The Doctor Who Was Followed By Ghosts: The Family Saga of a Chinese Woman Doctor - ECW Press

The Doctor Who Was Followed By Ghosts: The Family Saga of a Chinese Woman Doctor

Li, Dr. Qunying

$11.95
  • According to Chinese folklore, when his favourite daughter falls ill, Yanwang, the ruler of the underworld, sends his servants to look for a doctor who has as few ghosts as possible following him. This means that he is a better doctor than others, because when a patient dies, the ghost follows and haunts the doctor.

    Li Qunying, a Communist doctor of great dedication, undoubtedly had fewer ghosts behind her. Yet her life was in many ways ill fated, as she struggled through the Anti–Japanese War, the Civil War, the Korean War, the great famine of the early ‘60s and numerous political movements, including the notorious Cultural Revolution. The Great Leap Forward Movement tragically took away her son Bingbing’s life, and the persecution of her husband during the Cultural Revolution took a serious toll on his health, and consequently led to his early death. Besides enduring personal misfortune, she also witnessed the suffering of the peasants, who were the majority of the population at the grass–roots level and whose sorrowful stories have rarely been told.

    This haunting memoir traces all of the major events of brutal twentieth–century China, interweaving eyewitness history, folklore, superstition, and Dr. Li’s own first–hand accounts.

  • Dr. Li Qunying was born in 1926 in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, China. She joined the Communist army in 1945, and became a medic during the Civil War and the Korean War. After leaving the army, she worked as a doctor in various hospitals throughout Shandong Province for many years. After her husband Han Wende was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, she followed him to the countryside where she became a barefoot doctor. She now lives in Jinan, Shandong Province.

    Louis Luping Han is the youngest son of Dr. Li Qunying. He was born in Shandong Province, China and grew up during the Cultural Revolution. He is now living in Vancouver with his wife. He encouraged his mother to recall her past and spent over seven years compiling her memoir.

  • Published: October 2007

    ISBN: 9781550227819

    Dimensions: 6 x 9 in.

    Pages: 296

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