Life and Death in Shanghai

Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng, Grove Press, 1987. 

Mistrust

This is a memoir of a businesswoman who was arrested during Mao's Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Nien Cheng was accused of being a spy for the British.The Communist Party mistrusted her, because:

• she came from a prosperous family background,

• she was well-educated,

• she was an employee of Shell Oil,

• she had extensive contacts with foreigners as part of her job,

• she had spent time in England and Australia, and

• her late husband had been a government official of the Kuo Min Tang

No Second Amendment Under Communism

Soon after the Communists took over in 1949, they made it illegal to own guns, and they searched people’s houses to make sure they complied.

No. 1 Detention Center in Shanghai

Before she was arrested, the Red Guards and Proletarian Revolutionaries looted her home. Nien Cheng spent six and a half years in detention. While detained, her captors put tight, heavy handcuffs on her to hurt her so she would confess. Her hands suffered permanent damage. Her interrogators asked her to confess that she was a spy, but she refused to confess, declaring her innocence. Her interrogators told her that Liu Shaoqi was wrong in desiring to postpone the liberation of Taiwan from the Nationalists until the next generation. For this, Liu Shaoqi was called a capitalist roader and suspected of being a Nationalist sympathizer. Cheng often debated her interrogators, using quotations from Chairman Mao against them. She was one of the most stubborn prisoners held in No. 1 Detention Center in Shanghai. 

Jiang Qing Settling Old Scores

Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, created a campaign against the ancient philosopher Confucius, for being too traditional. Her actual target was Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. Jiang Qing used the Cultural Revolution to even old scores with people who had snubbed her when she was a struggling actress.

Author Loses Her Daughter

During the Cultural Revolution, college professors were required to write essays critical of themselves. They were also subjected to struggle meetings. In struggle meetings, the Communists tried to get the prisoner to confess to crimes they did not commit and to join the Proletarian Revolution. The Communists tried to get Nien Cheng's daughter, Meiping, to denounce her mother, but she refused. The daughter was later found dead. The Communists claimed Meiping committed suicide. 

Emigration to America

Cheng is admirable for her pride. She refused to bow and scrape before these barbarians. When she was released, she even asked for a document exonerating her. Eventually, she was released. She emigrated to Washington, D.C. She was delighted when first visiting a bookstore in the United States. She was amazed by the tremendous variety of books. Wikipedia says that Nien Cheng was the pen name of Yao Nien-Yuan.