On Tuesday, October 25, 2022, Professor Zhuqing Li (Brown University) joined UW’s China Studies and Taiwan Studies Programs for a Book Talk discussing her recent publication – Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden: Two Sisters Separated by China’s Civil War.
Professor Li shared her journey in trying to understand and reconstruct the near-century-long-lives of her two maternal aunts. Accidentally separated when China split in 1949, the two sisters, new college graduates at the time, refused to submit to the random power of history and fought their way to the elite echelons of the societies on the two sides of divided China. One became a successful capitalist and a devout Christian in Taiwan and later in America, and the other became a celebrated OB/GYN doctor in China and a dedicated Communist. In the end, however, the valiant efforts that had brought them success proved inadequate in finding a true reconciliation at their reunion after 33 years of complete separation.
Introductions: 00:00-01:10
Book Talk: 01:10-45:55
Q&A: 45:55-End