Customer Reviews

Thirty Years in a Red House: A Memoir of Childhood and Youth in Communist China

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A wonderful account of life and childhood during the Cultural Revolution. As a college student interested in Chinese history and culture, I have been reading every Chinese memoir I could get my hands on over the past few years. In fact, I am often times more interested in the books these books I'm reading on my own than those assigned to me for class. "Thirty Years in a Red House" was one of the best Chinese memoirs I have read thus far. It was also the first Chinese memoir I have read written by a male author. The way Zhu told his story, of his father, family, and the struggles of everyday life drew me in like few books have. Every time I read someones personal account of the Cultural Revolution, I become even more fascinated and intrigued with how so many people held together over such a difficult time. The "seen through your eyes" style Thirty Years In A Red House was written in enables the reader to view Zhu's childhood and journey through Mao's China as if he or she were following his every step. I also enjoyed how historical and political events were artfully woven into the text. A great read!

Having lived and worked as an American teacher in China now for two years, I've been able to read a number of biographies and memoirs of China's modern history. But unlike so many westerners who read such literature, I don't have the luxury of finishing a book and passing it off as some faraway account of a society and system that I'll never personally have to deal with. On the contrary, I see and share daily in the environment that China is - the aftereffects of her history of poverty and oppression, the often-autocratic decisions of the government, the worldview that communism and recent extreme nationalism have shaped, and the now-booming economy and the poor it has left behind - and I have no choice: I must live and interact as a good citizen with a positive attitude in the surroundings in which I find myself, for better or worse.

Jan Wong's `Red China Blues' was the first memoir I picked up and read after I arrived. Though her work is a masterpiece of brutally honest journalism and is invaluable in tracking China's progress and change from Mao to now, Wong herself is Canadian, not Chinese; she can ultimately take China or leave it.

But enter Zhu Xiao Di. Born in 1958 into the home of one of Nanjing's most principled and loyal communist public officials, Zhu learned from his father's undying commitment to personal and public integrity and came of age during the nightmare of Chairman Mao's 1966-76 Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. '30 Years in a Red House' is his memoir of his own youth and growth during this tumultuous time, but even more so a memoir of his father's bitter suffering under the frenzied policies of Beijing's leadership. It is a story not of a starry-eyed outsider attempting to join in China's revolution, but of a Chinese person himself trying to remain loyal to the highest ideals and find sensibility and good even in the greatest of miseries.

Wong shows you China through the eyes of a foreigner who can ultimately walk away from China and its problems if she must; Zhu Xiao Di shows you China through the eyes of someone who will die to save it. '30 Years' is, frankly, much healthier reading for foreigners such as myself who must maintain a positive attitude toward our Chinese environment.

Zhu's picture of every facet of his family's daily life in Nanjing is full of insights into the culture of communism and reasons why the society was structured the way it was. It's full of personal stories of friends and relatives who struggled bitterly through the Cultural Revolution and the economic emergence that followed it. And it's full of perspective on the shifts of government and the way in which policies from Beijing affected every person's life during that time. We learn of his grandparents and their youth and adulthood during three great eras of 20th-Century China; of his father's ten years as an influential and heroic underground communist, leading to a career as an uncompromising and loyal public servant, followed by a severe denunciation and internment as a public enemy, and ending in release and return to public work; and of Zhu Xiao Di's own education as a circumspect youth, his entrance into college and experiences as one among the great Cohort '77, his work as a teacher, and his eventual pursuit of overseas study as a means to ultimately return to China and be a contributor to her economic and social growth. His knowledge of historical and political events, his grasp of western literature, and his ability to aid the westerner (the American, particularly) in understanding and appreciating Chinese and communist values and thought, are marvelous and indispensable.

For those westerners particularly interested in life and work in China, I recommend '30 Years in a Red House' without hesitation. Could I do it over again, this would be the first book I would read upon arriving here. Other memoirs may tell more riveting stories of fear or horror, other biographies and texts may give greater details of the intricacies of history and politics and great figures, but few - perhaps none - will instill you with as much love and appreciation for China itself and burden to see her society become and just and prosperous one.

I read with great interest the author's account of growing up in a China dominated by Mao and the Chinese Communist Party. Long after I had finished the book, what remained in my memory was the portrait of his Father in all his humanity, compassion, and unswerving loyalty to the party. Many of the books dealing with this period of Chinese history ("Life and Death in Shanghai", "Born Red", "Wild Swans") and others dwell on the excesses and cruelty of Mao's administration, and though the author does not ignore these in his memoir, he seems to focus more on his Father's reactions and responses to the madness generated during this terribly sad chapter in China's history, and by so doing, lifts him above this out-of-control mass movement and makes of him an heroic figure.

This is a remarkable book, one that will linger long in the reader's memory.

