Customer Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly Moving, Incredibly Relevant - Look to the Past to Learn of China's Future
Comment: Nien Cheng's memoir of her experiences before, during, and after the Cultural Revolution are an emotional and eye-opening look into the personal life of one of its victims. Written in a matter-of-fact and detailed way, Cheng succeeds where so many others fail - to deliver a detailed and factual account with just the right amount of personal feeling injected.
Separating the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party from that of individual Chinese (which many times differed greatly), this book details the heroism and cowardice propagated on an individual and systematic level against those considered "class enemies".
Overall, an uplifting story of the strength of the human spirit, and the neverending endurance brought about by the search for justice.
Customer Rating:
Summary: WHAT A POWERFUL STORY!
Comment: My mother asked me years ago to read this book. She was an avid reader and often recommended books to me. I failed to read it while she was alive. I just finished it today and wish I could share my thoughts about this great read with her. This is a powerful book about a courageous woman. Don't miss it. It will also help you to appreciate the freedom we enjoy in this country. Don't take it for granted!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Life and Death in Shanghai
Comment: I bought a second copy of this book to share because it is so well written and gives a clear picture of what went on in China during the Cultural Revolution. What a brave lady!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Personal account of the horrors of communism
Comment: Nien Cheng is quite the lady with some experience to tell. Growing up in China as part of the wealthy class, her life changed all of a sudden as the Great Cultural Revolution came down her street.... It's a chilling story of a mob mentality that pretends to "purify" society of evils of the day. It's a sobering story that unveils and condemns the horrors of communism. Required read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One tough cookie!
Comment: Nein Cheng lived a comfortable middle class existance...in Shanghai during the height of the Cultural Revolution. Big mistake. Her comfortable lifestyle and connections to the West (via Shell Oil, her former employer) make her a target of the Red Brigade. Imagine if you will, waking up one morning to find a bunch of politically jacked up teenagers suddenly given the freedom to ransack your home, determine whether or not you are a danger to society, and beat you, arrest you, humiliate you and arrest you. Ms. Cheng is imprisoned and everything she has is taken away...rare works of art, priceless porcelains. This irreplacable beauty is, for the most part, destroyed by the loutish thugs -- the 14 and 15 year olds who ran amok, brandishing their political clout -- who made up the bulk of the Mao Cult that was the Red Brigade. Cheng is arrested and sent to a hellacious prison. Beaten, starved, subjected to brutal interrogation, Chen is indomitable. She does not confess, she does not kowtow, she sticks to her guns and even dares to lecture her captors and, in the process, drive them crazy. She lives this nightmare year after year, never budging from her declaration of innocence, never seeing or hearing from her beloved daughter. But no matter what they do to her, Cheng does not give in. Give in? She doesn't give an inch. We learn, though her, fascinating lessons in the political subtlties that fomented chaos and laws during this period. Through hints and reading between the lines of the official propoganda that the prisoners were forced to listen to, she pieces together much of the political climate and events. Her tenacity, stubborn contrariness and refusal to make any concessions to her captors is inspirational, astounding and, frankly, almost unbelievable. Even when the political climate changes and she is given her release, she insists that the prison "confess" its error. This is not a lady to trifle with. Upon her release, she immediately begins to search for her daughter, and for the restoration of whatever of her property has survived the Red Guard. The second half of the book -- Ms. Cheng's "rehabilitation" is as compelling as the first part. It's a book that is impossible to put down and certainly the best of a spate of first-hand accounts of this horrible "Through the Looking Glass" period of China's history. Nien Cheng is one hell of a tough lady, her book is moving, thought-provoking and compelling.
|
