China's Son: Growing Up in the Cultural Revolution

Very good.

I ended up haveing to read this book for my modern world history class. I ended up being pleasantly surprised. Normally things like this don't spark my attention. Because memoires to me can be rather irritating and not well written. But this one was very well done, Da has his ups and downs the entire book, but at the same time his isn't the sadest story of young children in the cultural revevolution. I will also say if you enjoy learning about communism and that 1960s to 70s cultural revevolution periodd in china, you need to watch 'To Live' it is an amazing movie. But among all things I do recomend this book, even if you aren't a history nerd you might be surprised.

Education is essential all the time!!!!!!!

I have not gotten the chance to read this kind of book ever before. The "China Son" written by the author, Da Chen is really, really an interesting book which contains a real life problem that had happen in China many years ago in someone's life. From this book and the work done by the protagonist, Da Chen, is that there is always a possible way to become successful in a profession and can have experience no matter what your family condition, history, where you live or come from if you work hard. Here in this story, Da worked hard to finished his school life with good EDUCATION. Education is that thing that will take you to the top of everyone if you know it very well, but on other hand it could take you to the bottom of the feet if you didn't know the importance of education and didn't take it seriously. I feel very sad about Da at the beginning of the of his life because he was a child from a very poor family who can't even have a food to eat whole year with enough satisfaction. The people who doesn't have heart will quit if they were to be in the extreme situation where you have to outside the door before you opened it. Da is not that kind of a person. He has a really strong heart that he proves what he wanted to prove in his life and in the future.
He is only the child who was able to go to school freely from his home and doesn't have to work on the fields every day like his rest of the family does. The lived in the place called Yellow Stone in China which was ruled by the Communist Party and have to follow their rule. They were not free at all the times. Can you imagine, how you will feel if you and your whole family works like a machine under the heat of the Sun whole day and can't produce enough crops to eat for whole year and can't go to school as well. Even though his family was illiterate, and has friends who were a gambler he didn't loose his focus on his study. He proves that no one will control your future and your ambition, but it all depends on how much effort you put in into the work. Da is a very hard worker because he always wake up early in the morning and go to bed at late night. He put himself in an educational jail with no friends, no fun time, no rest. The only thing he could do is dive into the pages of thick books that have been laying on the table for weeks. He wanted to go the college in Beijing which is five hours away from the Yellow Stone. In his high school, he passed the every test he took and became the person to who was able to go to college. It's so much exciting for a family when the youngest child is going to attend the college as a first generation and wanted to study the major in English that none of the students have done before.
I feel sad when I saw students neglecting their educations by not focusing on what teachers is trying to teach and nothing doing their homeworks because there are students all over the world who wanted to have freedom of education, but they were unable to achieve it. If they get the chance, they will try their hardest to attain everything they can. Nowadays students didn't think Education is important and essential part of their future life which cause them to have bad future. If you think working is better than learning and you think education is not important at all, please read this book "China's Son" once. Then you will be able to find out why is the EDUCATION a essential part of your future life and your family.

China's Son is Nothing Special

China¿s Son is a memoir about the story of Da Chen. Da tells a very moving and inspiring story about growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution, under the communist rule of Mao Zedong. He faced many persecutions from his teachers and classmates because he was the grandson of a landowner. Although he was one of the smartest children in his grade he was kicked out of school and treated very badly when he did attend school. Da became involved in smoking and part of what we would now call a ¿gang¿. Despite these hardships, Da was able to educate himself and become accepted to a University in Beijing where he majored in English. He later moved to the United States and received a scholarship to University if Columbia Law School. For the most part I enjoyed reading the book China¿s Son, but I did feel it was a very cliché story about someone who had to overcome big hardships and eventually reached their goals in the end. It was better than most of the books I have been required to read in school but the book did not have a very ¿juicy¿ plot. This was definitely not a ¿page-turner.¿ If you truly want to enjoy this book, do not read the summary on the back before you start reading. The summary of the story tells you exactly what is going to happen and completely ruins the story. There is no suspense or questioning about what is going to happen in the end. Will Da succeed and be accepted to college? This is the theme running throughout the story and if you read the back of the book this question is answered and the point of the story is ruined.

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Chia

The book China Son by Da Chen focuses on the culture revolution and the time of Mao¿s death. A boy by the name of Da lives through the hardships of being in a landlord family when at the time was one of the worst kinds of families to live in. Many of the characters affect Da by becoming friends with him and turning into enemies. Through out the story Da experiences a life change from his family and the culture revolution. The book starts out with Da going to Pre School and it shows how he became interested in work. Through out the book from the time he started Pre School from the time he finishes college. The book really concentrates on Da¿s hardships with school. After Da makes some friends and becomes top of his class in Pre School he soon finds himself in elementary school for where he faces the most up beating of being in a landlord family. When Da shows up for elementary school for where he gets his most beet up of his class and the teachers. The school year starts out with Da being at the top of his class again and soon becomes the class star of work. Mostly through out the book Da strives to keep his cool by when he is the must surfer copulation he finds a way out by making new friends or by getting back at them though the power work. Towards the middle of his emanatory school career the nice teacher that Da knew so well was replaced by a teacher who was selfish and strict. Da suffered a lot through elementary school and middle school. By the time high school came Da became friends with a kid by the name of I-Fei. Da and I-Fei became the most popular kids in the school although DA was not keeping up with his work. By the time Da came to the mid-point of his year in ninth grade I-Fei moved away and Da began to catch up on his work. Da wanted to enter college and get a good education. Finally after all his hard work D finally makes it to college! Overall China Son is a good book that should be recommended to anyone with the ambition of learning about another culture.

