Post #8: Nien Chang and “Life and Death in Shanghai”
Words: 272
Nien Chang was born in Peking and educated
in London but spent most of her life back in China. She lived through numerous
changes in the Chinese government, even being imprisoned during the reign of Mao
Zedong for around 7 years. In this book, we see an excerpt from “Life and Death
in Shanghai”.
The
excerpt talks extensively about her experience of being imprisoned by the
Communist Chinese government by Mao Zedong. She was imprisoned for being
thought to be a conspirator with powers outside the government. Because of
this, she was interrogated and tortured for years. Throughout her time there she
goes over the indignities she suffers as well as the slow breaking of her will.
Most times her main form of protest was simply being quiet and refusing to
respond to anyone. On page 117 she is being insulted and berated by the guards
only to remain silent as she writes, “A year or two ago, I would have shouted
back at them and taken pleasure from it. Now I was too ill and too tired. I no
longer cared” (117). Her mistreatment cost her health as she periodically grew
weaker in her body, becoming nearly lifeless. This is also reflected in her
writing as she becomes more reserved in her thoughts and actions. Yet, a part
of her remained steadfast in all of her struggles. At the core of who she was
she never lost her spirit and refused to be broken. Even when she was denied any
form of decent treatment for her wounds she refused to let herself become
devoid of any hope or fight.
I am inspired by the way she is so strong. If I personally was in her shoes I would've confessed to a false lie just to get out of the torture. She refuses to let them win, and honestly it bothers them even more how brave she is. The things they did to her were sickening, and she has to push through the tremendous pain to win the this fight against them.
ReplyDeleteI like to think that I am a strong person, but I have been blessed and spoiled my whole life. I think I might've cracked under all that pressure and pain and torture if I were in her position, as probably many others stronger than me might've done. I wonder where she found her strength. Her will and her unflagging power described in this passage shocks me and I hope that if one day, God forbid, something awful happens, I will be able to handle immense pressure and keep my mind and dignity as she did. She is truly a force to be reckoned with.
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