Peking Story: The Last Days of Old China (New York Review Books Classics)

For two years before and after the 1948 Communist Revolution, David Kidd lived in Peking, where he married the daughter of an aristocratic Chinese family. "I used to hope," he writes, "that some bright young scholar on a research grant would write about us and our Chinese friends before it was too late and we were all dead and gone, folding into the darkness the wonder that had been our lives." Here Kidd himself brings that wonder to life. David Kidd lived in the city of Peking from 1946 to 1950, and in 1949, when the communists had just come to power, he married the daughter of an aristocratic and wealthy Chinese family and spent the rest of his days in the city living in his wifes family mansion. There he witnessed the disappearance of Ancient China: the revolution quickly suppressed ancient traditions and old forms of life. This book contains his memories from those years: the intimate portrait of an elegant and refined world, of ancient customs, a memorable and moving portrait because the world it describes would be ruthlessly destroyed. David Kidd vivi desde 1946 a 1950 en la ciudad de Pekn, y en 1949, cuando los comunistas acababan de llegar al poder, se cas con la hija de una aristocrtica y acaudalada familia china y pas el tiempo que le restaba en la ciudad instalado en la mansin familiar de su esposa. All se convertira en testigo de la desaparicin de la China milenaria: la revolucin iba a suprimir rpidamente las antiguas tradiciones y las viejas formas de vida. Este libro contiene sus memorias de aquellos aos: el retrato ntimo de un mundo elegante y refinado, de viejas costumbres milenarias, un retrato memorable y conmovedor porque el mundo que se describe iba a ser implacablemente destruido. Dragons, pink babies, and the consular service -- White funeral, white socks -- All the emperor's horses -- Criminals, cadres, and cooks -- Red gates and water devils -- The sea of wisdom -- Silver pins and blood-red skirts -- The ancestors -- Lily -- Dogs, mah-jongg, and Americans -- Houses and people and tables and chairs -- A gift of new vases