NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2018 BYNew York Times Critics • Wall Street Journal • Kirkus Reviews Christian Science Monitor • San Francisco ChronicleFinalist for the PEN Jacqueline Bograd Weld Biography AwardShortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Book PrizeThe deeply reported story of one indelible family transplanted from rural China to New York City, forging a life between two worlds In 2014, in a snow-covered house in Flushing, Queens, a village revolutionary from Southern China considered his options. Zhuang Liehong was the son of a fisherman, the former owner of a small tea shop, and the spark that had sent his village into an uproar—pitting residents against a corrupt local government. Under the alias Patriot Number One, he had stoked a series of pro-democracy protests, hoping to change his home for the better. Instead, sensing an impending crackdown, Zhuang and his wife, Little Yan, left their infant son with relatives and traveled to America. With few contacts and only a shaky grasp of English, they had to start from scratch.In Patriot Number One, Hilgers follows this dauntless family through a world hidden in plain sight: a byzantine network of employment agencies and language schools, of underground asylum brokers and illegal dormitories that Flushing's Chinese community relies on for survival. As the irrepressibly opinionated Zhuang and the more pragmatic Little Yan pursue legal status and struggle to reunite with their son, we also meet others piecing together a new life in Flushing. Tang, a democracy activist who was caught up in the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, is still dedicated to his cause after more than a decade in exile. Karen, a college graduate whose mother imagined a bold American life for her, works part-time in a nail salon as she attends vocational school, and refuses to look backward.With a novelist's eye for character and detail, Hilgers captures the joys and indignities of building a life in a new country—and the stubborn allure of the American dream.

Patriot number one : a Chinese rebel comes to America

Hilgers, Lauren, author

Obsidian Mysteries

Signet Classics

Broadway Books

N A L

First paperback edition, New York, 2019

United States, United States of America

First edition., New York State, 2018

Reprint, 2019

Apr 09, 2019

Source title: Patriot Number One: A Chinese Rebel Comes to America

Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-324).

In 2014, in a snow-covered house in Flushing, Queens, a village revolutionary from Southern China considered his options. Zhuang Liehong was the son of a fisherman, the former owner of a small tea shop, and the spark that had sent his village into an uproar--pitting residents against a corrupt local government. Under the alias Patriot Number One, he had stoked a series of pro-democracy protests, hoping to change his home for the better. Instead, sensing an impending crackdown, Zhuang and his wife, Little Yan, left their infant son with relatives and traveled to America. With few contacts and only a shaky grasp of English, they had to start from scratch. In Patriot Number One, Hilgers follows this dauntless family through a world hidden in plain sight: a byzantine network of employment agencies and language schools, of underground asylum brokers and illegal dormitories that Flushing's Chinese community relies on for survival. As the irrepressibly opinionated Zhuang and the more pragmatic Little Yan pursue legal status and struggle to reunite with their son, we also meet others piecing together a new life in Flushing. Tang, a democracy activist who was caught up in the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, is still dedicated to his cause after more than a decade in exile. Karen, a college graduate whose mother imagined a bold American life for her, works part-time in a nail salon as she attends vocational school, and refuses to look backward. - Publisher description. Escape -- A fisherman's son -- In Queens -- Work -- The Chairman -- Sanctuary -- Wukan! Wukan! A death -- Little Yan -- Brewing tea -- Fortress besieged -- Paper sons -- Wukan! Wukan! Land and committee -- The moon represents my heart -- Personal shopping -- Strangers -- Services -- Wukan! Wukan! Rule of law -- A man of Wukan -- Dissent -- Politics -- Labors -- Blocking traffic -- Simplicity. Lauren Hilgers. Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-324).

A deeply reported look at the Chinese immigrant community in the United States, casting a new light on what it means to seek the American dream
Nearly three years ago, journalist Lauren Hilgers received an unexpected call. Hello, Lauren! a man shouted in halting Mandarin. We might be seeing you in New York again soon! The voice belonged to Zhuang Liehong, a Chinese man who had been arrested in his home country for leading a string of protests, and whom Hilgers had met the previous year while reporting a story. Despite zero contacts and a shaky grasp of English, Zhuang explained that he and his wife, Little Yan, had a plan to escape from their American tour group and move to Flushing, Queens, to escape persecution back home. A few weeks later, they arrived on Hilgers's doorstep.
With a novelistic eye for character and detail, Hilgers weaves their story with a larger investigation of the Chinese community in Flushing, one of the fastest-growing immigrant enclaves in the US. There's Tang Yuanjun, a former Tiananmen Square leader who has come to terms with living a shadow life in America as his friends and family continue their own in China. And Karen, one of Little Yan's friends from night school, who was kidnapped by her relatives yet remains hopeful, working part-time in a nail salon as she attends vocational school for hotel work.
Patriot Number One is Hilgers's nuanced, through-the-looking-glass story of the twenty-first-century American dream. Zhuang and Little Yan's challenges reveal a world hidden in plain sight: the byzantine network of employment agencies and language schools, of underground banks and illegal dormitories that allow immigrants to survive. Amid a raging immigration debate on the national stage, Hilgers's deeply reported and beautifully wrought account paints a revealing portrait of just what it takes to survive.

324 pages ; 25 cm
"A deeply reported look at the Chinese immigrant community in the United States, casting a new light on what it means to seek the American dream"--
Includes bibliographical references
1. Escape -- 2. A fisherman's son -- 3. Wukan! Wukan! Revolution -- 4. In Queens -- 5. Work -- 6. The Chairman -- 7. Sanctuary -- 8. Wukan! Wukan! A death -- 9. Little Yan -- 10. Brewing tea -- 11. Fortress besieged -- 12. Paper sons -- 13. Wukan! Wukan! Land and committee -- 14. The moon represents my heart -- 15. Personal shopping -- 16. Strangers -- 17. Services -- 18. Wukan! Wukan! Rule of law -- 19. A man of Wukan -- 20. Dissent -- 21. Politics -- 22. Labors -- 23. Blocking traffic -- 24. Simplicity

2023-10-09