Tracing It Home: A Chinese Family's Journey from Shanghai (Kodansha Globe) [Paperback]

Lynn Pan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995 | Series: Kodansha Globe

In the tradition of Wild Swans and Life and Death Shanghai, Lynn Pan's Tracing It Home weaves a captivating tale of a family caught up in the turmoil of twentieth-century China. Set in motion by the death of the author's mother, the narrative chronicles the unraveling of an intricate puzzle of familial relationships spanning three generations and two continents. Here is Shanghai in the forties and fifties - a universe of drug addiction, anarchy, suffering wives, and concubines - a way of life on the brink of collapse. From this world emerges a parade of unforgettable individuals: the grandfather, a flawed but brilliant tycoon, and his two mistresses, Pearl and Jade Peach; the mother and grandmother, who refuse to waive their claims to love and fidelity; and Hanze, the devoted family retainer who paid for his loyalty with twenty-four years in labor camps. Pan follows these lives through the years of Japanese occupation, revolution, and exile, and shows how the larger wave of history takes its toll on the hearts and minds of ordinary people. With the intimacy of a novel and the pace of a mystery, Tracing It Home is a profoundly moving portrait of China in this century.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Kodansha America (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568360436
• ISBN-13: 978-1568360430
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #759,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Chinese author relives her family history through turbulent times, April 10, 2007

By 

Rana Sinha (Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tracing It Home: A Chinese Family's Journey from Shanghai (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

First of all 'Tracing it Home' is a story and not history. More accurately it is a narrative as the author relives her past and builds up a vibrant and rich tapestry of life in China as we follow the fortunes of her family. Unlike many other bestseller authors this is not stilicized fiction created out of facts gathered from second-hand accounts.

Though "Tracing it Home" could be criticized for the many things it is not, it is fascinating and engages the reader. She describes the traumatic events that still haunt Chinese society yet in the character of the loyal Hanze she finds forgiveness. The distinction that she makes between surrendering to tyranny and accepting the inexplicability of what happens is very crucial to creating a positive approach in bridging conflicts. "All I know is that Hanze doesn't hate his oppressor because to hate your enemy is to let him do worse to you - in hatred as in love, you grow like the one who absorbs you."

Lynn Pan is an author who takes the reader on a journey into the turbulent past of China without judgement or an overseas Chinese or Western bias. She grew up in Malaysia's dynamic Chinese population and in England and Hong Kong, but was born in and now lives in Shanghai. Warmly recommended reading.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, July 8, 2000

By 

John Glines (Bangkok, Thailand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tracing It Home: A Chinese Family's Journey from Shanghai (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

When Lynn Pan tells the stories of her family's past, the work is riveting, but too often she inserts herself in the story. Not only does it fracture time in a confusing way (unlike the way Chang-Rae Lee fractures time to a purpose), but it interupts the through line, making it difficult to remember where we are in the overall story. There are too many excellent books about modern China (Shanghai, Chiang KaiShek, the Cultural Revolution, etc.) to recommend this one.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, July 8, 2000

By 

John Glines (Bangkok, Thailand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tracing It Home: A Chinese Family's Journey from Shanghai (Kodansha Globe) (Paperback)

When Lynn Pan tells the stories of her family's past, the work is riveting, but too often she inserts herself in the story. Not only does it fracture time in a confusing way (unlike the way Chang-Rae Lee fractures time to a purpose), but it interupts the through line, making it difficult to remember where we are in the overall story. There are too many excellent books about modern China (Shanghai, Chiang KaiShek, the Cultural Revolution, etc.) to recommend this one.