Sponsored by: Lois A. Potter Barrister & Solicitor
17 Denise Chong
Denise Chong’s first novel, The Concubine’s Children, is an
enduring Canadian classic. It remained on the Globe & Mail
bestseller list for 93 weeks. Her second book, The Girl In The Picture,
is the story of Kim Phuc, the napalm-burned nine-year-old Vietnamese girl
captured on film fleeing her village. The iconic photograph was
instrumental in turning public opinion against the war in Vietnam. Chong’s
latest book, Egg On Mao (Random House Canada), tells the story of
Lu Decheng who, along with two friends, at the time of the 1989
pro-democracy demonstrations, hurled paint-filled eggs at the portrait of
Mao that dominates Tiananmen Square. The leaders of the movement,
convinced that the three were planted infiltrators, turned them over to
police. They were subsequently handed prison sentences ranging from 16
years to life. Lu Decheng served nine years in appalling conditions but
refused to submit to any attempts to “correct his thinking.” Both Kim
Phuc and Lu Decheng now live in Canada.
Photo: Bill Grimshaw
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