Fiction. Asian & Asian American Studies.

Amid the Cultural Revolution, Nina Huang, one of the sent-down youths, says goodbye to her boyfriend and sneaks across the bay by boat to Hong Kong, where she is granted political asylum. After her subsequent immigration to the U.S. and later to Canada, Nina's employment and education, and her experiences with romantic/sexual relationships, are a radical departure from the moral code she knew in China. Twice during the time she is living in North America, she travels back to China to reunite with her mother as well as friends, and to see how Chinese society and politics are evolving, and she finally decides, as a journalist, to interview and record her contemporaries' experiences of life in China for a Western audience. In doing so, however, as an escaped citizen who has returned with an American passport, Nina puts herself in dangerous situations and finds herself needing to flee from the red terror once again.

All Hail the Brown Elixir of Life