Emily Wu (巫一毛 Wu Yimao), born 3 June 1958 in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, is a Chinese-American writer whose short stories have appeared in magazines and newspapers, and in an anthology of poetry and prose. She went to the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

in 1981 and has a Bachelor of Arts in English from

Notre Dame de Namur University Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) is a private Catholic university in Belmont, California. It is the third oldest college in California and the first college in the state authorized to grant the baccalaureate degree to women. In 2021, the ...

(formerly called College of Notre Dame) in Belmont, California, and an MBA from

Golden Gate University Golden Gate University (GGU or Golden Gate) is a private university in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1901, GGU specializes in educating professionals through its schools of law, business, taxation, and accounting. The university offers s ...

in San Francisco, California. In 2006 she published a memoir, ''Feather in the Storm: A Childhood Lost in Chaos'' (Pantheon, Random House) telling her story of growing up in China in a "black" (rightist) family during the Great Leap Forward and the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

. The book has been translated into German, French, Thai, Polish, Czech, Finnish, Chinese, Danish, and Hungarian. The book is a counterpart to the memoir written by her father, the well known translator and writer Wu Ningkun, who was denounced as an ultra-rightist during the late '50s. Emily Wu is also a featured subject, together with Shi Tianjian and Yan Yunxiang, in Chris Billing's 2005 documentary
Up to the Mountain, Down to the Village
'. From 1968 onwards more than 17 million high school students and young adults were sent "up to the mountain, down to the village" (上山下乡 shang shan, xia xiang) to "learn from the peasants." In the documentary three of those youngsters revisit the remote villages to which they were sent thirty years ago.

References

External links

*
Feather in the Storm: A Childhood Lost in Chaos, by Emily Wu and Larry Engelmann, New York 2006Feather in the Storm at AmazonWu Yimao's writings at the Independent Chinese PEN CenterChris Billing's documentary "Up to the Mountain, Down to the Village"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Emily American writers of Chinese descent Chinese dissidents Chinese emigrants to the United States Living people 1958 births Notre Dame de Namur University alumni Golden Gate University alumni