"A mesmerizing read…A literary work of high distinction.” —William Grimes, New York Times
This “gripping and poignant memoir” (New York Times Book Review) draws us into the intersections of everyday life and Communist power from the first days of “Liberation” in 1949 through the post-Mao era. The son of a professional family, Kang Zhengguo is a free spirit, drawn to literature. In Mao’s China, these innocuous circumstances expose him at age twenty to a fierce struggle session, expulsion from university, and a four-year term of hard labor. So begins his long stay in the prison-camp system. He finally escapes the Chinese gulag by forfeiting his identity: at age twenty-eight he is adopted by an aging bachelor in a peasant village, which enables him to start a new life.
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Confessions: An Innocent Life in Communist China
"A mesmerizing read…A literary work of high distinction.” —William Grimes, New York Times
This “gripping and poignant memoir” (New York Times Book Review) draws us into the intersections of everyday life and Communist power from the first days of “Liberation” in 1949 through the post-Mao era. The son of a professional family, Kang Zhengguo is a free spirit, drawn to literature. In Mao’s China, these innocuous circumstances expose him at age twenty to a fierce struggle session, expulsion from university, and a four-year term of hard labor. So begins his long stay in the prison-camp system. He finally escapes the Chinese gulag by forfeiting his identity: at age twenty-eight he is adopted by an aging bachelor in a peasant village, which enables him to start a new life.
"A mesmerizing read…A literary work of high distinction.” —William Grimes, New York Times
This “gripping and poignant memoir” (New York Times Book Review) draws us into the intersections of everyday life and Communist power from the first days of “Liberation” in 1949 through the post-Mao era. The son of a professional family, Kang Zhengguo is a free spirit, drawn to literature. In Mao’s China, these innocuous circumstances expose him at age twenty to a fierce struggle session, expulsion from university, and a four-year term of hard labor. So begins his long stay in the prison-camp system. He finally escapes the Chinese gulag by forfeiting his identity: at age twenty-eight he is adopted by an aging bachelor in a peasant village, which enables him to start a new life.
Kang Zhengguo is senior lector of Chinese at Yale University. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut. Susan Wilf teaches at George School in Pennsylvania and was awarded a PEN Translation Fund Grant for Confessions.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations x Introduction Perry Link xi Liberation 3 Silent Garden 14 My Diaries 25 Freshman Year 35 A Glib Confession 45 Emergency Transfer 55 Expulsion 63 The Dregs of Society 72 The Gates of Hell 78 Disaster Strikes 89 Dreams of Freedom 95 Unwelcome Guests 100 Runaway 108 Dr. Zhivago 117 Underground in Xi'an 121 A Chance Encounter 127 Love in an Abandoned Temple 131 Lessons from a Goddess of Love 136 Arrested 143 Prisoner Number Two 148 Interrogation 156 Food Fantasies 161 The Verdict 171 The Holding Cell 177 Induction 183 A Shattered Dream 188 An Overdose of Potatoes 194 Sisyphean Labors 202 The Rope of the Law 207 Stolen Treats 213 Release 221 Homecoming 226 Adopted Son 235 Reincarnation as a Peasant 240 My Adoptive Father 245 A City Slicker in the Countryside 251 A Skillful Mechanic 259 An Old Flame 263 Clock Repairman 270 A Fleeting Idyll 277 Back in the Cooler 283 The Forbidden Radio 290 Father's Death 298 My Wife 308 A Woman Is the Heart of a Home 323 Thaw 336 A Recurring Nightmare 347 You Can't Go Home Again 350 A Small World 355 "Aim Your Guns Here" 362 Exodus 376 My Nightmare Comes True 390 Arrested Again 397 Farewell to China 411 Breaking the Silence 421 Epiphany 429 Epilogue: My Children 437 Translators Note 444 Index 445
