Laments From Leshan

China's Oppressions of the Poor

What does Communism mean in a country that drives poor farmers off their land and restaurant owners into bankruptcy? That takes students out of the classroom and sells them into slavery while their teachers pocket the proceeds?

Abdiel LeRoy is witness to all this as he takes on his second teaching assignment in the western province of Sichuan. Nor is he immune to the oppression himself as a university recruiter hatches schemes of entrapment against him.

Yet there is light amid the darkness in this memoir as he makes friends with one of Sichuan's famed artists, enjoys the attentions of a student named Emma, and joins locals for a swim in the fast-flowing Dadu River.

Laments From Leshan is the second of Abdiel's five Dueling the Dragon memoirs and testifies to the deep corruption and incompetence beneath China's superpower façade. As always, he'll have you laughing between the tears!

"An adventure, a memoir, and certainly one of the more entertaining books about China before us today."
San Francisco Review of Books

"These stories from China are addictive!"

"LeRoy's ability to write so cogently about such AWFUL things and simultaneously give readers a chuckle, is magnificent."

"Wields a wicked and eloquent pen."

"Should be awarded an honorary degree in Anthropology."

"Informative and eye opening."

"Reveals the the dark side of the country."

"The author knows the Chinese better than the Chinese."

"Subverts dominant concepts of China."
Reader reviews

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