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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Did you read any books on China before coming?
I really didn't. My move to China was very sudden. But i recently read Jan Wong's "Red China Blues." Great book about a young, idealistic Chinese- Canadian who was a staunch Maoist in the 70s as a young university student, despite her parents "why they hell would you do that?" Stance. She moves to China in 1972 and is one of the first foreign students to study at Beijing University. She comes in as a Maoist in during the cultural revolution, unbeknownst to her upong the personal approval of Zhou Enlai. She insists on being treated the same as Chinese people so she goes to work camps and everything, even turns in a classmate who expresses an interest in moving to the US.
The book details how she came to China all idealistic and then loses faith and wises up to what is really going on. She leaves China for good in the mid-90s jaded as all hell. Eventually she becomes completely let down with the Party and ends up as a correspondent for the Globe and Mail. Absolutely killer book.
I didn't read any books, but I did read a lot of blogs written by expats already in China. They really helped me prepare my mind a lot and even helped me make a few friends in my local area before I arrived.