'A son is very important in Chinese society,' he had said. 'To lose one is careless. The ancestors would be angry.'

Intrigued by stories of a son given away by Mao and his then-wife during the Long March, and mystified by the ‘official’ explanation of the boy’s fate (Whereabouts unknown - No further information available), Richard Loseby sets out alone across China in search of answers.

Tracing Mao’s own revolutionary journey, the author encounters the extraordinary realities of a new revolution, one that is transforming an ancient culture into a modern economic powerhouse.

At the heart of the journey is the hunt for an elusive truth about a brutal and traumatic time in the nation’s still raw history. Who was that abandoned boy? Might he still be alive? Would he even want to be found?

The result is an amazing traveller’s tale – revealing, poignant, funny, sad and unexpected at every turn. A Boy of China takes the reader on an unforgettable journey that is at once intimate and epic.

About the Author
Richard Loseby was born in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea in 1963. He grew up in Australia before moving to New Zealand at the age of eight. In 1980 he ventured into advertising as a copywriter, working in London from 1985 to 1993 before returning to Auckland where he now works at major agency Ogilvy & Mather. He has two previously published and acclaimed travel books. Richard is married with two children.