In this lengthy memoir, a Hong Kong–based entrepreneur and investor recounts his life in China under the totalitarian Communist regime of Mao Zedong.

Zhang (The Golden Road, 2012, etc.) creates an alter ego, Shanghai-bred Zhuang Xiaoping, to serve as the protagonist of his ambitious retelling of the mass insanities during Mao’s reign. The book traces the almost unimaginable travails of the crafty, resilient Shanghai-bred Zhuang and his relatives, friends and acquaintances as they strive to survive a stultifying, terrifying epoch, when failure to revere Chairman Mao could be fatal. The book focuses on the period from 1949, when Mao took power, to 1977, after Deng Xiaoping succeeded him and the social turmoil of the Cultural Revolution had finally abated. The young Zhuang is burdened by a “bourgeois” background that constantly causes people to suspect him of capitalistic sentiments, but he learns early on to keep his mouth shut. Later, he becomes the target of party functionaries and fellow students during humiliating political “struggle” sessions in college. Later, he adjusts to zealous Red Guard teams ritually ransacking his home in search of counterrevolutionary evidence. Only in 1979, when Zhuang is on the brink of middle age, do he and his family finally slip into Hong Kong using forged papers. Zhang’s writing is serviceable throughout, but he particularly excels at reproducing mind-numbing Maoist jargon. However, a more detailed recounting of Zhuang’s obligatory political sessions at college might have added to the narrative. The author’s use of fictional characters may make readers wonder how closely the story adheres to his actual life experiences. That said, he still delivers a satisfying portrayal of the tenor of existence under Mao.

A somewhat long but highly readable and historically valuable memoir of China.

Zhang Da-Peng is a successful entrepreneur, investor and versatile author in Hong Kong. He established the prestigious bi-annual literary award, the Dream of Red Chamber Prize, to honor outstanding contemporary Chinese-language novels. In addition to this work, his novel The Golden Road, was first published in Chinese in 2005 by Wenhui Publishing House and Strategies for Investment in the Stock Market by Ming Pao Publishing House, 2007. He is currently active in sharing his insights on investment strategy and on a broad range of current topics in his daily blog, dpzblog.wordpress.com, which has received over one and a half million hits to date. Born in 1941 in China’s wartime capital, Chongqing, during the Sino-Japanese War, Zhang Da-Peng grew up in post-war Shanghai and graduated from the Petroleum Institute in Beijing. After Deng Xiaoping’s return to power in the late 1970s, Zhang immigrated to Hong Kong where he built a highly successful business over the next several decades. Among his many personal interests, Zhang enjoys playing the ancient board game weiqi, more commonly known by its Japanese name Go, and has served as the Chairman of the Hong Kong Go Association. In 2010, the Hong Kong Baptist University conferred an Honorary Fellowship upon Zhang for his exceptional accomplishments and prodigious contributions to contemporary Chinese culture and education in Hong Kong.