Shattered China Dream

The author’s great-grandfather was reportedly a British Royal Navy officer posted to Shanghai, China. The Englishman fathered a son with a Chinese woman, who was the author’s grandfather, Charles Pellew. Over the past 100 years, three generations of the family lived in China with an obligation stipulated by Charles to love China. However, they encountered many difficulties and were unfairly treated due to their mixed blood, particularly in the era of Mao. The family was in constant peril, as if on the edge of a precipice. Later, with direct and indirect help from many kind-hearted people, including U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, they were able to leave China. Finally, they settled in Spain and, after great efforts, they established their connections with the Pellew family—an aristocratic family—in England.
After more than 20 years of studying, researching and verifying Chinese Modern History as well as family history, the author tells a true story of three generations living in China using exquisite descriptions. What was the real China really like over the past 100 years? What exactly have millions of ordinary Chinese people experienced there? What was daily life like for those foreigners and their descendants who lived in China from the Opium War to the era of Mao? Readers will be able to obtain the answers to these and many other questions by reading this fascinating book.
In this book, the author offers many precious family pictures and also many pictures of Chinese and international persons related to some of the most important historical affairs of China. The addition of these helps to increase the sense of reality.