I have read many dozens of books about post-1949 China, and have corresponded and spoken with a number of noted authors from China. Some of these writers, including Zhu Xiao Di, Nien Cheng, and Anchee Min, have written works that I believe will have lasting importance. Mr. Zhu, in Thirty Years in a Red House, and Ms. Cheng, in Life and Death in Shanghai, and Ms. Min, in the partly fictional Red Azalea, have told us much about the great whirlwinds that have engulfed China during the second half of this century. Just as Anne Frank's diary became part of our awareness of the Holocaust, and just as Solzhenitsyn's works became part of our image of the former Soviet Union, the books by Mr. Zhu, Ms. Cheng, and Ms. Min are likely to become parts of what we understand or think about post-1949 China. No book, or group of several books, can provide information encompassing everything that is worth knowing about phenomena as complex as the forces (and individuals) that have shaped the lives of everyone in post-1949 China. I think, however, that anyone desiring a better understanding of those phenomena could hardly do better than to start by reading Mr. Zhu's book. Thirty Years in a Red House is not the book to read for detailed information about such matters as famines, floods, destruction of old cultural monuments/artifacts, hardships on collective farms, repression of ethnic minorities, the personal lives of national revolutionary leaders, or the imprisonment, torture, and/or execution of political dissidents. It is a book that instead is uniquely important for what is said about the various aspects of everyday life in China, and how those aspects have changed over the years. Moreover, Mr. Zhu has an unusually keen sense of history. His book is full of careful, detailed, and extremely interesting observations and opinions (regarding modern Chinese history) that I have seen in no other books about China. He has a deep understanding of many of the big and small ironies and inconsistencies in China's history, and of the relationships between local and national phenomena. Mr. Zhu's book is also noteworthy in that he writes from the perspective of a resident of Nanjing (or Nanking), a city which has had particularly great importance in Chinese cultural history over the centuries. A very high percentage of the books about China in the English language have been written by residents of Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong, and it is quite interesting to read a book that pertains primarily to Nanjing, and secondarily to China. For all of the above reasons, I enthusiastically recommend Thirty Years in a Red House by Zhu Xiao Di

I am from China, the same country where the author was born and raised. I really enjoyed reading this book about the life that I am so familiar with. I must say that the author has written the book with his heart and soul. He tried so hard to be objective and truthful. He gives credit to the system, party and country, and they deserve it. But, at the same time he relentlessly exposes the darker side of the Chinese system. The book reminded me of my own childhood, my own life. As I was reading I was laughing and crying with him. I think the author has done a great job introducing the real China to the outside world. I recommend this book be read by anyone who wants to understand the modern China and its people. I was also very amazed by the detailed description of our life back home, for example, how to address one another. Not only it is a soul-searching piece of work , but also it is a very good book about a different culture. Congratulations to the author for writing this book. I hope he will write many more.

Having spent two weeks in Beijing preceding and during President Clinton's state visit to China, I returned to the United States with many questions. I was curious to learn more about the Communist government, China's history, its culture, and especially, the conditions under which the Chinese people have lived in the period since Mao Zedong founded the People's Republic of China. In my quest for knowledge and understanding I came to read Zhu's _Thirty Years in a Red House_. This book offers the reader remarkable insight into the hardships and heartaches of a Chinese family during the years of the Cultural Revolution. While I had been dismayed at other accounts of the injustices dealt to the educated and intellectual citizens and leaders of this time, I was greatly heartened by Zhu's account of his parents' beliefs and practices in spite of the hardships they endured. This book gives one hope that the people of China will one day prevail, and that their leaders, both present and future, will learn from the sacrifices of those who went before.

I am extremely impressed with Mr. Zhu's memoir. It is at once a memoir of his own youth, both during and after the Cultural Revolution, as well as a loving tribute to his father, a high-ranking Communist Party member who suffered during the Cultural Revolution. The senior Mr. Zhu was a man of uncommon compassion, dignity, and values in any culture. Mr. Zhu also looks unflinchingly at contemporary Chinese politics and social mores, especially as they compare to those in America. For those who want to better understand contemporary China, this is a must-read. It is written along the same lines as "Life and Death in Shanghai," "Son of the Revolution," and "Falling Leaves." But be sure not to start it late at night, because you won't be able to put it down!

I have read many books about the cultural revolution but this one stands out amongst them all. The story he tell is a complete one. Finally, we get to hear positive things about communism as well as the negative. I enjoyed reading Zhu's account about what a good communist his father was during his life. I hear the pride in his words. Zhu's father must be thought of as a hero back in China. Usually, you hear about government officials using their position to benefit themselves, but his father believed in the system. Even though I don't beleive in it myself, it's refreshing to hear from those who do. Zhu has a gift with words that I hope he will continue to share with us.

I grew up in China. My family had similar experiences and background as the author. I could identify myself with the characters in the book. My personal experience was very painful before and during the "Cultural Revolution". For a long time, I couldn't look back without crying hard. Thank you for telling your story.
Whenever I read a book about China, either by native Chinese or foreigners, I found certain sterotype about China, Chinese families and Chinese people. A Chinese given name consists of 1 or 2 characters. Since Chinese characters are very rich in meanings they could represent, a name could tell a lot. My name, as well as my siblings' and all my cousins were carefully chosen by my grandfather. My given name, only two characters, tells where I was born. It also represents fountain flowing at great speed, which my grandpa thought was a symbol of life. It may be true that China is a male dominated society. However there are a lot of people who don't follow the trend. I was the third girl in the family. My parents were just as happy if not happier about my birth as compared if I were a boy. As a matter of fact, in the environment I grew up, there was no difference what so ever about boys or girls whom the parents preferred. Many families actually preferred girls to boys as Chinese people all believe when children grow up, girls are more considerate to their parents (this is another sterotype, but many believe it). I guess, after all, it is the parents, not the society decide if boys are preferred to girls. Families are different in China, just like they are different in the States.
BTW, My late father was a surgeon. My beloved mother had been a teacher before she decided to quit her job to be a full time mom.

Thirty Years in a Red House is more than a personal memoir. It is also a book of Chinese history and sociology. Post liberation Chinese history comes alive as it never could in a textbook. The focus on societal institutions and processes such as the family, education, the work place, the political structure, socialization, etc. make it a good choice for assignment in a sociology class. In fact, I plan to use it myself in my "Survey of East Asian Societies" sociology course.