Part I: Chapter I, Witch Hunt Summary and Analysis

The story of Nien Cheng's life during the Cultural Revolution begins on July 1966 on a hot summer's evening. She is sitting in the study of her old home and her daughter is asleep in her bedroom upstairs. She is one of a dozen families among 10 million people that continue to live in a fashion that is "Western" style. She has servants and enjoys many luxuries from her days working as a Shell Oil manager. She received this job after her husband passed away nine years earlier in 1957. Cheng continues to work as a Shell assistant to the management staff until 1966. Her role during her tenure at Shell was to help foreign managers steer clear of the numerous political and social pitfalls that existed in China at the time.

Early the next...