“It's always best to look ahead and not backwards. Possessions are not important. Think of those beautiful porcelain pieces I had. Before they came to me, they had all passed through the hands of many people, surviving wars and natural… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
“My own outlook and my values had been formed long ago. I did not believe in dividing people into rigid classes, and I did… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
“As I gazed at Mao’s face wearing what was intended as a benign expression but was in fact a smirk of self-satisfaction, I wondered… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
Ji-li's deeply moving story should be on the shelf of every person's library. Her courage in the face of adversity and her steadfast loyalty… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
“Justice? What is justice? It's a mere word. It's an abstract word with no universal meaning. To different classes of people, justice means different… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
“Pilfering was common in Communist China’s state-owned enterprises, as the Party secretaries were slack in guarding properties that belonged to the government and poorly… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
“For so many years, the official propaganda machinery had denounced humanitarianism as sentimental trash and advocated human relations based entirely on class allegiance. But… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
“One of the most ugly aspects of life in Communist China during the Mao Zedong era was the Party’s demand that people inform on… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
“But it also had many large posters with messages of a more peaceful nature. These extolled the country’s economic achievement since the Cultural Revolution,… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
“Large portraits of Mao on wooden boards several feet high stood at main street corners. Painted to make the old man look extremely youthful,… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
“As I stood in the room looking at it for the last time, I felt again the cold metal of the handcuffs on my… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
“But after living in Communist China for the past seventeen years, I knew that such a society was only a dream because those who… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
I think the democratic movement will be repressed for now, only to erupt again somewhere down the line.And more blood will be shed, just… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
“I supposed the Red Guards had enjoyed themselves. Is it not true that we all possess some destructive tendencies in our nature? The veneer… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
“While I listened to the words of homage to Mao, I remembered Mao’s awesome power, like a blanket over China threatening to smother whomever… — Nien Cheng Copy Share Image
