Beyond the Moongate
  • Published: 15 March 2013
  • ISBN: 9781770493834
  • Imprint: Tundra Books
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 40
  • RRP: $45.00

Beyond the Moongate

True Stories of 1920s China

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Elizabeth Quan is now 90 years old. In this memoir, she relives two "golden" years she spent in rural China with her family. In the 1920s, they travelled to China from North America, where they experienced a foreign and astonishing world. This story is a first-hand account of a time forever lost to history, about a young North American girl whose immigrant parents want her to learn about her cultural roots. Told in lyrical prose, this is a short biography that explores the impact of immigration through travel, experience, and cultural awakening.

MOONGATES DOTTED THE LANDSCAPE OF OLD CHINA. Ancient Chinese architects had sculpted stone piled on sculpted stone to form round doorways, with the spiritual symbolism of the full moon. To step through one of these doorways was to step into a world of peace and happiness....

And so it was in the 1920s that the Lee King family - father, mother, and six children, aged ten months to seven years - traveled from their home in Canada, across the Pacific Ocean, to inland China. There, they had the opportunity to step beyond the moongate into a land not yet touched by modern warfare or political unrest.

The story of the moongate, tells of the two "golden" years the family spent with Grandmother in a remote village in the south, which hadn't changed for centuries.

Step inside and live the long lazy days of a China forever gone. The moongate beckons....
  • Published: 15 March 2013
  • ISBN: 9781770493834
  • Imprint: Tundra Books
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 40
  • RRP: $45.00
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Also by Elizabeth Quan

Once Upon a Full Moon
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Praise for Beyond the Moongate

Praise for Once Upon a Full Moon also written and illustrated by Elizabeth Quan:

"...a poignant memoir...Quan's vibrant watercolors will help young readers follow the simple but vocabulary-rich text." - The Washington Post Book World

"The watercolor illustrations offer windows on the world as seen through a child's eyes.... A fine memoir for middle-grade students." - Booklist

"Nothing short of enchanting... Quan's eye for the telling detail and her tone of wonder are made manifest not just in her text, but in her watercolours..." - The Globe and Mail

The story is true, and the cultural comments are both accurate and tender. The author's paintings are the highlight and the delight of the book." - Multicultural Review