Riding with the Wind: Three Generations of My Family in China

In Riding with the Wind, Fay Hoh Yin paints an indelible portrait of three generations of her family in China as the imperial era ends and war with Japan begins. Her parents are among the first young people to escape the archaic traditions of foot binding and arranged marriage, then use their newfound freedom to study in the West. They return home in the early 1920s to become pioneering educators and proponents of physical fitness and sports. In lyrical prose, the author recalls scenes from her improbably happy childhood amid bombs and atrocities.

Yin later comes to the U.S. herself, marries a fellow foreign student, and starts a family. Tragically, she loses her husband at age thirty-seven, but forges a unique partnership with her widowed mother-in-law that far outlasts either of their marriages. Yin's stories of daring, hardship, and perseverance are deeply personal, yet illuminate the changing roles of women as modern China emerges in the 20th century.