The Execution of Mayor Yin and Other Stories from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

The author gives a poignant picture of the distressing everyday life in Mao's China under the Cultural Revolution.There is a power struggle at the top of the CP. The Red Guards constitute their own rule. The political decisions are unpredictable (sometimes for then against the farmers or the intellectuals).The result is that the population doesn't know anymore what to do and where they are (suicides or attempts). They are terrorized by suspicion, house searches, forced migrations and ... are terrorizing each other.In the story 'Chin-Chin's Birthday' defy two children each other to insult chairman Mao. When their parents learn that other adults heard it, they are panic-stricken.In 'The Guard' is theft a norm for the Red Guards.In 'The Execution of Mayor Yin' is Yin a victim of his non proletarian origin. Although totally innocent, he is convicted and executed by the Red Guards.Masterfully written stories which create a grim and depressing atmosphere. Not to be missed.I recommend also the poignant book by Nien Cheng 'Life and Death in Shangai'.

Very few works of fiction have been written regarding the Cultural Revolution in China, especially by people, like Chen Jo-Hsi, who lived through it. There are some very good memoirs chronicling the events, but Chen Jo-Hsi's moving work of fiction gives the reader an excellent insight into one of the worst instances of censorship of the arts in the world's history. In addition, it brings to light in a very poignant way, how dichotmous and arbirtary the policies and reform movements during this period actually were. The book contains eight short stories that takes the reader from Nanking to the countryside and demonstrates the affects of the Cultural Revolution on different types of individuals from the professor to the laborer, sometimes with heart-breaking results.