My Sister China

Available for the first time in English translation! My Sister China is a memoir by the renowned scholar Jaroslav Průšek, the first professor of Sinology at Charles University in Prague, recording his stay in China in the 1930s. Průšek was a leading specialist in modern Chinese literature, and especially valuable in this book are several chapters detailing his personal encounters with prominent modern Chinese scholars, writers, and poets Lu Xun, Bing Xin, Shen Congwen, Zheng Zhenduo, and others. The book presents a rare firsthand account from a Westerner who associated with the educated classes and witnessed the literary and social revolution that was taking place in China at the time. This book was written for the general public during the war years, when Czechoslovakia was under Nazi occupation. Between the lines of this unusual memoir, messages of humanity and resistance against war ideology can be clearly heard, bearing witness to Průšek's uncompromising stance during the war and his personal courage in expressing it.