NOVATO, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Meet Sonia J. Song and follow her roller-coaster journey from China to America in her newly published memoir, "Donkey Baby: From Beijing to Berkeley and Beyond" (published by AuthorHouse - - http://www.authorhouse.com).
A newborn at the birth of New China during the People's Liberation Army's 1948-49 march, Song was carried to Beijing on a donkey's back. In her showcase boarding kindergarten she sometimes sat on the lap of frequent visitor Ho Chi Minh, and in middle school she marched with Che Guevara through Tiananmen Square.
Daughter of a cabinet minister and thus a communist elite insider, Song saw close-up the intrigue, plotting, and power struggles as the turbulent years unfolded: purges, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and reform attempts. During the red terror she was forced to watch her mother being tortured. While receiving "re-education" in a commune, she treated ailing villagers as a barefoot doctor and later, as a soldier in the People's Liberation Army, swam across the Yangtze with a rifle on her back.
"Donkey Baby" follows her in her studies in England as a government exchange student and her work with the China National Tourism Administration. As a tour guide and later director of international relations, with a United Nations Development Program tour, she trekked Himalayan passes in Tibet and Nepal, savoring a high-altitude romance with her mountaineering French lover. She interpreted for Chinese delegations in meetings with George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.
Pursuing her dream to bring rule of law and due process to China, she came to UC Berkeley as a visiting scholar in 1987 and earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. in comparative legal studies while raising two sons as a single mother.
She refused to back down when the Chinese consulate confiscated her passport for her pro-democracy activities, stood up to an accusation that she was a double agent and survived a frame-up and million-dollar lawsuit. Turning adversity into strength, she founded Human Harmony, the Bay Area's first Chinese-English bilingual mediation service.
"Donkey Baby" is up-to-the-minute timely. Never before have harmonious bilateral relations between the U.S. and China been so crucial. As Song notes: "The U.S. and China, the two superpowers, must lead the world in combating global warming, the worst crisis in history." "Donkey Baby" is a powerful instrument for promoting mutual understanding.
Having experienced first-hand the joys and the pains of both communism and capitalism, Song found new expressions of her idealism in America. Politically active, spiritually grounded, and enjoying soul-satisfying relationships, she lives in Marin County, California, with her husband and teenage son. She offers "Donkey Baby" to her hometown of Beijing on the eve of the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic.
AuthorHouse is the premier book publisher (http://www.authorhouse.com) for emerging, self-published (http://www.authorhouse.com/GetPublished/FAQ.aspx) authors. For more information, please visit http://www.authorhouse.com.
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