The Book

Song of the Azalea: Memoir of a Chinese Son

A powerful wartime memoir recounts the life of Kenneth Ore, a former Hong Kong underground recruiter for the Chinese Communist Party.

Synopsis

In 1917, Ore’s mother was sold to a wealthy Chinese businessman by her opium-addicted father. Rather than becoming a concubine, she was educated as a doctor and assigned to the man’s oldest son whom she married and bore three children. When the Japanese invaded Hong Kong in 1941, the mother’s courage and skill saved her family.

Having witnessed brutal Japanese occupation and corrupt Kuomintang rule, young Ore joined the covert Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong. While sacrificing his one true love, ballet studies, and career advancement, he recruited impressionable youths into the Communist student movement. He guarded the secret from his parents and siblings until, disillusioned with the Party, he emigrated to Canada to begin the process of rebuilding his life.

Song of the Azalea ranges from a child’s-eye view of war–horrific, poignant and, at times, amusing–to an adult’s personal ordeals mixed with insights about the covert activities of the Chinese Communist Party.

As Hong Kong struggles to find a place in the People’s Republic of China, Ore reflects on his clandestine life and the painful secrets he kept from his beloved mother.

Song of the Azalea: Memoir of a Chinese Son
by Kenneth Ore with Joann Yu
Published by Penguin, April 2005

Available now at www.amazon.ca.

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Explore Song of the Azalea

• Synopsis - book summary
• Reviews
• Table of Contents
• Chapter 1 - read sample chapter
• Listen to Azalea - hear “Song of the Azalea” played with an erhu and piano.
• Song Lyrics - full song lyrics for songs mentioned in the book
• Synopsis in Chinese - book summary in Chinese