Perspectives on a Country from the Comparative Systems
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For more reviews and a sample read:
Kirkus Review: FROM TEA TO COFFEE | Kirkus Reviews
Goodreads Review: From Tea to Coffee: The Journey of an “Educated Youth” by Cheng Wang | Goodreads
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“In a way, my role in composing this memoir is more like that of a tour guide: revealing and introspecting on the history, landmarks, facts, cultural customs, and, most of all, the people that I have encountered along the way.”
— Cheng Wang, The author
BOOK EXCERPT
From Tea to Coffee is a compelling story of struggle and triumph during China’s cultural and political turmoil from the 1960s to the present. It’s a rare, personal account that takes the reader on a journey to the core of the Chinese culture and offers a close look into the heart of a hidden world, which is still very relevant to us today.
Taking place during the Cultural Revolution, it opens a door to the daily lives of rural China and the transformation of the country and its people in a witty narrative, rich in details. The story follows one man’s personal growth as he left his home and learned to interpret the world and its eras (Feng Qi) from a different point of view.
From Tea to Coffee is an enlightening, heartfelt, and poignant tale of cultural warriors and the battles they fought.
Author (the front-middle). We “Educated Youths” at the swearing-in convention before being sent down.
Author (the first left) boarding the train to TianXi village in Inner Mongolia to receive re-education
From Tea to Coffee | Book Trailer
Professional Literature Reviews For
From Tea To Coffee
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KIRKUS REVIEW on FROM TEA TO COFFEE by Cheng Wang
“A Captivating Account of a Complex Chapter in Chinese History. — Kirkus Reviews
In this debut memoir, Wang recounts life in northeast China during the turbulent years of Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution and his attempts to find purpose in the wake of its disintegration.
Wang’s remembrance is a deeply thoughtful one, communicated in prose full of studious concentration and careful precision. His reflection on the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution on China is well considered and searching, and he exposes the nuanced, myriad ways it left an indelible impact on the tenor of Chinese daily life. “In the post-Mao era, this social rift has grown into a subtler, but more profound phenomenon: aloofness between people. It is present between almost any two people. For instance, when you go to a restaurant in China and the waitress comes to you with a stern face, do not take it personally. Emotional distancing was—and still is—a norm within the country.” His life is both inspiring—he eventually finds success in American corporate life—and cinematically eventful. Swallowed by the forces of history and then unceremoniously spit out, he finds his own destiny.
The best of Wang’s memoir is his consideration of the abrupt shift from one newly adopted cultural identity to another and the subsequent feelings of dislocation and distrust. The author avoids any political proselytizing. In fact, he expresses a respect for the intentions of Mao, however disastrously executed. This is not principally a political tract but rather a personal one, though it deftly raises questions of a grand cultural and historical nature.
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Reviewed by JOEL R. DENNSTEDT – AUTHOR, Nov 11, 2021
Review Rating: 5 Stars
“Actual lives flow more like a gentle stream, as opposed to the torrent experienced for two hours sitting in a theater.”
This quietly potent line from Cheng Wang’s quietly potent memoir, From Tea to Coffee, expresses something quite true about human life. An autobiography is better sipped quietly in later years than drunk boastfully when young. The challenge, however, is to recover that peculiar intensity felt within each prior moment, and to recapture the essence of one’s personal perspective at the time. Cheng Wang – a Chinese youth during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, yet a profoundly insightful observer of his own conditioning, later an accomplished participant in American culture – excels at both. The result is a fascinating piece of literature exploring the vast similarities and differences between peoples divided by more than just an ocean.
Uniquely qualified, Cheng Wang offers penetrating insights and visceral appreciation for two distinctive cultural alternatives. He has lived and imbibed completely the flavors of both. From Tea to Coffee introduces readers to the rarely glimpsed and mostly misunderstood social phenomenon known as The Cultural Revolution – when intellectual grooming was forsaken for the ideals of agrarian inculturation. Contrary to intrinsic Western indoctrination, such grounding was not just a despot’s attempt at political control, but also a profoundly enlightening and practical experience for the young. Perhaps imbalanced, and therefore needing future societal adjustment, the historical transformation did produce individuals like Cheng Wang, who now invests our own understanding of societal imbalance with lessons learned by one who knows. Just so, we become immersed in our own life-altering streams.
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Reviewed By K.C. Finn – author, journalist, educator, Nov 14, 2021
Review Rating: 5 Stars
From Tea to Coffee: The Journey of an Educated Youth is a work of non-fiction in the memoir subgenre. It is suitable for the general reading audience and was penned by author Cheng Wang. The book tells the author’s life story as he experiences life in China under the regime of Chairman Mao, through to his doctorate earned in the USA, leading up to his work to become a published author. Across two continents with vastly different cultures and many years of experiencing both, the author explores some of the compatibilities between the two vast powers and works to answer the question: what’s stopping the two rivals from becoming staunch allies?
