief of the communists in their goal and the desillusion of those who gave so much for the revolution. As I said in the beginning I just finished the book, so this is just a first sketch of how the book is. I certainly can recommend it!