In this first-hand account of an early returnee’s life in communist China, Frances Wong relates her personal experiences in China from 1949 to the present, detailing numerous political movements, including the devastating experiences of the Anti-Rightist Movement and the Cultural Revolution. After her husband was labelled a “Rightist,” they were banished to the countryside for eight long years, while their four children were sent to different parts of the country to do manual labor. China Bound and Unbound recounts how one woman’s hope of building a new China gradually turned to disappointment, disillusionment and despair, reflecting the minds of China’s intellectuals at the time.