Beijing Bastard: Into the Wilds of a Changing China - Hardcover

Advance Praise for "Beijing Bastard"

"Val Wang has given us a memoir perfectly suited to the Beijing that she brings to life so well: heedless, pungent, and proudly insubordinate. She is both American and Chinese, fascinated by her ancestors' history and desperate to escape it. Like contemporary China itself, Wang is torn between the aspirations for success, idiosyncrasy, and belonging. A vivid and evocative read."
--Evan Osnos, author of "Age of Ambition"

"Val Wang spins a rollicking tale of misadventure in Beijing, wonderfully engaging, filled with astute observations of modern China, and edged by a sharp wit that left me laughing out loud on the subway even as I concealed a tear at the last page."
--Ann Mah, author of "Kitchen Chinese" and "Mastering the Art of French Eating"

"A spectacular debut by a writer with the most enviable gift a storyteller can have: timing. Like Arthur Phillips' "Prague" and other generation-defining works that capture a fleeting, golden moment in both the lives of a group of expatriates and a larger-than-life place, Val Wang's memoir of Beijing is shot through with insight, beauty, humor and sadness."
--Ben Ryder Howe, author of "My Korean Deli"

"Takes readers effortlessly through the seemingly disparate worlds of a family divided across distance and generations. Wang's Beijing is gritty and bleak but also hopeful and exciting, and her affection for the city is palpable.... A deftly written and entertaining memoir that offers a fresh perspective on contemporary China and the people caught in its rapid transformation."
--"Kirkus Reviews"
Advance Praise for "Beijing Bastard"
"Val Wang has given us a memoir perfectly suited to the Beijing that she brings to life so well: heedless, pungent, and proudly insubordinate. She is both American and Chinese, fascinated by her ancestors' history and desperate to escape it. Like contemporary China itself, Wang is torn between the aspirations for success, idiosyncrasy, and belonging. A vivid and evocative read."
--Evan Osnos, author of "Age of Ambition"
"Val Wang spins a rollicking tale of misadventure in Beijing, wonderfully engaging, filled with astute observations of modern China, and edged by a sharp wit that left me laughing out loud on the subway even as I concealed a tear at the last page."
--Ann Mah, author of "Kitchen Chinese" and "Mastering the Art of French Eating"
"A spectacular debut by a writer with the most enviable gift a storyteller can have: timing. Like Arthur Phillips' "Prague" and other generation-defining works that capture a fleeting, golden moment in both the lives of a group of expatriates and a larger-than-life place, Val Wang's memoir of Beijing is shot through with insight, beauty, humor and sadness."
--Ben Ryder Howe, author of "My Korean Deli"
"Takes readers effortlessly through the seemingly disparate worlds of a family divided across distance and generations. Wang's Beijing is gritty and bleak but also hopeful and exciting, and her affection for the city is palpable.... A deftly written and entertaining memoir that offers a fresh perspective on contemporary China and the people caught in its rapid transformation."
--"Kirkus Reviews"
"Damn, that Val Wang can write real good. I couldn't get enough of her Beijing Bastard. This is the kinda book that makes you want to pack an extra lung and move to China."
--Gary Shteyngart, author of "Absurdistan"

"Val Wang has given us a memoir perfectly suited to the Beijing that she brings to life so well: heedless, pungent, and proudly insubordinate. She is both American and Chinese, fascinated by her ancestors' history and desperate to escape it. Like contemporary China itself, Wang is torn between the aspirations for success, idiosyncrasy, and belonging. A vivid and evocative read."
--Evan Osnos, author of "Age of Ambition"
"Val Wang spins a rollicking tale of misadventure in Beijing, wonderfully engaging, filled with astute observations of modern China, and edged by a sharp wit that left me laughing out loud on the subway even as I concealed a tear at the last page."
--Ann Mah, author of "Kitchen Chinese" and "Mastering the Art of French Eating"
"A spectacular debut by a writer with the most enviable gift a storyteller can have: timing. Like Arthur Phillips' "Prague" and other generation-defining works that capture a fleeting, golden moment in both the lives of a group of expatriates and a larger-than-life place, Val Wang's memoir of Beijing is shot through with insight, beauty, humor and sadness."
--Ben Ryder Howe, author of "My Korean Deli"
"Takes readers effortlessly through the seemingly disparate worlds of a family divided across distance and generations. Wang's Beijing is gritty and bleak but also hopeful and exciting, and her affection for the city is palpable.... A deftly written and entertaining memoir that offers a fresh perspective on contemporary China and the people caught in its rapid transformation."
--"Kirkus Reviews"

A humorous and moving coming-of-age story that brings a unique, not-quite-outsider’s perspective to China’s shift from ancient empire to modern superpower

Raised in a strict Chinese-American household in the suburbs, Val Wang dutifully got good grades, took piano lessons, and performed in a Chinese dance troupeuntil she shaved her head and became a leftist, the stuff of many teenage rebellions. But Val’s true mutiny was when she moved to China, the land her parents had fled before the Communist takeover in 1949.

Val arrives in Beijing in 1998 expecting to find freedom but instead lives in the old city with her traditional relatives, who wake her at dawn with the sound of a state-run television program playing next to her cot, make a running joke of how much she eats, and monitor her every move. But outside, she soon discovers a city rebelling against its roots just as she is, struggling too to find a new, modern identity. Rickshaws make way for taxicabs, skyscrapers replacehutong courtyard houses, and Beijing prepares to make its debut on the world stage with the 2008 Olympics. And in the gritty outskirts of the city where she moves, a thriving avant-garde subculture is making art out of the chaos. Val plunges into the city’s dizzying culture and nightlife and begins shooting a documentary, about a Peking Opera family who is witnessing the death of their traditional art.

Brilliantly observed and winningly told, Beijing Bastard is a compelling story of a young woman finding her place in the world and of China, as its ancient past gives way to a dazzling but uncertain future.