About the Author

JoAnn Wingfield, or Jiang Lan 蓝江, was born in Zhenjiang, a city on the Yangzi River, China, and raised in Shanghai. During Mao’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), she was sent to Inner Mongolia for reeducation as a teenager. She spent 13 years there, at first farming the barren land as a peasant, and later on, earning an undergraduate degree in English and teaching English. In 1986, she came to the United States to pursue graduate studies. She was able to complete a Master’s degree as well as a Ph.D. in the United States despite having almost no secondary education. She had a successful academic career: teaching as a tenured professor, working in executive and leadership positions in various universities, and serving as a board member of several national and international professional organizations. JoAnn retired in 2011 after nine years of caring for her husband during his struggle with Alzheimer's disease. She now lives in Seattle with her two dogs. This is her first non-academic book.