Description
2022 International Book Awards Winner in History: General
2022 IPPY Awards Silver Winner in Autobiography II (Coming of Age/Family)
2021 CIBA Harvey Book Award Finalist
2021 CIBA Nellie Bly Book Award First Place Winner
“Dori Jones Yang has given us two wonderful, East-West coming-of-age stories for the price of one: China’s metamorphosis from poor Communist backwater to quasi-capitalist powerhouse, and her own journey from rookie reporter in the male-dominated world of business journalism to respected foreign correspondent. Both tales come with their share of great leaps forward and troubling setbacks. This chronicle of her two love affairs―with China and with a very special Chinese man―and her steely determination to succeed not only as a professional, but as a colleague, wife, mother, and stepmother, make for an inspirational and rewarding read.”
―Scott D. Seligman, author of The Third Degree: The Triple Murder That Shook Washington and Changed American Criminal Justice
“Captivating! At the onset of China’s embrace of a new openness, the author lands her dream job as a correspondent in Hong Kong covering China for a leading business journal. A pioneering female foreign correspondent, she captures the story of a young gal finding her way―as a journalist and as a woman. Her evolution intersects with dynamic world events, resulting in a mesmerizing tale of personal struggle, vibrant history, and real guts. A remarkable story!”
―Marianne Lile, author of Stepmother: A Memoir
“Dori Jones Yang enfolds us in her frank personal story and the saga of a China just opening its gates to the ‘outside world’ . . . Americans of Yang’s generation in the China field are sure to be swept by nostalgia and vivid reminiscence. Younger readers will see today’s China more clearly after they ingest this saga of opportunity, challenge, frustration, reward, and tenacious love. As America’s relations with China stumble today, looking back to the decade of Yang’s encounter with China is more important than ever.”
―Robert A. Kapp, former president, US-China Business Council
“When the Red Gates Opened is a riveting, insightful, personal account of a pivotal moment in history: the critical years when China, after alternately starving and stifling its population for decades, began moving toward a more open, market-oriented economy . . . Dori Jones Yang, among the handful of foreign correspondents then who spoke fluent Mandarin, set out to find out for herself, talking to hundreds of people in China and Hong Kong. Today, as China increasingly flexes its muscles on the world stage, this book provides a nuanced understanding of the challenges and promises presented by a complex global power that thinks and operates in ways so different from us.”
―Leslie Helm, author of Yokohama Yankee, My Family’s Five Generations as Outsiders in Japan
“This is a beautifully crafted, intimately written memoir of a young woman from Ohio who became a true rarity―a female foreign correspondent covering the vast economic changes in China in the 1980s. Dori’s journey is one you will want to take yourself.”
―Bruce Nussbaum, author of Creative Intelligence
“Dori Jones Yang beautifully conveys her deep respect for China and its culture―through experiences that included falling in love with a Chinese man and his extended family, as well as navigating issues of marriage and motherhood as a working woman in the 1980s. She gives us a rare inside look into China from the 1980s to today as she comes to squarely stand in two cultures―both American and Chinese.”
―Juliet Cutler, author of Among the Maasai
“Foreign correspondent and memoirist Dori Jones Yang offers a charming cross-cultural love story that fascinates as it educates. When the Red Gates Opened offers intimate and original insights into China, a country often misunderstood, once stumbling to open to the outside―and now a world superpower. On her journey, we, too, find promise, disillusion, and hope.”
―Brenda Peterson, author of Your Life is a Book: How to Craft and Publish Your Memoir
