Last Boat Out of Shanghai

Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution by Helen Zia, Ballantine Books, 2019. 

Timeline

1927: Kuo Min Tang (Nationalists) White Terror

1931: Japan invades Manchuria

1932: First Japanese attack on Shanghai

1937: Second Japanese attack on Shanghai

1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

1943: Foreign nations (WWII Allies) in Shanghai are imprisoned

1943: Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 repealed (United States)

1945: Japan surrenders

1945: Kuo Min Tang takes control of Taiwan from the Japanese

1947: Taiwanese uprising against Kuo Min Tang

1949: Communists win the civil war

Children's Stories

The author follows several children during the period of the Japanese invasion and the Chinese Civil War. When Shanghai was under Japanese control, many Chinese citizens collaborated with the Japanese. Many Shanghai Chinese committed suicide when the Peoples Liberation Army took over Shanghai. And many Chinese fled from Shanghai to various places:

• Hong Kong

• Macao

• Taiwan

• Singapore

• Malaysia

• Philippines

• United States

• United Kingdom