The author says that freedom is not a right conferred from above, it is a consciousness that has to be defended. Freedom
is not something external, it is to be found within you. The author says that he had paid dearly for his freedom, and that is why it was so precious to him. It was only when he was leaving China that the author realized that this was no longer his country. Because the author belonged to a class of people that had been destroyed (by the Cultural
Revolution). The Cultural Revolution (from1966 to1976) was a campaign launched by Mao Zedong and the “Gang of Four” to eliminate his political rivals in the Communist Party, under the guise of revolutionizing Chinese society. The intellectual and middle classes were especially targeted, as they were perceived to be sympathetic to the capitalist ethos. Social chaos and widespread persecution followed, and thousands died. Millions more were imprisoned or exiled in labor camps where they had to undergo political re-education.The Cultural Revolution set back China; and a whole generation was lost. The author says that the Chinese people lived behind masks, and it was not easy to take off the masks (because they wore them so often). The author says that people had to say what everyone else was saying, and behave the same as everyone else was behaving. People were reduced to merely mouthing Party slogans. Better to wear a mask that risk being denounced as an enemy of the state! Any false move was certain to be investigated or punished. Alienated from their surroundings, they wore camoflage and had to put on an act to hide their true feelings. But if the mask was worn for too long, they would not be able to remove it... Those who were not able to pretend, lost control and committed suicide. In such an atmosphere, where just staying alive was problematic enough, the author says memories (of the past) are best forgotten. However, the associated pain could not be as easily ignored. Subjected to the will of others, forced to make confessions, the author describes the process as analogous to rape. The author says that during the Cultural Revolution, people lost their own voices and became puppets in the hands of the Party, which controlled every aspect of their lives. Life was regimented, and only one type of thinking was permitted - that of the Supreme Leader. Intellectually repressed, the author found an outlet for his emotions in sexuality. But the Party was concerned, because people were supposed to love and marry for the sake of the revolution… The author says that the Cultural Revolution was beyond fascism – it was a collective form of madness. Enemies, says the author, had to be found – without enemies, the dictatorship could not be sustained. Friends, where they could be found, were those that had suffered together. Winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, the author writes with depth and feeling about the unending nightmare that was the Cultural Revolution. The authenticity of the narrative is all the greater because this is a first hand
account; a thinly disguised autobiography presented in the form of fiction. One of the genuine voices coming out of China, this is an account of life under the worst excesses of the Communist regime.