Life and Death in Shanghai,   ISBN:9780140108705

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It was more used than was let on, and i didn't really appreciate it. The book is in one piece, and does serve its purpose, so i am grateful to have it.

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It's a convincing microscopic account of what happens in names of good willing and great aspirations. The author passed away on Nov 2, 2009. The book will likely not be reprinted. Grab one while you still can.

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It is quite a long book and full of amazing detail about her ordeal in prison. I read it before I visited China and found it very helpful in understanding the current lifestyle there. China still has reminders of the Red Army so it was nice to know a little bit about the history from a person who had lived through it. It also gave great insight into how humans get politically charged up and act upon their beliefs regardless of truth or justification. I gave it 4 stars only because it was sooooo long. Great book. We read it for book club.

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Nien Cheng is an eyewitness to (and victim of) the Cultural Revolution in China, the purpose of which was to eliminate the "four olds" - old culture, old customs, old habits, and old ways of thinking.

The Cultural Revolution was part of the cult of the new and modern, leading inevitably to uncontrolled savagery. It established a totally arbitrary system of law, in which there was no truth independent of party policy. Officially, 10,000 Shanghai citizens died, "unnaturally" as they say, under the Cultural Revolution. Many times that number were imprisoned for incorrect thinking, or because denouncing others could lead to one's own early release from prison. That's in one city alone.

Remember the song "Dirty Old Town" by David Byrne? I just kept thinking about that song reading this book. "Keep your head down and keep your nose clean/People who are scared do dangerous things"

Nien Cheng, herself, is witty and creative, and mentally spry despite her sufferings. She writes an amazing account of what happens when "wishful thinking" becomes a political requirement and a policy of "personal utility" makes the helpless or inconvenient people... expendable.

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One of my very favorite books, which I just re-read. It's a true story, and one that had me living her life with her. It's a real history of Chinese life before, during, and after the Cultural Revolution. She is one of the unsung heroins of the period, who never asks for sympathy...she simply states the facts as they happened.