by Ping Fu
First published 2012
Ping Fu opens her memoir with wisdom from her Shanghai Papa about bamboo's flexibility. Born as China's Cultural Revolution began, she was torn from her family at eight years old. She endured hunger and humiliation while protecting her younger sister from Mao's Red Guard teenagers. Fu survived being a child soldier, factory worker, and political prisoner. She faced beatings and rape simply for being born into an educated family. At twenty-five, she arrived in America with eighty dollars and knew only three English phrases: thank you, hello, and help. She worked as a maid and waitress while studying. Her survival instincts and problem-solving skills led her to computer science. She joined the team that created NCSA Mosaic, which became Netscape and transformed how people access information. Later she founded Geomagic, a company that personalizes prosthetic limbs and repairs NASA spaceships. Fu's journey spans from Mao's anticapitalist China to America's competitive tech startup world. Her story demonstrates how childhood lessons in resilience guided her transformation from prisoner to pioneering entrepreneur.
Genres: historical, business, autobiography, memoir, biography-memoir, entrepreneurship
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, overcoming-adversity, rags-to-riches
Setting: America, China, Shanghai
Period: Cultural Revolution, Mao's China
276 pages · Paperback · Portfolio Penguin
Content warnings: abuse, child-abuse, physical-abuse, sexual-assault