Wildflower: An American Daughter , A Chinese Black Bastard

This is an eye-opening and previously untold story of a girl born and raised during a period of great political and social upheaval in 20th century Communist China. Under Dictator Mao Zedong, China divided its citizens into different classes by bloodline. The author describes how she endured hardship and discrimination as a child and chronicles how most of her relatives managed to survive this unimaginable period in history. The latter half of the book relays how the author’s early childhood shaped her coming-of-age in high school during the height of the Cultural Revolution. The book reveals how so many lives were thoroughly disrupted or destroyed by the whims of Dictator Mao. It also describes the daily lives and eventual suffering of the high schoolers during those turbulent times. The author’s schoolmates, known in China as the lost generation , were participants and witnesses of all the chaos. They were also the victims. They lost all hope but had to continue living in a twisted, modern communist yet old feudalistic society. There was no political freedom, and no freedom to even fall in love. It is a fascinating glimpse into a tragic period of 20th century China as lived by real people.Shortly after President Nixon’s visit in 1972 the author was able to leave China and rejoin her parents in America. She went on to receive her BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from UCLA. After graduation in 1982, Dr. Peebles then worked for the Aerospace and Defense Industry in Southern California for the next 30 years. She is now retired and has, at last, fulfilled a long-lasting promise to document her life experience in China during those troubled years.