Meet my friend Jing Li, author of her beautiful memoir,The Red Sandals, the true story of her brave journey from Chinese peasant girl to the scholastic top of Mao’s communist world so she could realize her dream of eventually coming to the United States, the land of freedom and “31 flavors of ice cream.”

I interviewed Jing and here are her inspiring answers.

What is the message of your new memoir, The Red Sandals? 

Looking back as a Christian now, I truly believe that God had indeed sent a different angel to rescue me at each crucial turning point in my traumatized budding life in communist China, as well as during my years of struggling in America as an adult. It was absolutely by God’s grace that I escaped from the jaws of death five times before I turned age 10, and was able to complete my memoir right before Covid-19 lockdown.

How has your difficult childhood and adolescence made a difference in your adulthood?

Famine and starvation in my growing up years has made me appreciate the food paradise of America; Growing up without indoor plumbing and carrying one bucket of water at a time from outside for drinking and washing has made me appreciate America’s clean safe crystal-clear tap water; And, squatting over a 6-feet deep open manhole in the ground for toilets has made me appreciate America’s clean comfortable flushing toilets with abundant soft, snow-white bathroom tissues;

As offspring to China’s masses of the semi-illiterate, I was denied the privilege to set foot inside Taiyuan city’s only library, which was for the elite intellectuals and communist ruling class only. The depravity fueled my lifelong insatiable desire for books and learning.

My ruthless childhood, however, did shape my hardworking ethics, strong sense of duty and responsibilities, and gifted me with a very useful set of lifelong creative cooking skills from scratch!

Tell us about your husband and daughter. Has knowing about your struggles brought you closer together?

I have no way of knowing if my (ex) husband or daughter knew about my just-published memoir (5/18/2022). For, the idea of writing my memoir didn’t occur to me until after my separation/divorce, and my daughter, an adult on her own.

There was no heart-to-heart communication throughout my marriage for my (ex) husband and daughter to learn anything about my struggles in my childhood and adolescent years.

My married life in China was nothing but in constant surviving mode. We merely existed, like the silent masses of insignificant ants – forever searching for scarcely government rationed foods, loose coal and twigs to keep our brick stove going for cooking and heat. Most of our days were consumed by standing in bread lines for hours at a time, on our bicycles carrying a sack of rationed vegetables or grains. And, there was never a single moment when I could feel emotionally comfortable enough to tell my husband about my harsh growing up years.

What do you want your readers to take away from your memoir for their own lives?

My message for my readers: Keep praying to God for help when things go bad to worse. God knows what’s best for you, even if you don’t understand it at the time.

I’d been praying for God to give me peace, wisdom and strength so I could endure five more years of my chaotic teaching job for a little bit more pension. But God had a much better plan in store for me. He wouldn’t allow me to beat the dead horse wasting my precious five more years. Short-sighted, I didn’t understand God’s perfect plan for me at the time, became devastated and blamed myself a shameful failure for having to take my early retirement with much less money. God then guided me, as I prayed, to work on my dream to become a published author in English, my second language.

What a divine perfect timing it was!

Had I stayed on my chaotic public high school teaching job wasting five more precious years for more money, my author-dream would never have been realized – It’d have been dead on arrival at the beginning of Covid-19 lockdown! For, I’d never have been able to travel all over the Bay Area to attend many writers’ workshops, critique groups, writers’ conferences, Open Mic’s, etc. And, without the insightful, inspiring and healing feedback, as I received from my enthusiastic readers/audiences, I’d never have been able to complete writing my memoir, let alone published!

So, instead of my author-dream arriving dead on the eve of Covid-19 lockdown, I realized my dream by signing the contract with my publisher!

Faith in Lord Jesus. A must.

Thank you, Jing.

Readers, if you’d like to read this beautiful memoir, it is available for purchase on Amazon.com. And to learn more, please visit Jing’s website: https://jinglitheredsandals.com