Born in Shanghai to Jewish Russian parents who fled the Bolshevik Revolution, Liliane Willens is a “stateless” girl in the world’s most cosmopolitan city. But when the Far East explodes in conflict, the family’s uncertain status puts them at risk of being stranded, or worse. Stateless in Shanghai recounts Willens’ life and trials in a China collapsing under the weight of foreign invaders and civil war.

Who is Liliane Willens?
LILIANE WILLENS was born of Russian parents and raised in the former French Concession of Shanghai where she attended a French lycée. After immigrating to the United States, she received her Ph.D. from Boston University and taught at Boston College and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has published a book on Voltaire and articles on French literature and history. When she moved to Washington, DC she worked for the Agency for International Development and for the Peace Corps. Now retired she gives lectures on China and on Old Shanghai.