"Four Generations"

As the Japanese enter war-torn Peking (Beijing), Lao She is in Chongqing with the many refugees from all over China. He began writing what many consider his best work, a story of life under the Japanese. His book, "Four Generations Under One Roof," recounts a family's reaction and results. It is three books in one in English translated well by Ida Pruitt' 1952 under the title "Yellow Storm." She was Lao She's favorite translator and they worked on parts of it when he was in New York City at the invitation of the U.S. government. One of Ida Pruitt's best books is still in print, Stanford University Press.



Ida Pruitt was the only daughter of Southern Baptist Missionary C.W. Pruitt of Yan'tai, Shandong province, north China. C.W. was a contemporary with the more famous Lottie Moon. Ida was born in China in 1888 and knew the languages and customs as few foreigners. She worked for a time in social work of the most modern Beijing Hospital. The one John D. Rockefeller gave to China.