Journey Across the Four Seas

Praise for
Journey Across the
Four
Seas

"I love this book. It is the true story of one unusual woman who faces all of life’s adversities and overcomes them through sheer determination, grit and a bit of luck. While it is the story of one woman, it is also a story that millions of people will identify with. It has the makings of a bestseller."

—Frank Ching
, senior columnist,
The South China Morning Post

"Lovingly interpreted by a devoted daughter, Flora Li’s story is a unique piece of oral history, a family saga of fluctuating fortunes told against the backdrop of British-held Hong Kong and wartime
China
. It also takes us to
Bangkok
and
Taipei
, destinations of recent Chinese diasporas. Fast-paced and absorbing, Flora’s journey through turbulent times is at one level an intensely personal tale of loss, disappointment, and a fraught marriage that ends with a new beginning in 1960s California. At another, her story mirrors the experience of an entire generation of migrating Chinese like Flora—resourceful, resilient, and engaged in a determined ‘search for home,’ a sure place where the family might survive and thrive."

—Paula Harrell
, Visiting Professor,
University
of
Maryland
; author of
Sowing the Seeds of Change: Chinese Students, Japanese Teachers, 1895-1905

"A gutsy Chinese woman remembers with unsparing wit and candor growing up poor in British-ruled Hong Kong, surviving the perils and privations of Japanese-occupied
China
and the joys and pains of raising a family with a Kuomintang official’s privileged son she married. This is history as biography that can bring nostalgia attacks to old
Asia
hands. It’s also an odyssey through life in the Chinese diaspora peopled with funny and outrageous real-life personalities Amy Tan couldn’t have imagined."

—Eduardo Lachica
, independent analyst of Southeast Asian security and military affairs; former reporter of
The Wall Street Journal
and Washington bureau chief of
The Asian Wall Street Journal

"This book is an amazing read. When I finished it, I felt as if I understood
Hong Kong
,
China
, the heroine Flora, and myself better. It’s the Asian
Grapes of Wrath.
"

—Adair Lara
, award-winning columnist,
The San Francisco Chronicle
; author of five books including
Hold Me Close, Let Me Go,
and
Hanging Out the
Wash

"Aside from being well done and written this book should also be very helpful in dispelling notions that some Americans might have about the role of women in
China
and
Hong Kong
in the early and mid-twentieth century. This is an incredible story about a remarkable Chinese woman; once started it is virtually impossible to put down for long. To me the principal message was the importance of initiative and hard work regardless of the adversity. Networking was important (extensive Swatow relations,
Hong Kong
University
alumni, connection with the Nationalist Finance Minister, and so on) but only up to a point. Then initiative and hard work was required to carry her through."

—Morris Morkre
, Economist, the Federal Trade Commission; former Senior Lecturer in Economics,
Hong Kong
University

"This book contributes to broadening the record of women’s experiences, much of which is being lost because individually we keep inadequate notes, and as a group we often do not collect and share our records. Many younger women are uninformed about how their improved status came about…. For many who grew up in the West there is a lot to learn from this book. It is a story about hardships, survival strategies, networks, and above all, family."

—Gloria Scott
, advisor on Women in Development, World Bank, 1977-86.

"This story of one extraordinary woman, caught up in the wars and conflicts of
East Asia
, is part family, part adventure story. As daughter of the Chinese diaspora, as refugee, as heiress to rising and falling family fortunes, Flora cultivates in herself the strength and wisdom to constantly reconstruct life for her family. Her life exemplifies the pioneering spirit of millions of refugees and émigrés strewn across the four seas in the past and present century. You won’t be able to put the
Journey
by Li down, and its lessons will stay with you."

—
Vilma Seeberg
,
China
scholar; Associate Professor,
Kent
State
University

"This compelling story is vivid testimony to the recent turbulent Chinese history and the prevalence of traditional values seen through the eyes of a remarkable Chinese woman, Flora, and written by her daughter, Veronica Li. It provides a rare window into the inner world of a woman of that era."

—Marie Luise Wagner
, Visiting Assistant Professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service,
Georgetown
University

"This story brings out a centerpiece of Chinese culture—education of the young. To attain that end, a Chinese woman would sacrifice anything and overcome any adversity. Like the mother of Mencius, she is willing to uproot herself in search of the best education for her children."

—Mi
Chu
Wiens
, Had of Scholarly Services, Asian Division, Library of Congress

"Veronica Li has captured vividly the image of a woman who has lived through the turmoil of war and political upheavals in Hong Kong and
China
from the 1920s to the 1960s. In a particularly authentic way, she has given us many snapshots of life in those decades, in the language of a chronicler rich in colorful expressions coined from the Chinese social fabric—"chasing the dragon," "bitter squash," and "tear bag." Her mother’s epic is at once unique yet universal…. It is amazing how many Chinese women of that era share her experiences. These stories, embodying her life-long memories across the four seas, will, as Veronica says in her Epilogue, take on a life of their own."

—Diana Yue
,
Honorary Associate Professor,
Hong Kong
University
; translator of literature

Contents

Author’s Note and Acknowledgements

Prologue

1. Eating Bitter Squash

2. Dreaming in the Red Chamber

3. Shooting an Arrow at the Sun

4. Burning in the Theater

5. Making a Bad Peace
          

6. Going Home
          

7. Still Searching for Home
  

8. Living in a Prison
  

9. Laying Foundation for the Future
 

10. Journeying across the
Four
Seas

Epilogue
                                

Glossary of Chinese Names and Places