This is a highly compelling story of a real person who has been a citizen of two very different cultures in their life. What was most interesting about the writing was that there was a lack of confrontation when discussing the two cultures, which is unusual considering how they are usually depicted in the media as opposing forces in the world. Perhaps it takes the perspective of someone who has actually lived a life in both cultures to notice the similarities and areas of compatibility between the two forces, a perspective that Cheng Wang brings to the table in this thoughtful discussion on his own life and accomplishments. Throughout this book, real credence is given to the idea that these two different nations could have enough common ground to form a powerful friendship. As such, I recommend From Tea to Coffee to any reader with an interest in exploring cultural ideas.
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Reviewed By EMMA MEGAN – AUTHOR, Nov 9, 2021
Review Rating: 5 Stars
From Tea to Coffee: The Journey of an Educated Youth by Cheng Wang is a riveting memoir that recounts the experience of a single “Educated Youth” and his reactions to profound political and cultural changes, differences in time, and the people of all creeds, races, and origins he encountered throughout his life. Cheng Wang recaptures in his memoir the zeitgeist of 1960s and 1970s China when sixteen million “Educated Youths,” including him, were sent to the countryside for re-education. He has put half a century of his life into words to provide remarkable insights into the repercussions of the Cultural Revolution, a peculiar time when knowledge was considered useless, and to describe how his own family was brutally affected by the Cultural Revolution and how his first taste of what a Western economic recession was like, among other things.
From Tea to Coffee: The Journey of an Educated Youth by Cheng Wang is a unique, engaging debut memoir, beautifully written, about the author’s journey from an inexperienced and uneducated young man to becoming a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cincinnati, a Principal Member of Tech Staff at AT&T, and lastly a published author. Cheng Wang writes fondly and with modesty about his personal progress and inner growth while showing why both sides of the Pacific became his home. He is an inspiration as he reveals his thirst to improve his life constantly despite the odds. From Tea to Coffee by Cheng Wang is a moving memoir recounting how the Cultural Revolution changed the author’s life and his family’s lives forever. It’s also a profoundly essential read, very well written by a Chinese American author for the Western readers.
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Reviewed By ARLENE S. BICE – AUTHOR, Oct 18, 2021
The life so far, of Cheng Wang, has traveled a huge distance from his compulsory period of re-education in the sparsely populated, secluded area of Inner Mongolia where he was sent by China’s Chairman Mao plan. He was taught that communism would seize the world by the Great Cultural Revolution. He never learned only what was taught directly to him but an inner sense seemed to guide him to learn what he would need for the next step in his life. He helped others along the way and received much help in return, often from unexpected sources. Life carried him along and he found himself landing on foreign soil in the USA with $200 in his pocket and a goal of graduating the Economics Department at the University of Cincinnati. He gained so much more.
His interesting journey, looking at situations from all sides, recognizing opportunities, working with intensity, and adapting to ways far beyond what his young mind could have imagined has gifted him with goals achieved and still energy to continue his education in life.
I loved reading this book! I respect his openness and willingness to share his thoughts, struggles, and opinions. I certainly enjoyed meeting this author through his words!
PRAISE FOR
From Tea To Coffee
“From Tea to Coffee is the story of struggle and triumph during China’s modern-day cultural and political drama, a rare personal account that showcases the Chinese national psyche.”
— Open Books Publisher
“Cheng Wang’s transformative evolution from young Communist ideologue to astute western observer is a must-read cultural travelogue. His deeply personal story provides remarkable insight into the unique diversity of Chinese and American attitudes and divisions.”
— Don Vaughan, founder, Triangle Association of Freelancers, North Carolina
“From Tea to Coffee is a wonderful exploration of history and a life that has extended across half a century and two continents. For those who believe that East and West can never meet or can only stand in opposition to each other, this memoir offers a beautiful counterpoint. In it we see a clear example of how the two cultures can complement each other perfectly.”
—Bennett R. Coles, award-winning author of six books published through Harper Collins (New York) and Titan Publishing Group (London), and he recently authored Dark Star Rising
The author’s observations about China are extremely interesting to me. It is somewhat sad that Westerners like myself were (and are still) subject to propaganda. Such a narrow and inaccurate point of view, and yet many of us know only what we are told. I think such propaganda has been, and continues to be, one of the most concerning aspects of modern culture.
—David A. Ross, an author, editor and publisher
“From Tea to Coffee is a life journey of powerful personal transformation. Author, Cheng Wang, shares a glimpse into the cultural drama of struggle and triumph from Mao’s time in China to the present-day U.S.A. From an “educated youth” with almost no education in the Mao era to becoming a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Cincinnati and with no English writing education to becoming a published author, Cheng proves that anyone can persevere and overcome whatever obstacles that may stand in your way.”
— Michelle Prince, Best-Selling Author, Performance Publishing Group
www.PerformancePublishingGroup.com
“From working in the field to published author, Cheng Wang shares how he developed his sense of self. He reshaped himself as he broke through barrier after barrier, driving himself to personal improvement and success.”
— Deanna Martinez-Bey, Social media manager, copy editor, and ten-time author
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Cheng Wang
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