Three-Million-Dollar Messenger

About the Book

Three-Million-Dollar Messenger recounts the true story of a mid-level Chinese bureaucrat who gets swirled up in historic events in China preceding World War II. Sung Chiao Chen’s sparsely but beautifully written memoir tells how he smuggled China’s state seal and three million Chinese dollars past Japanese checkpoints to a key Chinese government agency, as the two countries clashed for control of the Chinese mainland. Mr. Chen’s story unfolds amid a backdrop of a China in transformation and of his own victorious struggle against a life of poverty and lost love.

About the Author

Sung Chiao Chen was a long-time expert on China. Born in southern China, he put himself through school before going to work for China’s salt administration. He later managed the China office of noted Sinologist John Fairbank, who described Mr. Chen in one of his books as “an able fixer (who) was known personally” to China’s premier. Mr. Chen later emigrated to the United States, where he worked as an editor for Voice of America, the U.S. government broadcast service, for three decades, focusing on China. He died in 1986, and is survived by his wife and 10 children.