The Dragon's Pearl: Growing Up Among China's Elite

By Sirin Pathanothai

The author of this autobiography was born into one of Thailand's most privileged families. At eight she moved to Beijing as the ward of Premier Zhou Enlai and witnessed major historical events. During... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671712152
• ISBN13: 9780671712150
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Trade Division)
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

great book

This book showed a new side of communism to me. If you have read books about the life of Mao and his wife, then this is a must read. It is really well written and just shows another side of the story.

One of the most interesting memoirs of the growing up under Mao genre

I read this book back when it first came out and can't believe there are no reviews. There is also no information about this book but, I'm 99% sure it's the one I'm thinking of. I'll do my best. Sirin and her brother are children of the Royal Thai Family. This is a few years back before the war in Vietnam but the tension and pressure to make allegances is beginning to be felt. There is debate among the royals over which superpower to cozy up to; The US or China. Sirin's father favors the Hungry Dragon, China because they are a neighbor and the most powerful in the region, and he feels it will be more beneficial in the long run. As a gesture of goodwill Sirin and her brother, the younger children, are sent to China to be brought up by the Communist leaders, Chairman Mao and Zhou, En Lai. The two of them lead a lonely but elite sheltered life until the Cultural Revolution is launched. Communist leaders turn on each other and foreigners are treated with suspicion and contempt. Sirin and her brother lose their protected status and are sent down to the countryside to shovel pig manure. Eventually Sirin marries a foreigner and gets out of China. This story is so interesting because of Sirin's unusual position, her close relationship with Zhou, En Lai and other top ranking leaders of that era, as well as her perserverance when she goes from royalty to manure shoveling.