The Jade Monk - Escape from Nanjing (Paperback)

It is spring, 1949, in Nanjing, China. The capital has just fallen to the Communists. David Armstrong, fifteen year old son of an American Foreign Service officer, lurches to consciousness in a Chinese hospital after a severe bout with malaria. He is alone: his parents forced to leave him behind in the care of Pu, the family's number one boy. This is the story of David's desperate escape across the mainland disguised as a Chinese refugee. He reaches Hong Kong after months of hardship and occasionally comic adventures. Not incidentally, this is the story of David's maturing as he develops courage and applies Yankee ingenuity to his predicaments. Some of his companions include Meilin, a young girl destined to become a guerrilla leader if she can reach Hong Kong; a crafty White Russian count; and however, and exuberant golden retriever pup who managed to escape being eaten during the last bitter days before the collapse of Chiang Kaishek's government. Their transportation is varied: rickshaw; refugee train derailed on route to Shanghai; bamboo raft on the Grand Canal; an American lorry, liberated first by the Communist Army, then by David, and finally a fishing boat attacked by pirates. The sights and sounds -- above all the smells of China -- pervade this story. They were also familiar to the author who was a teenager in Nanjing during the same violent period. Like David she too escaped (but not quite so dramatically) This is a book for all ages but be of great interest for young readers. It is filled with authentic descriptions of China in the late 1940's.