A politically incorrect memoir
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Description
As China opens itself to the world and undertakes historic economic reforms, a little girl in the southern city of Guangzhou immerses herself in a world of fantasy and foreign influences while grappling with the mundane vagaries of Communist rule. She happily immigrates to Oakland, California, expecting her new life to be far better in all ways than life in China. Instead, she discovers crumbling schools, unsafe streets, and racist people. In the land of the free, she comes of age amid the dysfunction of a city’s brokenness and learns to hate in the shadows of urban decay. This is the incredible story of her journey from China to an American ghetto and how she prevailed.
Praise
“Direct and unvarnished, this book describes the endless possibilities of a free society that allows its citizens to chart their own destiny. Ying Ma takes her readers to dark corners where poverty, crime, and racism reign, all the while reminding us that even amid a sea of hate, individuals can choose to believe in kindness, decency, personal responsibility, and racial equality.”
– Ward Connerly, Founder and President, American Civil Rights Institute, and author, Creating Equal: My Fight Against Race Preferences
“A beautiful account of a young girl’s encounter with the insidiousness of authoritarianism in China and the tragedies of inner-city America. Ying Ma boldly details some of the worst imperfections of American society, all the while showing, with her own example, why freedom is worth choosing.”
– Xiao Qiang, Adjunct Professor, University of California at Berkeley; Founder and Editor-in-Chief, China Digital Times; and prominent Chinese human rights activist
Preview
The following article served as a blueprint for one of the chapters in Chinese Girl in the Ghetto and offers a preview of the China portion of the book.
“China, 1984,” Wall Street Journal Asia, April 25, 2008
The following interview features an extensive discussion of the politically incorrect policy implications of the book and offers a preview of the book’s stories about the brokenness of inner-city America.
Frontpage Magazine Interviews Ying Ma about New Book, April 15, 2011
Reviews, Recommendations and Interviews
Ying Ma spoke to Reason TV about her book, growing up in post-Mao China, experiencing the exhilaration of China’s economic reforms, and why U.S. policymakers are wrong to fawn all over China’s state-centric approach to economic planning. (Watch video here.)
Ying Ma spoke to the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute‘s 2012 Western Women’s Summit at the Reagan Ranch Center about China, economic freedom and her book, Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, April 13, 2012. (To watch the speech, please click here.)
FOX and Friends talks to Ying Ma about her book, government handouts and the immigrant experience, March 29, 2012
Carmichael Presbyterian Church hosts Ying Ma for a book talk about Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, February 25, 2012
The John Batchelor Show hosts Ying Ma for an extensive interview about Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, November 12, 2011.
America’s Morning News, a nationally syndicated morning-drive radio news show, speaks to Ying Ma about the dark side of Chinese state capitalism and Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, November 7, 2011. (Note: The discussion begins at approximately minute 15:46 and ends at 21:00.)
The Young America’s Foundation hosts Ying Ma at the Reagan Ranch Center for a talk about China, state capitalism, the free market, conservatism and Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, October 22, 2011.
FoxNews Radio Station in Minnesota Interviews Ying Ma about Chinese Girl in the Ghetto and China, September 28, 2011. (Note: The discussion begins at minute 14:40 and ends around minute 34:35.)
The Armstrong and Getty Show, one of Northern California’s top morning radio shows, interviews Ying Ma for a full hour about Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, September 14, 2011.
The Armstrong and Getty Show, a top morning radio show in Northern California, interviews Ying Ma about Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, August 16, 2011 (Note: The interview begins at minute 9:40.).
Asian-American blogger reviews Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, August 13, 2011.
National Review Senior Editor Jay Nordlinger recommends Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, July 29, 2011.
Nationally syndicated columnist Mona Charen reviews Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, July 8, 2011 (see review in The Washington Examiner or on National Review Online, RealClearPolitics or Townhall.com).
A National Review Online symposium recommends Chinese Girl in the Ghetto for summer reading, July 1, 2011.
American Renaissance reviews Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, July 2011.
SF Bay Area’s KTSF interviews Ying Ma for Chinese Evening News, April 26, 2011.
The Cornell Review reviews Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, April 14, 2011.
Chinese Internet site Sina.com makes announcement about Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, April 14, 2011.
Veteran White House reporter recommends Chinese Girl in the Ghetto, March 25, 2011.
Any plans for a speaking engagement in Sacramento? After listening to your interview on the Armstrong and Getty radio show, I would be very interested in seeing/listening to you in person.
Hi there, I’ll be giving the keynote address at this conference on Saturday: http://www.norcalwomensconference.com/. Please feel free to sign up if it interests you.
