The Lius of Shanghai

This sharply focused family biography by Cochran (China on the Margins, coauthor) and Hsieh (The Realm of Jade Mountain, coauthor) is based on a trove of correspondence between members of the eponymous Lius, an influential and progressive business family. Using these letters—composed during the tumultuous decades of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s—the authors explore how the interactions among the 12 internationally educated children (nine sons, three daughters) and their parents shed light on everything from domestic matters to contemporaneous social concerns. Topics run the gamut from the Youngest Daughter’s break with Mother (family members are referred to not by name but by position) to the Sixth Son’s heartfelt conversion to Christianity—on account of the “doubt and despair” brought on by the Second Sino-Japanese War—and Father’s musings on the implications of the Communist Revolution. Readers unfamiliar with modern Chinese history will likely feel lost, and the authors’ prose rarely rises above the utilitarian level, but Chinese history scholars (both authors are professors of the subject—Cochran at Cornell University, and Hsieh at Grinnell College) and folks fond of in-depth genealogical studies will find this to be of great interest. 20 photos, 2 maps, and a family tree. (Apr.)