Centered around the iconic Yangtze River’s Three Gorges, Polly Shih Brandmeyer’s Sino-Western family stories weave in the history of one of the world’s most important water courses as she retraces her Eurasian grandmother’s unusual origins and her family’s connections to events and characters that helped shape China into the most important country of the 21st century. Most stories live on one side or the other of the East – West divide. Rarely do we encounter stories about people who came together across the divide and whose existence is the result of such cross-cultural exchange.
Polly Shih Brandmeyer 石宝琳 is a New Yorker who started her career on Wall Street, with spells working in London and Hong Kong. She began to ask about her Chinese heritage from a young age, and after a cancer diagnosis in 2003, she set out in earnest to discover her roots and the life of her grandmother whose family disappeared without a trace somewhere in China in the early 20th century.
Upon discovering her grandmother’s secret adoption by one of Britain’s most important river explorers – Captain Cornell Plant, Polly began combing through archives across the globe from New Zealand, England, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Sweden, Taiwan and the United States, looking for family clues.
Her postings include family pictures and memorabilia along with noteworthy photographs, postcards and other items she has collected throughout her journey.
During the course of her investigation, she has given talks, interviews and seminars and has featured in the US, UK and Chinese media talking about her remarkable quest, including BBC Radio, Sinovision, CCTV, ChinaNews Media, Three Gorges Magazine, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society – HK Branch, South China Morning Post and Manchester Museum’s Lee Kai Hung Chinese Culture Gallery.
Polly’s grandparents lived in Xintan, Yichang, Huangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, Kuling, Chongqing, Chengdu and Kunming before moving to New York City in 1948.