Overview

"""In 1972, President Richard Nixon visited China, bringing hope to Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins that she might someday be able to return to America and see her adoptive parents again. But the Cultural Revolution was still wracking the country, and Jean's troubles were only growing as she faced endless hardships and indignities. Finally there was a breath of fresh air as Western delegations began visiting China and Jean was invited to interpret for their conferences. She even served as interpreter for Communist Party Chairman Hua Kuo-Feng. The Westerners she encountered were drawn to this demure doctor who spoke fluent American English and her stories of being raised in rural China by Connecticut missionaries and going to high school in New York. One New England physician offered to help her get to America. In 1980, Jean's dream came true and she and her teenage son were among the earliest post-Mao émigrés from China to the United States. But her struggle didn't end there. In spite of all she had endured, America did not embrace her. And Jean had to work for eighteen more years to overcome bureaucratic impenetrability and outright racism before becoming an American citizen. Yet through it all, Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins never abandoned her ideal of America as the shining city on the hill."""

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9789888769711

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The remarkable life of a Chinese girl who, adopted by Western missionaries, is torn between China and America at a time of war, revolution, and global tectonics. Well-told by her son through her vivid memories and family tales. - Helen Zia, author of Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution A book you cannot put down until you come to the end, and not even then. - Margaret Sun, author of Betwixt and Between: A Memoir of New China Spring Flower is an epic story of one family's survival in China in the 1950s, 60s and 70s when the country lurched from the economic upheaval of the Great Leap Forward only to end up tearing itself apart during the Culture Revolution. Dr. Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins gives us a deeply moving memoir of what it was like to be a physician, a wife, and a mother (of a child with cerebral palsy) during those tumultuous years. Her life is an outstanding portrait of resilience, hope and love that shines like a lamp through some of the most dim and brutal periods of modern Chinese history. - Simon Chao-Johnston, author of House of Daughters Spring Flower: Facing the Red Storm l951-l970 is a unique trilogy by Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins, MD, edited by her son Richard Perkins Hsung. With her remarkable recall and skill as a writer, the author portrays her life in China with vivid descriptions that transport the reader into the immediacy of the scenes: how she and her family survived floods, wars, famines, and the infamous, chaotic period of the Cultural Revolution. As a doctor, both she and her agronomist husband were targeted by the Red Guards; she was sent to a rural re-education program whereas he survived years in a hard labor camp. Amidst a life of ceaseless hardship, Dr. Perkins raised two children, one handicapped, while continuing to practice ophthalmology against all odds. Spring Flower is an extraordinary book, a powerful narrative about an exceptional life. Deeply human and heart-rending, the book is above all a testament to courage - an inspiring story that deserves wide recognition. - Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle, author of Aging with Wisdom: Reflections, Stories, & Teachings and Ten Thousand Joys & Ten Thousand Sorrows: A Couple's Journey Through Alzheimer's

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