Red Memory

Author: Shen Rong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: From a wealthy young lady to a frontline warrior, from emotional attachments to intellectual and military struggles, from figures like Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, Ye Jianying, and Li Keqiang to a gathering of literary elites, this book takes the small to represent the large, using details to recreate history, making it particularly relatable and easy to read. Shen Rong, an older-generation female journalist, came from an aristocratic family and was exposed to progressive ideas during the turbulent wartime years. At the age of 15, she joined the Communist Party and participated in underground activities. During the China-CCP negotiations, she was transferred from the Chongqing Xinhua Daily to the Beiping Military Mediation Department as a translator, later becoming one of the frontline female correspondents for the Liu-Deng army of the Jin-Xi-Lu-Yu Military Region. She personally experienced the challenging years at Xibaipo, the central decision-making hub of the Communist Party. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, she switched to working in the film and cultural sectors. During the Cultural Revolution, she endured the pain of separation from her loved ones but found solace and joy in serving the people again at the Fisherman's Wharf. This book is a collection of reflective essays, recording fragments of her life from leaving her family to join the revolution to her retirement after the reform and opening-up. It primarily focuses on her life and struggles in three places—Hongyincun, Xibaipo, and Fisherman's Wharf—respectively depicting the changing tides of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Liberation War, the Anti-Rightist Campaign, and the Cultural Revolution, as well as the activities of high-ranking Party and military figures. The interactions and anecdotes between the author and leaders like Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Liu Bocheng, Ye Jianying, and Li Keqiang, as well as numerous cultural figures, form the most humanistic chapters of the book. The story is engaging, with a straightforward yet slightly humorous style, covering numerous major events yet lacking a heavy sense of historical burden. With keen insight, emotional reasoning, delicate brushwork, moving details, and a unique female perspective, the author narrates the ups and downs of national and personal life, making it deeply relatable and touching.