The Porcelain Thief

When the Japanese army threatened Nanking in 1938, Huan Hsu's great-great grandfather Liu buried the family's precious porcelain and heirlooms in a deep pit before fleeing with five granddaughters. Decades later, journalist Hsu returns to China to uncover the buried treasure and trace his family's story across turbulent decades of history. Blending personal memoir with cultural exploration, this book chronicles both an intimate family mystery and the broader currents of twentieth-century Chinese life.