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      • American Samoa

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      • Australia
      • Azerbaijan
      • Bahrain
      • Bangladesh

      • Bhutan

      • Brunei

      • Cambodia

      • Central Asia
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      • East Asia
      • East Timor
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      • French Polynesia

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      • Indonesia
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Israel
      • Japan
      • Jordan
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      • Kiribati
      • Kuwait

      • Kyrgyzstan
      • Laos
      • Lebanon
      • Macau
      • Malaysia
      • Maldives
      • Marshall Islands
      • Micronesia

      • Mongolia

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      • Myanmar

      • Nauru

      • Nepal

      • New Caledonia

      • New Zealand

      • Niue
      • North Korea

      • Northern Marianas
      • Oceania
      • Oman

      • Pakistan

      • Palau
      • Palestine

      • Papua New Guinea
      • Philippines
      • Qatar

      • Samoa
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Singapore

      • Solomon Islands

    • Column Four
      • South Asia
      • Southeast Asia
      • South Korea
      • Sri Lanka
      • Syria
      • Taiwan
      • Tajikistan
      • Thailand
      • Tibet
      • Tokelau
      • Tonga
      • Turkey

      • Turkmenistan

      • Tuvalu
      • United Arab Emirates
      • Uzbekistan
      • Vanuatu
      • Vietnam
      • Wallis and Futuna
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Asia Abridged Podcast: Remembering China's Cultural Revolution

February 15th, 2019
Weijian Shan talks about his experience in China's Cultural Revolution

Weijian Shan describes his experience as a teenager during China's Cultural Revolution at Asia Society on January 16, 2019. (Elsa Ruiz/Asia Society)

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Today, Weijian Shan is known as one of the world's most successful financiers and a pioneer in private equity. But as a teenager during China's Cultural Revolution, he was dispatched along with millions of other youths to the countryside, where he toiled in the remote Gobi Desert and participated in the era's Maoist political campaigns. 

Shan recounts his youthful experience, and eventual arrival in the United States, in a new memoir entitled Out of the Gobi: China, the U.S., and One Man's Remarkable Odyssey. In this episode of the Asia Abridged podcast, drawn from a conversation at Asia Society between Shan and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, the financier describes his incredible life story.

Read an excerpt of Shan's memoir here and watch the full video of his appearance at Asia Society below.

 

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About the Author

Profile picture for user Matt Schiavenza

Matt Schiavenza is the Assistant Director of Content at Asia Society. His work has appeared at The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, The New Republic, Fortune, and strategy + business among other publications.

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