Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America

Foreword by Janet Yellen Weijian Shan's Out of the Gobi is a powerful memoir and commentary that will be one of the most important books on China of our time, one with the potential to re-shape how Americans view China, and how the Chinese view life in America. Shan, a former hard laborer who is now one of Asia's best-known financiers, is thoughtful, observant, eloquent, and brutally honest, making him well-positioned to tell the story of a life that is a microcosm of modern China, and of how, improbably, that life became intertwined with America. Out of the Gobi draws a vivid picture of the raw human energy and the will to succeed against all odds. Shan only finished elementary school when Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution tore his country apart. He was a witness to the brutality and absurdity of Mao's policies during one of the most tumultuous eras in China's history. Exiled to the Gobi Desert at age 15 and denied schooling for 10 years, he endured untold hardships without ever giving up his dream for an education. Shan's improbable journey, from the Gobi to the "People's Republic of Berkeley" and far beyond, is a uniquely American success story – told with a splash of humor, deep insight and rich and engaging detail. This powerful and personal perspective on China and America will inform Americans' view of China, humanizing the country, while providing a rare view of America from the prism of a keen foreign observer who lived the American dream. Says former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen: "Shan's life provides a demonstration of what is possible when China and the United States come together, even by happenstance. It is not only Shan's personal history that makes this book so interesting but also how the stories of China and America merge in just one moment in time to create an inspired individual so unique and driven, and so representative of the true sprits of both countries."

Table of Contents:
Foreword ix Acknowledgments xi Author's Note xiii Prologue 1 Chapter 1 Man-Made Famine 5 Chapter 2 School Cut Short 21 Chapter 3 Storm of Revolution 35 Chapter 4 Turmoil Under Heaven 53 Chapter 5 Exiled to the Gobi 77 Chapter 6 Digging for Potatoes 93 Chapter 7 War Is Coming 109 Chapter 8 Repairing the Earth 123 Chapter 9 Battling Frozen Lake 137 Chapter 10 The Longest Night 159 Chapter 11 Unforgettable Movie Night 173 Chapter 12 Barefoot Doctor 185 Chapter 13 Brickmaking the Ancient Way 213 Chapter 14 Petition to Mao 237 Chapter 15 Pigs Don't Fly 249 Chapter 16 Half the Sky 267 Chapter 17 Desert Dreams of College 281 Chapter 18 Last Convulsions of the Revolution 305 Chapter 19 Roads to Rome 331 Chapter 20 Old Gold Mountain 345 Chapter 21 The People's Republic of Berkeley 379 Chapter 22 Ivy League Professor 403 Epilogue 437 Index 445

About the Author :
WEIJIAN SHAN is chairman and CEO of PAG, a private equity firm. Prior to PAG, he was a partner at TPG, a private equity firm based in San Francisco, and co-managing partner at TPG Asia (formerly known as Newbridge Capital). He led a number of landmark transactions, including the acquisitions of Korea First Bank and China's Shenzhen Development Bank, both of which made his investors billions of dollars in profits and were made into case studies by Harvard Business School. Previously, Shan was a managing director at JP Morgan, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a farm laborer in China's Gobi Desert. He holds an MA and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from the University of San Francisco. He studied English at Beijing Institute of Foreign Trade (now University of International Business and Economics), where he also taught as a faculty member. He received no formal secondary education.