Life and Death in Shanghai

Life and Death in Shanghai
Nien Cheng

A first-hand account of China's cultural revolution.A first-hand account of China's cultural revolution. Nien Cheng, an anglophile and fluent English-speaker who worked for Shell in Shanghai under Mao, was put under house arrest by Red Guards in 1966 and subsequently jailed. All attempts to make her confess to the charges of being a British spy failed; all efforts to indoctrinate her were met by a steadfast and fearless refusal to accept the terms offered by her interrogators. When she was released from prison she was told that her daughter had committed suicide. In fact Meiping had been beaten to death by Maoist revolutionaries.

Life and Death in Shanghai

Nien Cheng

Copyright (#ulink_33cc766e-a75c-5e25-9472-70a5ec239af7)

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.com.au)

Published by Flamingo 1995 an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

First published in Great Britain by Grafton 1986

Copyright © Nien Cheng 1986

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Nien Cheng asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780006548614

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2010 ISBN: 9780007375615

Version: 2018-11-07

To Meiping

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#uc3329420-cab7-53e3-87ad-1e10c3558913)

Title Page (#u41a6e9b0-8d42-59c8-929f-5b1cc3088475)

Copyright (#udfb20535-eb1b-5810-b132-f34baae31d6b)

PART I The Wind of Revolution (#u9026b478-fc30-5470-a9a2-d831a4396396)

CHAPTER 1 Witch-hunt (#ub1d5fadb-b6ad-54ca-bd80-6438b8d35aa7)

CHAPTER 2 Interval before the Storm (#u85b85f7d-21c6-5952-b26b-e7bc85c62362)

CHAPTER 3 The Red Guards (#u02b7dc8c-692c-58bb-9e0d-75999159ed0c)

CHAPTER 4 House Arrest (#ub6a18bb3-964d-5d74-8805-001aa6a0c13f)

PART II The Detention House (#u9a644c0b-ed13-55a6-975c-3caa4be9ce4e)

CHAPTER 5 Solitary Confinement (#u8bb9b1b0-fffd-5dd6-9d48-0bb5d0d4cfa1)

CHAPTER 6 Interrogation (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 7 The January Revolution and Military Control (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 8 Party Factions (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 9 Persecution Continued (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 10 My Brother’s Confession (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 11 A Kind of Torture (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 12 Release (#litres_trial_promo)

PART III My Struggle for Justice (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 13 Where Is Meiping? (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 14 The Search for the Truth (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 15 A Student Who Was Different (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 16 The Death of Mao (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 17 Rehabilitation (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 18 Farewell to Shanghai (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

PART I The Wind of Revolution (#ulink_5161f3eb-1327-53f9-931a-18691cbf3dc7)

CHAPTER 1 Witch-hunt (#ulink_fb08febd-8432-5abe-9b81-979cfddfc35b)

THE PAST IS FOREVER with me and I remember it all. I now move back in time and space to a hot summer’s night in July 1966, to the study of my old home in Shanghai. My daughter was asleep in her bedroom, the servants had gone to their quarters, and I was alone in my study. I hear again the slow whirling of the ceiling fan overhead; I see the white carnations drooping in the heat in the white Chien Lung vase on my desk. In front of my eyes were the bookshelves lining the walls filled with English and Chinese tides. The shaded reading lamp left half the room in shadows, but the gleam of silk brocade of the red cushions on the white sofa stood out vividly.