Music of the Mind

Do you enjoy books about other cultures? China¿s Son takes place in China, around the time of the Cultural Revolution. This book is written by Da Chen and it is based on a true story currently, Da is living in America. Do you like school? Da Chen is a young boy who is growing up during the Cultural Revolution. He lives in China with his huge loving family. His siblings work in rice fields while his dad works for the Red Guard. Da goes to school, like some people, who could afford school. Eventually, he learns to play the flute and auditions to be in a performance. The judges inspire him to continue on with his education and studies, colleges aren¿t looking for arts and music, but their education. Da asks his English tutor, Professor Wei, to help him be prepared for a college exam. The results get back and Da receives an extremely high score, second best in the country! Since he received a high score, he is able to go back to school and he won¿t have to work in the rice fields with his siblings. ¿This is a book about love in the face of hate, a book for hope for the hopeless.¿ (Page 1) After reading China¿s Son, I disliked the book. In my opinion, the book was too slow moving and there wasn¿t enough action in it. Plus, there were too many characters to remember. I would suggest making a list of important characters. Nothing exciting happened in the book, it just continued to go on and on. Plus, it was confusing at some parts, I had to re-read a section many times to finally understand what Da was talking about to I-Fei. On a good note however, I enjoyed the idea on how it was based on a true story. In America, all children are required by law to attend school. In China, it is a privilege to send your child to school, because schools can be expensive and China isn¿t a wealthy country either. I think the cultural differences are very interesting. Overall though, I disliked the book.

Da Son of China

China Son, by Da Chen, is an amazing memoir of Da Chen¿s life. It portrays how life was like for a landlord¿s son during communist times. He includes specific details from his, life such as his friends and enemies, that make the reader want to know more. Many problems arise during the tale, and Da Chen tells of how his family and friends are supporting him and how others don¿t want him to succeed. It is a very wonderful tale about hardships, dreams, hopes, and goals. Da Chen goes into kindergarten and feels pressure from the other students and teachers. He is left out and alone because he is a landlord¿s son. Soon he makes friends with a gang and ends his study habits. He starts becoming a slacker instead of a good student. But after Mao dies, college becomes a goal for many students. Da begins to study again and closes himself from the rest of the world in order to get into a good college so he may help his family in the future. He tries to get an English Major even though many had criticized him that he would not be able to get accepted as one. Many didn¿t believe in Da, but his friends and family were enough to keep him going. When Da took the exam, he got a very high score and was able to get into a college in Beijing. Some communist followers were furious at the fact, and tried sending mails to keep him from going. But in the end Da achieves his dream and goals. The story was full of fascinating events in Da¿s time. It describes all the hardships and problems of being a son of a landlord. It truly showed how Communism and Mao¿s actions were corrupt. Kids had ended learning and became lazy, not caring for what kind of future they were going to have. Da Chen creates a colorful story of how hope can be found in the hopeless. The book does have moments where you need to have more explanation. Such as, Da¿s friends disappear without a story to back it up. Events end too short leaving the author questioning what had happened. Although, this book has a rich story line and has interesting facts about life during Mao¿s reign. This book can relate with many people. I recommend this book to those wanting to know more about China¿s culture.

A Book For All

China¿s Son: Growing Up in the Cultural Revolution was written by Da Chen who was born in 1962 his book takes place in the town of Yellow Stone, China. The story is mainly about a young boy who loves education, friends, and most of all, his family. Each thing he loves draws him close to a new hobby or lifestyle. Like his friends for example. His friends love to drink liquor and smoke. In the book though, Da does it anyway and you will see how many others do it in the book too. He like many other characters in the book are not peer pressured. His family works hard and he studies hard with education. Da¿s one major dream is to go either to the Shanghai University or the Beijing University. This book really gives others a feel or image of what rural China can be like. But Da is not just a simple farmer. He displays a strong and pursuing attitude towards things in life, even at such a young age. Throughout the book, you will follow his life story and hopefully connect or think about how you would live f you were in his situation. Everyone in Yellow Stone frowned upon education during the reign of Mao Zedong. Da¿s pursuing attitude and others hate towards him, makes him want to grab that diploma and head off to college. I thought the book was an okay read. In some parts of the book, I liked Da¿s writing style. Some of the parts I thought Da wrote very well and how he developed his characters nicely. For example, the main character Da 'himself' is described as a young boy who does well in school. But, he gets off the path of education sometimes and likes to hang with friends and to gamble with his friends. In addition, if you are looking for a quick book to read in about a week, another advantage to reading this book is that it¿s very short. It only has 25 chapters with 213 pages and the average chapter ranges from 6 to 14 pages. The few but major things that continually bothered me were not that Da¿s plot was good 'which was getting into college and other young teen related issues', but, that sometimes he would be talking about his English teachings with a professor and then in the following chapter, skip to working in the farm or hanging out with friends. For me, it was a major issue, but something that would frustrate me because right when you think something will happen, the next chapter he writes does not reveal it and you must wait until the next two chapters. Another thing that bothered me was how Chen described certain scenes or explained them in a long way. It would sometimes just drag out for me and I almost wanted to skim read a couple sections of some chapters. To summarize, China¿s Son: Growing Up in the Cultural Revolution was a nice read. I would recommend it to teachers and to kids in 8th and 9th grade. I think teachers should put it on their curriculum while studying about China. The kids interested in this book, I suggest you buy a copy and get to know other areas of the world and different lifestyles.

