Particularize Books In Pursuance Of Life and Death in Shanghai
| Original Title: | Life and Death in Shanghai |
| ISBN: | 014010870X (ISBN13: 9780140108705) |
| Edition Language: | English |

Nien Cheng
Paperback | Pages: 560 pages Rating: 4.35 | 10570 Users | 928 Reviews
Details Appertaining To Books Life and Death in Shanghai
| Title | : | Life and Death in Shanghai |
| Author | : | Nien Cheng |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 560 pages |
| Published | : | May 3rd 1988 by Penguin Books (first published January 1st 1986) |
| Categories | : | Cultural. China. Nonfiction. History. Autobiography. Memoir. Biography. Asia |
Narration Conducive To Books Life and Death in Shanghai
In August 1966 a group of Red Guards ransacked the home of Nien Cheng. Her background made her an obvious target for the fanatics of the Cultural Revolution: educated in London, the widow of an official of Chiang Kai-Shek's regime, and an employee of Shell Oil, Nien Cheng enjoyed comforts that few of her compatriots could afford. When she refused to confess that any of this made her an enemy of the state, she was placed in solitary confinement, where she would remain for more than six years. "Life and Death in Shanghai" is the powerful story of Nien Cheng's imprisonment, of the deprivation she endured, of her heroic resistance, and of her quest for justice when she was released. It is the story, too, of a country torn apart by the savage fight for power Mao Tse-tung launched in his campaign to topple party moderates. An incisive, rare personal account of a terrifying chapter in twentieth-century history, "Life and Death in Shanghai" is also an astounding portrait of one woman's courage.Rating Appertaining To Books Life and Death in Shanghai
Ratings: 4.35 From 10570 Users | 928 ReviewsNotice Appertaining To Books Life and Death in Shanghai
This is a thrift store find. . .if you peruse my list of books (not likely) you might notice a number of stuck-in-prison-for-some-reason memoirs. I'm drawn to the brutality. What's amazing about this book is its umm "insider's" view of the Cultural Revolution. Nein Cheng was a "capitalist roader" - i.e. someone who associated with capitalists or sympathized with capitalism or had any appreciation for aesthetics that might be supported or cultivated in the west. Well - we all have a bit of classAmazing, eye-opening book that details what life was like in China during the Cultural Revolution.
I read this book shortly after my first trip to Shanghai in 1992. At the time it resonated with me as I had just seen many of the places she mentions in her book, from the French Consession, to the Park Hotel (which is next door to my Shanghai office). The story, an autobiography of her life during the cultural revolution, tells the sad honest truth of what Mao's revolution did to the cultural and educated. The guise of permenant revolution is nothing more than an excuse to torture and maim, to

Several years ago, there was a guy from mainland who went to Hongkong to buy some books that were banned in Mainland. The book store was in the airport. I don't know whether he was interested in those books. But I can tell that he bought this book, he put it in the shopping cart.You know what, when he'd finished the purchase and got out of the airport, he was taken away immediately by some guys from Mainland, who worked for some "related department" bureau of them comms motherfuckers, which
I kept stalling my review of Life and Death in Shanghai because I was in immense awe of Nien Cheng and doubted whether I could do justice to this extremely important book. I still am in awe of her and going to be for the rest of my life. This woman transcends everything I have read about human resilience. If I were to be imprisoned and mentally tortured as Nien Cheng was, I would have punched the first person that would have tried to wrongfully accuse me. But then, I would have been a loser, as
I've read a number of personal narratives from the Cultural Revolution, but most of them have been from authors who were still in school when the turmoil began in 1966. Cheng's account provides the perspective of someone who was middle-aged and who was imprisoned for much of the struggle in a vivid and highly-detailed account. Her analysis of the political struggles taking place among the top party officials also is much more sophisticated than most of the other narratives out there, again
There's reading historical facts (very dry) and there's reading personal accounts from someone who lived through a time in history (ie Nien Cheng, Anne Frank). I don't think I fully appreciated how recent the cultural revolution was (launched in May 1966 - Oct 1976) and how it affected he population then how it continues to affect the Chinese people to this day. Although I have read books about China before, they were usually based on stories from long ago. The people were subjected to rhetoric


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