This action-packed true story begins as a privileged boy is born in Hong Kong. He is the son of a Danish "Taipan," whose family has links with the Far East going back generations. The book chronicles John Jessen's early life in Hong Kong and his travels throughout Asia, just before WWII broke out and one of his father's ships was captured by Chinese pirates. After the death of his young brother in the Red Sea, 9-year-old Jessen left his grandparents in Switzerland to travel alone through Hitler's Germany and on to Russia, where he boarded the Trans-Siberian Express to Manchuria. His Japanese train was attacked by communist guerillas before he reached Shanghai, to join his parents. Jessen witnessed the brutal Japanese occupation there, offering a rare glimpse of Shanghai by a Dane. The post-war years in crime-riddled Shanghai picture the black market, rampant inflation, flirtations with Chinese concubines, a visit to a luxurious brothel and horror tales from survivors of Japanese prison camps. In his turbulent, hair-raising life, Jessen worked in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Denmark, throughout Central and South America, Switzerland, North Africa, the entire Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, the United States, Belgium and Spain, as he worked for IOS and a major U.S. financial group. Jessen says, "In this day of electronic mail, nobody will come across faded letters buried in attics to bring the past alive. Come with me, let me share with you a kaleidoscope of recent history." Publisher's website: [...]