Shop top categories that ship internationally
Deliver to France
See All Buying Options
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Ertai Gao
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

IN SEARCH MY HOMELAND Hardcover – October 20, 2009

by Er Tai Gao (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 7 ratings
See all formats and editions
A Chinese artist, art critic, and intellectual offers a memoir of his twenty years in and out of a Chinese desert gulag, where 90 percent of his fellow prisoners died in just three years, until his escape to freedom in Hong Kong in 1992, and from there America in 1993, where he now lives in exile in Las Vegas. 20,000 first printing.
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Ecco
  4. Publication date
    October 20, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.93 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0060881267
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0060881269
  8. See all details
Next slide of product details
Books%20with%20Buzz
Books with Buzz
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gao was only 19-years-old when he wrote “On Beauty,” a critical essay about the subjectivity of aesthetics, which was published in a journal in 1957 and hotly contested. Several years later, this “inopportune treatise” leads to Gao, a teacher in a small rural school in the town of Lanzhou, being labeled a “Rightist” and shipped off to a labor camp in the Gobi Desert. There he faces unimaginable hardships as he is forced to dig ditches, till fields, and endure brutal sandstorms while being given barely enough food to survive. Ever the daring intellectual, Gao continues to write, despite the fact that he risks serious repercussions if his work is discovered. He also finds solace in the impressive ancient art in the Mogao Caves. Though what Dorsett and Pollard have gracefully translated is only the second part of Gao’s three-part memoir, it is broad in scope and gives readers a vivid account of Gao’s suffering and endurance. Powerful reading for those curious about what “reeducation through labor” really entailed. --Kristine Huntley

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ecco; 1st edition (October 20, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060881267
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060881269
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.93 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 7 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Ertai Gao

Ertai Gao

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
7 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

anonymous
5.0 out of 5 stars A timeless, beautiful reflection on totalitarian suffering
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2022
Gao Ertai was a young man caught up in the madness of the Mao era. He was sent to a labor camp as a 19-year-old, survived the Great Famine of 1958-1961, and then made his way to one of the great cultural wonders of the world: the Buddhist caves of Dunhuang in western China. There he stayed for 10 years, at first working and then for six years being "struggled against" by Maoist zealots, who took over the caves and the research academy next to it. Eventually he escaped to Hong Kong and then the United States.
Today, Dunhuang is one of China's greatest tourist attractions--similar, perhaps to Stonehenge or Chartres--and this shows a period of history at the caves that the country's Communist leaders would prefer never were revealed. But it's also a reflection on the madness of totalitarianism, and the beauty and wisdom of the ancient world.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Bruno
2.0 out of 5 stars No good enough
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2010
Verified Purchase
I heard great things about this book so my expectations were maybe too high.
Good descriptions on the life in a labor camp, but nothing beyond this. Difficult to follow the flow from chapter to chapter making it a difficult read.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Witold
5.0 out of 5 stars a remarkable book
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2013
This is a simple but powerful account of life as a condemned "counterrevolutionary" in communist China. It is most definitely not intended as any kind of competition for Solzhenitsyn.

I found the honesty and simplicity of the writing deeply moving; there is a certain clarity of thought as well as dignity and modesty that is absent from many literary works by Chinese eminent authors, including Mo Yan and Gao Xingjian. The first of them simply refuses to say the whole truth and the latter wants to be half Western and half Eastern. Both often sound cynical, which probably is not intentional. Among the very few other Chinese writers known in the West, Yiyun Li is, in my opinion, a very good Chinese author that is not afraid of the truth; she excels at the short story genre.

Er Tai Gao, however, in addition to being a good writer is also a sensitive artist. He has his unique voice. His descriptions of the Mogao caves are unforgettable, and the idea of using poetry throughout the book was a great tool in "softening" the immense hardship of life. The "theatrical" aspect, so prevalent in Chinese culture, is completely absent.

I enjoyed the book very much and, although this is not "a Solzhenitsyn" or a "Nobel Prize material", there is something to be said about a personal memoir of a victim, that is coherent, deeply moving, and well written.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Kangkangl
5.0 out of 5 stars A great masterpiece on pain, individuality and beauty.
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2013
This is the most deeply inspiring, pain and thought provoking book I have read in many a year. The critic on Amazon compared it to the well celebrated work by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, calling it "The Chinese Gulag".

Well, I beg to differ. To me, the difference between this book and The Gulag lies deeply in the perspective of narration. While The Gulag is a powerful documentary, serving as encyclopedia of Stalin's Great Purge era, Mr. Gao's In Search of My Homeland has a much more introverted perspective. A continuous flow of self reflections in a beautifully creative mind sets the tone of this book, even though the author's encounter was among the cruelest in human history.

The amazing point is, whether as a 19 year old boy fresh from college majoring in Art Histroy, or a 75 year old professor who's served a third of his life in political jail, Gao Er Tai never gave up his pure idealism, his innate trust in Beauty, and his stubborn belief in individuality. Somehow, through all those years of harsh persecution, through all those pain and desperation, he emerges with a curious and open mind, with a beautiful and tender soul.

This realization brought tears to my eyes first, then I felt a part of myself touched and awakened from within.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report