Great interview on A&G. Ditto on local speaking engagements in Sac or Bay Area. Good work.
Really enjoyed the interview on A&G. Enthralling . . . excited to read the book
Many thanks to all for the kind words. I will be giving a book talk on Tuesday, 9/20 in Menlo Park. Please see here for details: http://www.cornellnorcal.com/article.html?aid=606. For announcements of other upcoming book talks, please stay tuned to my Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/ChineseGirlintheGhetto, or my Twitter page, https://twitter.com/GZtoGhetto. Hope to see you guys at some point.
I appreciated listening to you on the Davis and Emmer radio broadcast here in Minnesota. I wish you success with your book.
Bruce Johnson
Eagan, MN
Thank you, Bruce.
When I subscribed to Blockbuster, I watched a half dozen or so movies made in China and I was fascinated by them. My favorite one was about a teacher who came to a small town and fell in love with a girl. I cried at the end because the teacher had died and everyone was grieving the loss of someone whom they had loved and respected so much. This was not a recent movie, but more of a classic. Nevertheless, it showed some of the modernization of China in the cities with the older traditions and way of life in the rural areas.
My own wife is from Japan and so I guess I have an appreciation of Asian cultures and people. I was struck there in Japan how the modern Japan could exist side by side, sometimes, next to humble people toiling in the rice paddies. America is such a relatively young country, but I get the sense that it has been strongly influencing and exporting it’s own culture to the world. In Japan, I would see commercials on the television with a few words of English and Japanese singers doing their best imitation of American pop singers. It seemed so beautiful to me, maybe because I believe that America represents how all of the cultures can come together and blend together as one.
I long for the day when there will be no longer racism nor any other barriers that divide us as brothers and sisters under one God, our Heavenly Parent. Please tell me if you will ever speak in Minnesota.
Thank you for all that you are doing. Perhaps, now, I better buy your book!
Sincerely,
Bruce Johnson
Eagan, MN
Dear Ying Ma;
Do you know where we can find a Chinese version of ‘Chinese Girl in the Ghetto’? We have several Chinese members of the family that would like to read your book.
Thanks very much,
Dave
Dave, thanks for your interest. Unfortunately, the book is not yet available in Chinese. Please feel free to stay tuned to this website or to the book’s Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/ChineseGirlintheGhetto, for news about when a Chinese translation might become available.
Hello Ying Ma,
I have read your book and it is fascinated! I grew up in Guangdong as well; however, as I was born in late 80s, I have experienced something very differently. I saw the golden period where the Chinese economy was booming and people’s material life is getting better and better.
But I am more interested in your youth life in the inner city of American. What strikes me the most is I can feel your anger through the second part of the book. Are you angry at the whole situation that you are in, or specifically the poverty or the discrimination that you have experienced? In fact, what would you address the tension between the two racial communities?
I hope my question is not offensive. I am indeed very interested in this topic! I look forwards an opportunity to meeting you. Would you come to New York City to give a talk? I will pursuit an master at the Columbia University in the coming fall semester and I really hope that I can get a chance to meet you!
Best,
Wenjuan
Dear Wenjuan,
Thank you for your kind note. As you could probably tell from my book, I see Guangzhou as a very special place and I am extremely proud of the role that it has played in China’s epic march toward global integration and market liberalization.
Re: your question about the second half of my book, I think it’s difficult for people who have grown up in inner-city areas not to be bitter about society at large. The key of course is not to let that bitterness eat us alive, and if we’re lucky, we will encounter things or people who will help us learn to unhate. In that regard, I have been quite fortunate in my life. I do believe, however, that the first step toward ending some of the most unfortunate occurrences in the ghetto (e.g., racial discrimination) is to acknowledge that a problem exists. That is something that I have tried to do in my book.
I would be glad to give a talk about my book in NYC. Best of luck to your studies at Columbia.
Ying
I just watched “Joy Luck Club”. Sometimes it was hard to watch, (so sad to see the abuse of women by their husbands) but it also showed so deeply the dynamic of the mother and daughter relationship in the Chinese culture. I don’t know how much of that is “Hollywood”.
Hello Ying Ma. I loved your interview on Armstrong and Getty. I was just wondering. Do you think you might have jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire being that Obamacare has passed?
I too heard your interview on A&G (a recorded session). Although I did not immigrate from China, my grandparents and parents came from an area very close to Guangzhou and ended up living in West Oakland, where my siblings and I were raised. I am eager to read your book!