Double Luck: Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Becky White (Author), Lu Chi Fa (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Currently the owner of a restaurant in California, Lu looks back on a life that reflects China's tumultuous recent history, from wars and famine to Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution. Orphaned at three, Chi Fa grows up amid hardships that will be scarcely imaginable to American readers. "Chi Fa, you are lucky. Good fortune will find you," his beloved Sister tells him when, yielding to her husband, she abandons him on another sibling's doorstep. The boy is shunted among his relatives, sold to strangers and eventually rescued from them by Sister; he is beaten, starved and forced to beg. At 12, he survives a dangerous trek to freedom in Hong Kong, where an elderly man to whom he gives food fuels his dreams of emigrating to America ("In America people eat three times a day. In America they are too full to swallow sorrow"), a dream he finally realizes at 20. The first-person narrative is pedestrian and even plodding in parts ("An important thing I forgot to mention is China's class system"), but readers who are not put off by the prose will be impressed by Chi Fa's perseverance, intelligence and goodness of heart. Photos not seen by PW. Ages 10-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-10-The power of positive thinking is amply demonstrated in this moving memoir. Born in the turmoil of the Sino-Japanese war in China's Jiangsu province and orphaned at age three, young Chi Fa ("new beginning") had more new beginnings than any child should have to face. He was passed from relative to relative and finally sold to a Communist village chief who treated him badly. Rescued by his sister 18 months later, he was returned to his unwelcoming relatives. At nine years old, he was the caretaker for a mute epileptic and then sent to Shanghai to join the brother and the family who had first sold him. In time, they ended up in Kowloon, where, for nearly three years, Chi Fa supported them by begging, until an aunt arranged for them all to migrate to Taiwan. For the first time in his life, at 13, he went to school, but after a year, he was pulled out to work. He contributed to that family until he was conscripted into the Taiwanese army. In 1969, he immigrated to the United States, following a dream he had had for 14 years. The strength of this book is in the clarity of Chi Fa's personal story, his optimism and determination in the face of incredible adversity. The grinding poverty of daily life in China is clear. Less trustworthy is his understanding of geography and politics of the world beyond his family. Such errors make this touching story somewhat less convincing.
Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House; 1st edition (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823415600
• ISBN-13: 978-0823415601
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #180,860 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #44 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Chinese
  #69 in	Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Biographies > Political

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a must read for children and adults, August 10, 2001

By A Customer

This book is a real eye opener, especially to a generation of children in the United States who do not appreciate being born in a country that is prosperous and has opportunities afforded to all. My husband read this book one night and his remarks were "this is a MUST READ for the kids". I think about the abundance in our society and how our communities consider this a "given". I will always look at a bowl of rice differently, and be grateful to have a full stomach. I say a prayer of gratitude in the evenings as I cover up under a down comforter and am thankful for warmth and safety. I have met Gordon and he is a true gentleman and someone we are all fortunate to be touched by in this book. Thank you for the opportunity to be reminded of how blessed we are.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Double Luck: Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan, August 6, 2001

By A Customer

I loved Double Luck: Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan because the boy, Chi Fa, was so brave and he never stopped believing in his lifelong dream. Chi Fa and all the people in the book were so real I felt I knew them well. After his parents died, Chi Fa's life was one hard adventure after another. He endured being cold and nearly starving, having to move every time he found a place to sleep, and risking his life to flee the Communist takeover of China. Through everything, he remained a kind person who remembered the people who had loved him. When Chi Fa wished on the Orphan Star in the sky, I very much wanted his dream to come true. It was exciting for me to read from one chapter to the next and I didn't want to put the book down. I intend to lend the book to my teacher and I hope she will ask our librarian to get a copy for my school.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LuChiFa Remembers, October 25, 2001

By	Sylva Mularchyk (Santa Maria, California) - See all my reviews

DOUBLE LUCK is an exciting story for teens and preteens. It is the true tale of a child who had to find his own way in a hostile world and who made his dream come true. Little LuChiFa was born in Eastern China in the Kangsu Province in 1941, the Year of the Snake. After his parents died, he was shuffled among relatives and friends until he became one mouth too many to feed and he was sold for 500 pounds of rice to a Communist Chief as a slave. LuChiFa was five years old.
Among the tortures he bore was being hung upside down by his pigtail. The pain was excruciating. Ironically it was the Communist Chief who gave him his nickname of Double Luck. The
cruel man was not to know that one day his jest would truly become Double Luck and the little Chinese boy's dream of coming to America where he could live an independent life would come true.
The preparation of this book was a three-way undertaking.
A literary agent, Karen Grencik, and Rebecca White, an established author of children's books and editor of the
magazine A NEW DAY, collaborated with LuChiFa and the result is
this true story of double luck.

collaborated with LuChiFa