Hostage in Peking Plus 2008 [Paperback]

Graphic and moving tribute to the survival of the human spirit under the most inhumane conditions - Belfast Telegraph. Anthony Grey's story makes the grass grow greener - vivid and moving - Sunday Express. A book, in short, about a singular triumph of mind, one not to be missed - The Observer. A fascinating modern addition to the world library of historic prison stories - The Sunday Times.

Peking, 18 August 1967: With many foreign embassies already battered and defaced in a wave of mindless xenophobia, a frenzied mob invades the home of the only British journalist in China at midnight, yelling: 'Hang Grey! Hang Grey!' Then instead of lynching him, they hang his cat in his face and hold him hostage in total isolation for 2 years. Beijing, 8 August 2008: Athletes and spectators from all the countries of the world gather for the planet's greatest four-yearly festival of friendship and peaceful rivalry - the Olympic Games. To this account of a harrowing ordeal which symbolises the troubled China of the late 1960s, Anthony Grey now adds his personal insights into how much the world's most populous country has changed since then -- and how his own life has also been profoundly altered and influenced by his China experience.

Anthony Grey became a foreign correspondent with Reuters after beginning a career in provincial journalism first in Scotland, then in Norfolk where he was born and educated. He reported on the Cold War from East Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Budapest, Sophia and Bucharest for two years before being assigned to China in early 1967 to cover the Cultural Revolution. He was then the only British journalist resident in the Chinese capital and in the high summer of that year, through no fault or merit of his own, he became the focus of worldwide headlines when he was seized as a hostage by Mao Tse-tungs's Red Guards. He became the most publicised western prisoner of the Cold War era and the first international political hostage of modern times. Following his release, he went on to establish himself as a radio and television broadcaster and a best-selling international historical novelist, focussing mainly but not exclusively on the Far East.