Chinas Son

China¿s Son, written by Da Chen, is an interesting memoir, about a young boy living in Maoist China during the Cultural Revolution. Born to a family of landlords¿, Da had all the odds against him. At first he was a very good student, until suddenly, school became unimportant under the rule of Mao and he decided to ignore his schoolwork altogether. Soon he began hanging out with different kids and doing bad things like smoking, and gambling. Later, after Mao¿s rule, school finally became and, option and he quit hanging around his old friends and started a new, all day study regiment to take a test so he could get into college and become an English major. Finally, when the exam test scores were posted Da actually scored as one of the best in the region and attended the highly honored Beijing University. The plot of this novel is really well written and can really attract a reader. It¿s so descriptive in fact maybe a student somewhere can connect or relate to in their own life really makes the plot so great. The plot is also great because it¿s easy to understand and at times can still be powerful, but still easy to read and understand. Also the dialogue in the memoir is really descriptive and informing. Da Chen did a really good job at describing his homeland of China. I think that the word choice and descriptors gave it a nice feel. Also the way he described his family, friends and ultimately his lifestyle, it gives you a sense of the culture and traditions of Chinese people. It also really helps you learn more history about China, especially about Mao and his views, and you learn first hand one person¿s views and ideas about it, who lived through it and experienced it. The main character Da Chen is a very smart and talented character. Throughout the memoir he grows as a person and realizes what¿s really important in his life and what will help him succeed. At first he was focused on his studies like a young boy should have been, but then he veered off track and made some bad decisions with a group of friends. He gambles, smokes, and causes mischief around his town, and he even stops his schoolwork all together. His parents really take no notice to this so he continues this behavior until Mao dies. Then school becomes almost necessary to prove to his family and untimely his self that he can succeed. This really shows his transition from a child to an adult. He then decides to follow his dream to become an English major, which is the hardest major to achieve and very few people ever do it. And when he succeeds in this goal is when he was his biggest triumph and accomplishment in the entire book.

Not my favorite book

After reading China's Son I was not pleasantly surprised. Although the story had some parts I found very interesting, but , but over all I did not find it grabbing my attention. I would not recommended China's Son to most people because it was not very entertaining. I understand that this was a memoir and it is a true story, but I just found it unbelievably predictable. On more of a positive note I thought that it was interesting learning a little bit about China's culture and its government as well as the life of Da Chen and the many obstacles and hard ships he has had to face. In the story China's son, Da had a lot of ups and downs. Da faced some pretty big challenges through out his life at home but more importantly in school. It was nice to see someone who had so little chance have such a strong desire to improve in everything that he did. I would have to say that there have been many books that I have been told to read in various English classes through out the years and some I have enjoyed very much were as other, not so much. In my opinion I think this book was one of those books you read in school that is not very entertaining and is highly educational, but if one likes those qualities in a book then they would probably enjoy it.

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best autobio ever!!!

i read this book 3 years ago when i was at 4 grade. i still remember it. i couldnt imagine how life was hard at china. Im chinese and i could relate Da Chen with me. its the bet autobio i read so far and i just couldnt stop reading.my dad was yelling at me cuz it was 11:00PM. its the best!!

The greatest Chinese writer ever !

I really enjoyed this book. I've read page after page of Da Chens life and i want more. I just finished his second book 'sound of the River'. And i'm currently looking for his 3 book. I've looked bookstore after book store trying to find the 3 book from the triligy. and I am still looking for his wonderiful writing. I just can't enought of this book. If u can help me please try to send me the 3 book from the triligy and end my search. thank you,

China has much to be proud of with "China's Son"

Da Chen, somehow kept his composure as he suffered horrendous discrimination from other children while attending school. The teachers were even crueler. The one thing that bothers me so much, is that such discrimination and cruelty as witnessed by Da Chen, and millions of other children, could impair and stifle if not totally obliterate such talent as owned by Da Chen. This is why it is so important for Da Chen and hopefully the many other untold stories of such triumphs are told over and over to remind us all how fortunate we are for our own lives. We also stand to learn from Da Chen and others in an effort to understand such struggles and accomplishments under the most difficult times.

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