Nien Cheng

Nien Cheng
Nien Cheng
Born January 28, 1915(1915-01-28)
Beijing, China
Died November 2, 2009(2009-11-02) (aged 94)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Nationality Chinese (American Citizen)
Notable work(s) Life and Death in Shanghai

Nien Cheng (traditional Chinese: 鄭念; simplified Chinese: 郑念; pinyin: Zhèng Niàn) (born in Beijing on January 28, 1915; died November 2, 2009 in Washington, D.C.) was a Chinese author who recounted her harrowing experiences of the Cultural Revolution in her memoir Life and Death in Shanghai.[1][2][3] In 1966, she became a target of attack by Red Guards due to her former management of a foreign firm in Shanghai, Shell. Maoist revolutionaries used this fact to claim that Cheng was a British spy in order to strike at Communist Party moderates for allowing the firm to operate in China after 1949.

Her book documents her account of her imprisonment. Cheng endured six-and-a-half years of squalid and inhumane conditions in prison, while refusing to give any false confession. Cheng used Mao's teachings successfully against her interrogators, frequently turning the tide of the struggle sessions against the interrogators. In 1973 Cheng was eventually paroled under on the basis that her attitude had shown improvement. However, Cheng resisted leaving prison without receiving acknowledgment from her captors that she had been unjustly imprisoned.

Upon release Chen was relocated from her spacious home to two bedrooms on the second floor of a two-story building. Cheng continued her life under constant surveillance, including spying by the family on the first floor. When released from jail, Cheng was told that her daughter, Meiping Cheng (Chinese: 郑梅萍; pinyin: Zhèng Méipíng), a prominent Shanghai film actress, had committed suicide. After Cheng conducted a discreet investigation, she found that this scenario was impossible, and came to believe that Meiping had been murdered by Maoists after the young woman refused to denounce her mother. The alleged killer of Meiping, a rebel worker named Yongnian Hu, was arrested and given a suspended death sentence by Shanghai authorities in 1980, but Hu was subsequently paroled in 1995.[4]

Chen lived in China until 1980, when the political climate warmed enough for her to apply for a visa to the United States to visit family. She never returned, as she was still a constant target of surveillance by those who wished her ill, first emigrating to Canada, and later to Washington, D.C., where she wrote the autobiography.

Nien Cheng was a longtime friend of Nelson T. Johnson, the U.S. Ambassador to China and his wife Jane Augusta Washington Thornton Beck Johnson. After moving to Washington, D.C., Cheng traveled extensively and was a frequent speaker on the lecture circuit. Canadian singer Corey Hart recorded an instrumental song based on her memoir in his 1990 album Bang!

Nien Cheng died of renal failure on November 2, 2009.[5]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Nien Cheng — (chinesisch: 鄭念; pinyin: Zhèng Niàn; * 28. Januar 1915 in Peking; † 2. November 2009 in Washington D.C.) war eine in China geborene US amerikanische Autorin. Leben Cheng war mit einem Kuomintang Diplomaten, Leiter des Shanghaier Büros des… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cheng — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Cheng Bugao (1893/1906–1966), chinesischer Regisseur Cheng Chemin (* 1924), chinesischer Physiker Cheng Cong Fu (* 1984), chinesischer Rennfahrer Cheng Enfu (* 1950), chinesischer… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wang Yen-nien — (1914 2008), né à Taiyuan dans le Shanxi, fut un professeur de Tai Chi Chuan influent. Il transmit le style Yangjia Michuan Taiji Quan (Transmission Secrète de la Famille Yang) à de nombreux étudiants venus du monde entier à Taipei entre 1950 et… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Liste der Biografien/Che–Chi — Biografien: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Liste der Persönlichkeiten der Stadt Peking — Die Liste der Persönlichkeiten der Stadt Peking führt die Ehrenbürger von Peking und die in der chinesischen Hauptstadt geborenen Personen auf. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Ehrenbürger 2 Söhne und Töchter der Stadt 2.1 A …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Zheng (surname) — Zhèng / Zheng4 (Hanyu Pinyin) or Cheng (Wade Giles) is a Chinese word. It means solemn , formal , or serious . It is a Chinese family name. And it is the name of an ancient state in today s Honan. It is written as 鄭 in traditional Chinese script… …   Wikipedia

  • Life and Death in Shanghai — is an autobiography written in November 1987 by Nien Cheng from exile in the United States, and details her six year arrest during the Cultural Revolution. Cheng was arrested in late 1966 after Red Guards looted her home as retaliation for her… …   Wikipedia

  • Bang! (Corey Hart album) — Bang! Studio album by Corey Hart Released March 22, 1990 Recorded 1989 1990 …   Wikipedia

  • List of Asian American writers — In the fields of Ethnic Studies and Literary Scholarship, the term Asian American is a bit vague. In practice, it usually includes writers from East Asia and South Asia, but not from West Asia (Middle Easterners). At the same time, it often… …   Wikipedia

  • Vida y muerte en Shanghai — Este artículo o sección necesita referencias que aparezcan en una publicación acreditada, como revistas especializadas, monografías, prensa diaria o páginas de Internet fidedignas. Puedes añadirlas así o avisar …   Wikipedia Español

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”