remembering shanghai a memoir of socialites scholars and scoundrels

In a way, the narrative itself performs the quintessence of memory – one does not remember the past as events which unfold in a linear fashion from a ‘beginning’. Despite its chronology, the memoir does not present a linear narrative, but one that remembers the past in dishevelled snippets and fragments.

Structurally, the memoir progresses mostly in chronological order, recounting incidents in the Sun family from Isabel at age 7 to the present day. Born during one of the most tumultuous times in the Chinese history, the young Isabel witnessed the rise of both Chang’s democratic government and Mao’s communist government, the latter contributing to her departure from Shanghai. Though centred around personal events of family members (Taiyeye, Qinpo, DieDie, Muama, Shufen, Virginia), the memoir interweaves the Sun’s domestic history seamlessly with that of the national Chinese. The familiar russet-framed window in the house reminds Isabel of the day that she left Shanghai for Hong Kong, restaging the bizarre feeling of her 18-year-old self watching the house growing smaller and smaller, as things look “so much smaller” now to Isabel at 78. It was the first time in six decades that Isabel, Claire’s mother, had returned to her childhood home. Isabel Sun Chao and Claire Chao, Remembering Shanghai: A Memoir of Socialites, Scholars, and Scoundrels (Plum Brook, 2018), 308pp.ĭocumenting the life of the Sun family across four generations, Isabel’s and Claire’s memoir opens with a retrospective glance at the 1940s Shanghai during their visit in 2008. Chloe Leung reviews a beguiling memoir of Shanghai that spans four generations.

Remembering shanghai a memoir of socialites scholars and scoundrels