A Tiger's Heart: The Story of a Modern Chinese Woman

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A Tiger's Heart: The Story of a Modern Chinese Woman Pub. Date: 7/1/2009 Publisher: Soho Press, Incorporated

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Overview

"Like a suspense novel, this book is impossible to put down. All readers interested in China, as well as memoir fans (especially of success stories), must read this astonishing title."--Library Journal (Starred Review)

“In Aisling Juanjuan Shen’s remarkable and assured memoir, a peasant girl born to illiterate parents and bleak prospects rises to prominence as the first person in her village to graduate college. Determined to escape the trappings of rural village life, she leaves the stability of a government-assigned teaching post behind and bravely ventures to the south in search of wealth and happiness. Shen offers a brutally honest and vivid portrait of the early days of China’s economic boom, the fascinating interplay between the provinces, the lives of those who leave and those who remain behind, and the cost of abandoning tradition for the promise of prosperity.”—Felicia C. Sullivan, The Sky Isn’t Visible from Here

“A brave and honest tale of one woman's struggle to overcome her circumstances and triumph against all odds.”—Alison Weaver, Gone to the Crazies: A Memoir

Aisling Juanjuan Shen was born to illiterate peasants in a tiny rice-farming hamlet in China’s Yangtze Delta in 1974. Pronounced useless by her parents because she wasn’t good at planting rice, she became the first person from her village ever to attend college. After graduating from teachers college, she was assigned by the government to a remote and low-paying teaching job that she was expected to hold for the rest of her life. Deeply dissatisfied, she bought her way out of her secure government job and left for the special economic zones of southern China in search of happiness and success in the business world.

A Tiger’s Heart chronicles Aisling's rise from poverty in the rice fields of rural China to a successful career in business in the early days of the country’s economic boom, illustrating the massive economic and social changes that have taken place in China over the past several decades. Her story is emblematic of a new generation of Chinese women who are leaving the rice paddies and government jobs in order to enter the free market and determine the course of their own lives.

Aisling Juanjuan Shen worked as a teacher, saleswoman, and translator in China before immigrating to the United States in 2000. In 2005 she graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College; she currently works for an investment management firm in Boston. Excerpts of A Tiger’s Heart have appeared in Pindeldyboz and H.O.W.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

This unflinching, unapologetic Cinderella story from Chinese immigrant and businesswoman Shen will bring perspective and understanding to readers puzzling over the long history and rapid modernization of China. Born in China's Yangtze River Delta, a desperately poor area where a child's worth is determined by the speed with which he or she can plant rice, Shen found solace in schoolwork while dreaming of a better life. In 1991, days before her 17th birthday, Shen became the first person ever to leave her hamlet for college; as a college student, she was "one of God's superior children", guaranteed a job for life. What seems to be the answer to her prayers, however, is just the beginning of a long and troubling journey; ahead of her are challenges including a bleak period of homelessness, poor health, lice infestation, and eventual salvation via the Internet and an ambitious Amway representative. Shen's patient delivery and exquisite eye for detail provide a vivid look into modern Chinese life, but she wraps up her story much too quickly, suggesting that she has a sequel in mind.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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From The Critics

In her prolog, Shen immediately hooks readers by sharing her thoughts during a business meeting with a man who had appeared on the cover of Forbes: just ten years before, she was homeless and wandering from city to city in China. She had been abused by her parents, who were illiterate peasants, and ostracized by her neighbors. She was also clever and fearless, telling a job interviewer in China who offered her three months to learn Cantonese that she'd need only two! Eventually, as her epilog reveals, she married an American she had met on the Internet, moved to the United States, graduated from Wellesley College, and began this memoir. Her riveting story is peppered with realities like lice, prostitution, abortion, and men literally using women in every way imaginable. As she shows, she also took advantage of people who saw her potential and helped her when she was most desperate. Like a suspense novel, this book is impossible to put down. All readers interested in China, as well as memoir fans (especially of success stories), must read this astonishing title.
—Susan G. Baird

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781569475867
Publisher: Soho Press, Incorporated
Publication date: 7/1/2009
Pages: 320
Sales rank: 1,156,304
Product dimensions: 5.90 (w) x 8.20 (h) x 1.10 (d)

Meet the Author

Aisling Juanjuan Shen worked as a teacher, saleswoman, and translator in China before immigrating to the United States in 2000. In 2005 she graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College. She currently works for an investment management firm in Boston.

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redreader

Posted September 12, 2009

The Continuing Struggle for Women in China

Juanjuan Shen's inspiring autobiography brought me through to the end of a century of women's struggles to survive and achieve in China. Having survived a difficult childhood in rural China, Juanjuan manages to break free through her move to a large city, and finally to the United States. Her accounts of mistreatment, brutality, and how she had to challenge the government in order to find freedom are difficult to read, but compelling. Even at the cusp of the 21st century, women in China still faced many challenges in their quest for equality and respect. A very honest and poignant read that complemented books that I have read by other Chinese authors.
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peony1977

Posted July 29, 2009

more from this reviewer

Shocking and a Great Read!

With brutal honesty and candor, Shen describes her rise from poverty and childhood abuse to the status of a self-assured and successful business woman in China. Interspersed with dark sense of humor and culturally insightful similes, The Tiger's Heart offers a rare glimpse into the realities of a young woman born into China's lowest class, but burning with determination to raise to the top. The author refrains from self-pity and candidly shares the difficult choices, not always 'proper' or 'moral' by the standards of those who never had to face similar adversity, that she took in order to survive and get ahead. What she doesn't realize, but what becomes apparent between the lines, is that her choices also required an immense measure of courage and perseverance. Shen's is an astonishing story of survival that simultaneously sheds light on a rarely seen face of China, that of rural illiteracy and poverty, corruption in business and male advantage. This is an unusual opportunity to dive into the soul of, if not a whole nation, then at least one large segment of a nation.
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Anonymous

Posted March 30, 2010

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