{"product_id":"wooden-man-stone-heart-by-mr-paul-wah-3665s","title":"Wooden Man Stone Heart by Mr Paul Wah","description":"\u003cp\u003eWooden Man Stone HeartPaul Wah is a 4th generation Chinese New Zealander and this is his story. From a boy working in his parents' fruit shop he became the first ever Chinese to be appointed Principal of a State Secondary School in New Zealand. Paul offers incisive insights into the customs and mores of Chinese immigrants which often made accommodation with local people difficult. He writes of the scourge of gambling that crippled many families and of the insularity that preferred arranged marriages among a small selection of available partners.In Wooden Man Stone Heart he describes the enjoyment and achievements of his teaching career, the strategies he used to overcome entrenched racial discrimination from students, teachers, Boards of Governors and parents and how in mid-life he returned to his Chinese roots and taught English at the Shanghai University of International Studies during 1988-89, a time coincident with cataclysmic student 'freedom and democracy' demonstrations in Beijing and Shanghai. His analysis of the social conditions and forces that gestated the upheaval and the difficulties adapting to life under the ever-watchful eye of a Communist authority makes illuminating reading.Wooden Man Stone Heart will resonate with all New Zealanders.Wooden Man Stone Heart is an absorbing, engaging story of a man who, in spite of hardship and opposition, not only wins professional kudos in his career but also comes to love and respect the culture he once almost rejected. Rene, ONZM, Playwright, Novelist and Nonfiction writer.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Book Express","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41821990027338,"sku":"3665s","price":11.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/9101\/8826\/files\/3665s.jpg?v=1765481345","url":"https:\/\/www.bookexpress.nz\/products\/wooden-man-stone-heart-by-mr-paul-wah-3665s","provider":"Book Express","version":"1.0","type":"link"}