My Chinese Dream: From Red Guard to CEO

This compelling autobiography takes the traditional sent-down-to-the-countryside Chinese Cultural Revolution memoir and turns it on its head. Using years of turmoil and despair during the Cultural Revolution as the launching point for an incredible true story of dedication and single-minded determination against impossible odds, My Chinese Dream is a study in contrasts: a startlingly frank, warts-and-all, rags to riches tale that reveals the excruciating years of mass cultural reform in China in the 1960s and 1970s, while at the same time perfectly capturing the early entrepreneurial spark of the "opening up" period of the early 1980s into the 1990s, when many hard working, forward thinking Chinese businesspeople rewrote the rule book for achieving success within the rigidly defined social structure. This incredible true story is a must-read for anyone interested not only in China, but in entrepreneurship, personal development, and overcoming adversity.

Ping Liu was born in Liaoning province, China, in 1955. When she was fifteen, she was sent to work in a phosphate mine where she became an underground electrician and explosive maker. After graduating from college she became a teacher as well as an interpreter for China's Ministry of Chemical Industry. When she was in her thirties, she joined one of China's largest travel and tourism companies and was heavily involved in professional and cultural exchanges with many foreign companies. Her interpersonal skills would eventually launch her on a solo career as one of China's most successful female entrepreneurs. Today she is CEO of the China Star Group, a private company which is one of China's most successful DMCs (Destination Management Company) and PCOs (Professional Conference Organizer) with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.