Trains: A Chinese Family History of Railway Journeys, Exile, and Survival (opens in new tab)

19. My little uncle Lusheng’s youngest son, Congo (thus nicknamed, in those less-informed times, because he was born in 1964 with very dark skin), told me another revealing detail.During a period when Grandpa lived with them in Jiangxi in the 1970s, Uncle Lusheng begged him to give French lessons to Congo: The boy was clever, full of energy and mischief, but he was bored at school. Grandpa refused flatly. Learning a foreign language was useless, and potentially dangerous. The boy should love ...