One In a Billion! A Mans Remarkable Odyssey through Modern-Day China

Greta Nagel called me one day to say she loved my first book, Educating Young Giants: What Kids Learn (And Don’t Learn) in China and America. Would I consider working with MOTAL to create an exhibition based on it? I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into, but I agreed to discuss it with her. I soon became the lead scholar for a remarkable developmental team, and two years later a magnificent traveling exhibition, Two Roads, One Journey, emerged that enthralled visitors as they followed the life of a Chinese and an American 4th grader through a regular school day. Learn about the exhibition!  View the attachment to this email and visit www.motal.org.


During that adventure, I continued exploring young children’s learning in China and also interviewing An Wei, an outspoken Chinese man who began primary school in a poor village the first year of the People’s Republic of China. Driven to understand the complexities of modern China, especially from a rural perspective, I spent hours peppering An Wei with questions about the world he inhabited and the ways he coped. His perseverance and ability to overcome adversity and work toward audacious goals are at the core of my current book, One in a Billion: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey though Modern-Day China.

About the author
Nancy Pine holds a PhD in education and has travelled and studied in rural China for decades. She is one of the leading American experts on Chinese early childhood education. She founded the Bridging Cultures US/China Program and has advised the administration and faculty on China at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles. She was lead scholar for MOTAL’s Two Roads, One Journey development team. Learn More:  https://nancypine.info/

One of the publisher’s descriptions:
This heart-wrenching story immerses readers in the dramatic survival of one outspoken man, An Wei, who illuminates the souls of a billion ordinary Chinese citizens. His perseverance and ability to confront adversity combine with the dramatic events and upheavals in China’s modern history, inspiring a narrative that will keep readers enthralled.
Review:

“In One in a Billion, the complex history of a complex country unrolls with the ease of a deeply textured Chinese scroll. To read this book is to absorb Chinese history through one person’s unforgettable life story.” 
                                                   Val Zavala, KCET award-winning journalist