Escape from China: The Long Journey From Tiananmen to Freedom

When the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations became a bloody massacre, Zhang Boli, a prominent student leader, was placed on China's most wanted list. Of the 21 listed, he is the only one to elude authorities. Escape from China is Zhang's first-person account of his perilous two-year flight from his pursuers, a flight that eventually brought him to America. Fleeing from a regime that had "lost rationality and humanity", he went north--crossing into Russia for a while--relying not only on the kindness of friends, relatives, and strangers, but also on his own ingenuity. He spent months living rough in the harsh, wild, Russian-Chinese border region east of Mongolia. Zhang's narrative is blunt, precise, and commendably modest. Especially compelling are the conversations he had during his odyssey. Much of their power derives from Zhang's rendering--unblinking, no matter how gruff and vulgar. Escape from China is at once an indictment of authoritarianism and a gripping story of hardship, bravery, and determination. --H. O'Billovich