![]() ![]() Occasionally found in the stories are kernels of criticism of the deterministic politics of the Anti-Rightist movement–a movement aimed at “reforming” anti-communist elements in the Party and society–which operated in disregard of the procedures, rules of law, and even the touted moral truths of the Party itself. The first few stories are so bleak that it is difficult to summon the emotional energy to continue reading, but if you do continue, you will be treated to small wonders of human kindness miraculously appearing in a hell only a tiny fraction of the prisoners survive. These narratives are slightly fictionalized in the fashion of reportage, adapted from interviews with survivors, although they come with a publisher’s disclaimer that they are a “product of the author’s imagination.” Their original Chinese-language publication in 2000 caused considerable shock and discussion in China. This English translation of thirteen short stories recounted to the author, Yang Xianhui, by survivors of the Jiabiangou (Gansu Province) “reeducation-through-hard-labor” camp is presented in the form of personal narratives that expose in cruel and depressingly vivid detail the brutality of one of the People’s Republic of China’s earliest political movements, the Anti-Rightist campaign, 1957-1960. ![]() Woman from Shanghai: Tales of Survival from a Chinese Labor Camp.Tr. ![]()
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