He is one of the world’s most successful financiers, and a pioneer in private equity investing in Asia. But Weijian Shan is also the author of the most compelling and powerful personal history to emerge from China in years. Out of the Gobi is the story of Shan’s exile to the Gobi Desert at age 15, and the trauma he and so many others endured during the turmoil of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. It is also a profound chapter-by-chapter history and commentary on the modern China, one with the potential to reshape how Americans view China, and how the United States looks from the perspective of the other side of the world. Shan’s improbable journey, from the People’s Republic of China to the “People’s Republic of Berkeley” and beyond, is also a uniquely American success story.

Says former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen: “Shan’s life provides a demonstration of what is possible when China and the United States come together, even by happenstance. It is not only Shan’s personal history that makes this book so interesting but also how the stories of China and America merge in just one moment in time to create an inspired individual so unique and driven, and so representative of the true sprits of both countries.”

Join Weijian Shan and New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Tom Friedman for a conversation about China then, China now, and about one man’s remarkable odyssey.

Weijian Shan is Chairman and CEO of PAG, one of the largest private equity firms in Asia. Previously, he was a partner of TPG, a private equity firm based in San Francisco, and co-managing partner of TPG Asia (formerly known as Newbridge Capital).

Tom Friedman, an internationally renowned author, reporter, and columnist, is a foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times. He has written several books on globalization, including The World is Flat and The Lexus and the Olive Tree.

Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America by Weijian Shan can be pre-ordered at the Asia Store or through the Asia Store website.

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This program is made possible through the generous support of J. P. Morgan.