INTRODUCTION

"It was random chance that I was born in China to two of Mao’s close followers (1951). And it was providence that I became one of the first 300 or so 'Original Red Guards' of the Great Cultural Revolution (1966). But it was destiny that brought me to the United States of America, as one of the first handfuls of Mainland Chinese students with an unrestricted passport (1979).

"Against this backdrop, I was cast into the role of an unwitting spokesman of China, sometimes as a guest speaker on formal occasions, other times as a sounding board at large. In the case of the latter, many well meaning, yet ill-informed Americans would confront me and bombard: 'What do you think of China’s tyranny government now that you live in America? Do you still believe in Communism since you have tasted freedom and democracy?' . . . Encounters like these prompted me to investigate their source. I began devouring numerous western publications on the Red China Experience, each vividly describing what it meant to live behind the 'Iron Curtain.'

. . .

"Everything has two sides; the myth of Red China and the so-called 'Communism' is no exception. The absence of 'the devil’s advocates,' however, instills in the readers a fear based on incomplete facts and leads them to oversimplified conclusions, thus counter-productive beliefs."

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When Wei Gao left China in 1979 to study at Wesleyan University, he entered a United States still sharply imprinted with the image of an oppressed, red land and voiceless individuals caught in the darkness of Communism. Knowledge of the world behind the Iron Curtain stemmed from Communism’s scarred survivors, whose heart-wrenching accounts invoked poignant memories in Wei as he perused them in his search to understand where and how he stood in the eyes of a land that, though innocently, asked how it felt to finally be free.

And yet, despite the pangs of honest sorrow, Wei found himself conflicted. True, the terror and chaos had been real; but the history of memoirs had only one strong eye to hold as witness and no second to balance its view. The stories of the wronged rang clearly—but are victims always pure? What of the man on the inside, his military son, wife in high ranks serving the nation, daughter empowered by new laws? What of the history beyond these personal perspectives?

Though filled with a wish to give dimensionality to this history of stories, it was years before Wei felt separate enough from those then fresh experiences to justly recount what had happened. His book covers the breadth of time and events from the rise of Mao’s power to post death, building a comprehensive record of a history that includes everything from the most important to minute figures and even the most limitedly known facts, events, and mindsets of Red China and its people. Despite its historical depth, Stone Grace is a work of prose rich with detailed recollections and vivid personalities; at times it is comical and witty, at others moving, and ultimately as fruitful in its scope of human emotion and expression as of the information with which this narrative interweaves. All this culminates in Stone Grace.

Wei Gao now lives in Kansas with his family, a docile horse, and a loving cat.

STONE GRACE, by Wei Gao

Book Length: 421 pages

Book Price: $19.98 per paperback copy, plus Shipping & Handling

STONE GRACE

Copyright © 2004 by Wei Gao and Jenie Gao. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Wei Gao
Distributed by Wei Gao
Cover and book design by Jenie Gao
Typeset by Wei Gao
Edited by Jenie Gao
Illustration of Stone Grace by Wei Gao
Author photograph by Jenie Gao
Printed in the United States of America

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