Escape from China: The Long Journey from Tiananmen to Freedom Hardcover - 2002

From the publisher

Who can forget the searing images, telecast around the world, of the brave Chinese students facing the tanks that rolled toward them in Tiananmen Square as they rebelled against their Communist government? After a two-week standoff, the military forces charged in and brutally suppressed the revolt, killing many students and issuing a warrant for the arrest of all responsible for the insurgence.

As one of the top student leaders in the demonstrations at Tiananmen Square, Zhang Boli became even more famous as he managed to evade a ruthless nationwide police manhunt. After two years as a fugitive, he was the only leader who had not been accounted for. Among the twenty-one students placed on the government's most-wanted list, Zhang knew that he would never again be able to live openly in China and that he must bid his beloved country -- as well as his wife and baby daughter -- farewell. In "Escape From China," Zhang Boli tells the fascinating, inspirational story of how he avoided capture and surpassed overwhelming obstacles in his struggle to survive and ultimately find freedom in the West.

Traveling across the frozen terrain of the former Soviet Union, where Russian peasants rescued him, and finding his way through the deserted lands of China's precarious borders, Zhang had little but his extraordinary will to propel him, subsisting for months at a time on the flesh of wild animals. In the course of his long ordeal, he loses his love, finding God and, eventually, freedom.

Although Zhang's incredible journey was filled with many harrowing experiences, he chooses, in this gripping first-person account, to focus on the many kind people who helped him through his darkestdays. A powerful memoir of great drama and historical resonance, "Escape From China" will not only astound you, but renew your faith in humanity and in the power of the human spirit.