Explora Books featured ‘Wandering Lonely as a Cloud: A Lifetime Journey Across Oceans, Eras, and Cultures’ by Dr. Charles Qianzhi Wu at the 2026 Manila International Book Fair (MIBF), held September 9–13 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 3rd Oct 2026 - The memoir traces Wu’s life from wartime Shanghai to a college campus in Oregon, shaped by displacement, education, spiritual development, and life between cultures.
The 2026 MIBF brought together publishers, educators, authors, and readers under the theme “Get Lit: Reading in a New Light.” Organized by Primetrade Asia Inc., the five-day fair featured over 100 exhibitors across two floors of the SMX Convention Center. Its program included author signings, educational activities, a comics demonstration by Manix Abrera, the School World segment for educators, and the Gintong Aklat Awards presented by the Book Development Association of the Philippines.
Wu’s memoir also connects with the fair’s theme through its treatment of reading, education, cultural change, and personal reflection. Born in Shanghai in 1935 into what he describes as a “family of book fragrance,” he grew up under the influence of his scholar grandfather and within a family library. His name was chosen hoping that he would one day teach a thousand students, following an example he associates with Confucius.
That early influence led him to the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute, where he taught English and served as chief editor of the early Chinese-English dictionary. His memoir recounts decades of political campaigns that turned colleagues into targets and led him to inform against others despite his own misgivings.
In the United States, he earned his doctorate at Columbia University and held a professorship at Reed College, where he founded the Chinese and Humanities program. His contributions extended to the development of Portland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden. Together, these experiences inform the memoir’s examination of cultural identity, education, and personal responsibility.
Only near the end does Wu turn to his path toward Christian faith and how it reshaped his understanding of the guilt he carried from China. The memoir’s title, borrowed from Wordsworth, echoes the MIBF 2026 theme of seeing familiar experiences in a new light, particularly in its account of a life shaped by displacement and cross-cultural experience.
Wandering Lonely as a Cloud: A Lifetime Journey Across Oceans, Eras, and Cultures is available on Amazon and other major online bookstores.
About Explora Books
Explora Books is a book marketing firm located in the heart of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company specializes in self-publishing and marketing, taking pride in its exhaustive research and creative strategies that provide wider avenues for aspiring authors to gain recognition for their works. Explora Books aims to guide authors through the complexities of self-publishing, offering convenient solutions to navigate this process. The firm fosters and redefines creativity and innovation, setting new industry standards. Explora Books is dedicated to empowering authors globally.
Organization: Explora Books Ltd
Contact Person: Simon Pratt
Website: https://explorabooks.com/home
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Contact Number: +16043306795
Address: Jameson Offices, 838 W Hastings St w, Vancouver, BC V6C 0A6, Canada
City: Vancouver
State: British Columbia
Country: Canada
Release id: 49635
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