? ??I came across this book when flipping through a booklist about the history of Shanghai. From the abstract, I can tell it is about a story set in 1960s Shanghai during the great proletarian revolution initiated by the leader of the red China.

? ? Back in the time when I was at HKU, I attempted to look for it since I found it available for borrowing on the HKU library portal. Unfortunately, I speculated it had been removed from the shelf.

? ? It is such a mysterious and controversial era that people hardly ever talk about this taboo subject in public and conducting research on this area is strictly supervised by the authority. Your paper cannot be published unless you come up with a conclusion in accordance with the official verdict in the Party's second resolution on historical issues.?

? ? The book provides readers with first-hand accounts from the perspective of an affluent and charming lady born into a landowner's family. Thanks to Zlibrary again, I got the chance to read the book! I strongly recommend this book to you and I will share the plot and talk about my feelings in the following part.

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? ? The book can be divided into three parts. The first section is about how the political movement disrupted the writer's normal and peaceful life. The red guards stormed into the house and ransacked it without a search warning warrant. The second part is about her solitary confinement in the detention house. She was ill-treated and forced to confess her crime by the stern interrogator in an intolerable, unsanitary, and inhumane environment. The last part is she was told her daughter had committed suicide when she was released from jail. She didn't accept this ridiculous explanation and sought to find the truth about her daughter's death, fighting for justice.

? ? Anyone reading this memoir would easily sympathise with her whatever political viewpoint he or she holds. I believe it is simple to understand since we all share some basic values that are cherished and advocated by the modern society in which we have grown up. The young should always be respectful to seniors, preserving the heritage and treasures our ancestors passed on to us is an unquestionable duty, and esteeming teachers is considered an obligation to their students, all of which had become nonsense and meaningless during the cultural revolution. Virtues had to make their way for the ideology of revolution and class struggle. In the narrative of a totalitarian state, society changes and moves according to a certain law based on philosophers' and intellectuals' logic. For example, communism will eventually replace capitalism, which is written in the volumes and deemed irreversible by Marxists. The strong shall thrive and the weak shall perish, which is believed in by another group of people.? Worker A should always hate boss B even though they have never met each other throughout their whole life. Any elements against the logic will be eliminated to make the world move according to the law.

? ? I wanna share the video of Nien Cheng's interview and speech. If you are interested, you can click the links below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np6ckrGHCKk&t=237s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1-RXQRPEC8