When Hellmut Stern's parents decided to emigrate to China in 1938, the ten-year-old took out the atlas to explore where this country was located. During his flight to Manchuria, Stern also brought along his first violin, which came from the estate of another Jewish emigrant. It soon became the family's most important means of livelihood in exile. Stern performed as a child and teenager—often just for a meal—at Chinese weddings, in nightclubs, and restaurants. Stern describes the often miserable living conditions in Manchuria and the brutality of the Soviet occupiers after 1945 with a strikingly unsentimental clarity, from which he narrowly escaped. Under adventurous circumstances, Stern obtained an exit permit from the commander of the Red Chinese forces for himself and several other emigrants in 1949.