Sonia J Song

Refired in Paradise Sonia J Song

A sequel to her memoir, Donkey Baby - from Beijing to Berkeley and Beyond, Refired in Paradise is a continuation of Sonia Song's incredible life story, told in unique free style. Born in Northwest China, Sonia was carried to Beijing on the back of a donkey on the march with the People's Liberation Army. A contemporary of the newly established People's Republic for over 30 years, she experienced China's ups and downs with her veteran communist family, as a living witness of the purges, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the reform efforts after Mao's death. Sonia came to the U. S. in 1987 to attend law school at UC Berkeley. Because of her pro-democracy activities on campus during the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Chinese Consulate confiscated her passport. Thereafter she worked with several law firms in San Francisco, raised two sons, and founded the first English-Chinese bilingual mediation service in the Bay Area. She became a U. S. citizen and returned to China in 2010, where she worked for three years, first for two American non-profit legal organizations' offices in Beijing, then as Officer-in-Charge of the United Nation Volunteers China Office.