Later, Ye was accepted into Beijing University where she studied English before being assigned to the Foreign Ministry as a translator for the delegations of such dignitaries as Queen Elizabeth II, Ronald Reagan and Imelda Marcos.

During her studies, Ye fell in love with her Canadian English teacher, William E. Bell, and eventually defected to the West to be with him, gaining permission to leave China under the guise of a fully paid scholarship to York University in Canada.

A Leaf in the Bitter Wind received positive reviews from professional critics, who praised the book's ability to engross readers despite the difficult subject matter.

The Barrie Examiner described it as "fascinating yet horrifying", while a review appearing in Cityview called it "a page-turner that can be enjoyed as exquisite grassroots history, or as the simple story of one woman’s triumph over brutish odds".

[2] Writing for the Ottawa Citizen, Patrick Kavanagh claimed that "Ting-Xing Ye tells her story with such vividness of imagery and such a galloping momentum that the narrative reads like splendid fiction".