SWIMMING TO FREEDOM by Kent Wong

I have always been interested in books on the average person in China. Their culture is so different from ours, but all people seem to want the same things in life. How they get there is the difference.
This is an extremely moving and personal story of a boy born in China after the second world war. His father worked for the government and the family was moved to Hong Kong when Kent was a small child. They stayed there until they moved back to China during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. His father was a patriot and loved China right or wrong and felt his family should be there.
As Kent matured and became a young man, he realized that Communist China would never give him the life he wanted for himself and his family and something had to be done. He started talking with others and decided to take the chance and flee the country as so many others had.
The story of his escape is heart warming and really shows what the human spirit can accomplish when necessary, especially for freedom.
If you read nothing else in this book, read the Epilogue at the end. It gives you an awfully good look at how blessed we are to live in this country and no matter the politics of the past or future as long as we maintain our freedom, all else is manageable. The book was very uplifting and I loved it. Read it, you will love it.