China Boy

“What a knockout. An incredibly rich and new voice or American literature… China Boy grabs the reader’s heart and won’t let go… A wonder of a story.”—Amy Tan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club

Kai Ting is the only American-born son of a Shanghai family that fled China during Mao’s revolution. Growing up in a San Francisco multicultural, low-income neighborhood, Kai is caught between two worlds—embracing neither the Chinese nor the American way to life. After his mother’s death, Kai is suddenly plunged into American culture by his stepmother, who tries to erase every vestige of China from the household. Warm, funny and deeply moving, China Boy is an account of how a brave friend on the street and a former pro boxing coach equip Kai to navigate through broken family relationships and the perils of growing up in America to find the triumph and richness of developing a new and complex American identity.