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The Red Mirror: Children Of China's Cultural Revolution

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This is a collection of interviews with people who were children during the Cultural Revolution. The author writes in English and translates the narratives herself, which gives the book a poetic unity, made even more enjoyable by the fact that she writes well. Unlike Feng Jicai's Ten Years of Madness, Chihua Wen's own writing is evocative, complementary, unintrusive, and poetic. The narratives aren't as diverse as Feng's, but the writing here is better.

In this compilation of stories, readers will learn about the horrors that many children in China had to live through. All of the stories are told by Chinese who were children or adolescents during the peak of the Cultural Revolution. Many were torn from their parents, some never forgot or forgave the pain that Chairman Mao's reforms put them through. This book is an intensely emotional window into China. Though some stories are disturbing, it is an important book to read if you want to know where the Chinese people are coming from. The experiences they had in the 60's and 70's have shaped who they are today, both individually and as a nation.