THE CHINA CLOUD

by William L. & Sam Summerlin Ryan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 1968

What might have been an interesting footnote to the history of Chinese development of nuclear weapons is rendered with shrill longwindedness in this chronicle of Chinese scientists trained in the U.S. who returned to Communist China in the fifties. The case of H. S. Tsien, a particularly brilliant physicist, is reconstructed at length. Tsien was a naively apolitical friend of certain Cal Tech colleagues; they turned out to be Communists; he was in effect deported, after vain efforts to leave because he was oppressed by the anti-Oriental climate, McCarthyism, and the possibility of being asked to build weapons to kill his countrymen. The authors deplore the witchhunting, and even more, the government's stupidity in allowing key brainpower to escape. (Others among the eighty-odd included Chao Chung-yao, Hsiao Chien and ""Jimmy"" Chien). The latter portion of the book reveals practically nothing about Chinese scientific development, instead dwelling on the more lurid aspects of the Cultural Revolution. Slight audience or appeal.

Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION