Vermilion Gate

by Mu, Aiping

• ISBN13: 9780349112855
• ISBN10: 0349112851
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-02-07
• Publisher: Abacus

Summary

Aiping Mu was born to parents prominent in the Communist hierarchyher father was Political Commissar for the Beijing region and her mother ran one of the city's universitiesand in her early years lived the pampered life of the Party elite. Both parents were considered intellectuals, and thus the Cultural Revolution resulted in the break-up of the family. While following one family's rising and falling fortunes, this biography tells the story of modern China itself, written from the perspective of one who grew up close to the seat of power in history.

Author Biography

Aiping Mu left China, her family and 6-year-old son in 1988. The crashing of the Democracy movement in Tiananmen Square a year later means she has only recently been able to return.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Author's Note	xi
Family Tree	xii
Map	xiii
Part One: 1916--1964
The East is Red: Hard Times for New Arrivals (1946--1951)	3	(28)
Daughter of the Yellow River: My Mother's Story (1923--1934)	31	(11)
A Single Spark could Start a Prairie Fire: My Father's Story (1916--1935)	42	(24)
Along the Yellow River towards the Loess Highlands: My Mother's Story (1934--1938)	66	(23)
From an Exiled Revolutionary to Leader of the Anti--Japanese Guerrilla Forces: My Father's Story (1935--1940)	89	(15)
Growing up in Yan'an: My Mother in the Communist Capital during the Sino-Japanese War (1938--1942)	104	(25)
Revolution and Romance: My Parents' Marriage (1942--1946)	129	(27)
Under the Red Flag: Stories of My Father's Family (1935--1954)	156	(28)
Thorough Remoulding: Stories of My Mother's Family (1938--1954)	184	(17)
Dynasts and Their Children: My Privileged Childhood in Beijing (1954--1964)	201	(30)
Mysteries of My Relatives and Friends: The Great Leap Forward, Famine and Intra-Party Conflicts (1958--1964)	231	(30)
Part Two: 1964--1977
The Gale is Raging and the Storm is about to Break: On the Eve of the Cultural Revolution (1964--April 1966)	261	(26)
`True Gold Fears No Fire': The Eruption of the Cultural Revolution (May--September 1966)	287	(22)
Chairman Mao's Revolutionary Path-Breaker: I Become One of the Earliest Red Guards (June--September 1966)	309	(29)
`Baba, Mama, Please Hold On!': My Parents Become Political Prisoners (September 1966--1968)	338	(31)
A Clouded Life: Daughter of `Counter-Revolutionaries' and `Delinquent Teenager' (September 1966--November 1968)	369	(29)
Cave Life, Starvation and Hard Labour: My `Re-education' in the Loess Highlands (December 1968--September 1969)	398	(29)
Beyond the Clouds: I Escape from the Loess Highlands; My Mother Expelled to China's Southwest Fronitier (September 1969--November 1970)	427	(29)
Singer for Madam Mao's Revolutionary Peking Opera: My First Job in the Armed Forces (November 1970--April 1972)	456	(28)
From Medical Orderly to Army Doctor: The Beginning of My Medical Career (May 1972--September 1975)	484	(32)
Political Turbulence: My University Life and the Initial Clash between My Parents (October 1975--July 1977)	516	(33)
Part Three: 1975--June 1988
Marriage and Politics: In Confrontation with My Father over My Wedding (1975--August 1977)	549	(28)
`The Cart will find its Way round the Hill when it Gets There': Disappointment about My Marriage; My Mission to the Sino-Vietnamese War (August 1977--July 1979)	577	(25)
Family in Turmoil: My Parents' Marriage Crisis (1978--1979)	602	(25)
Military Hospital No. 263: Working as a Medical Doctor; the Exposure of my Troubled Private Life (January 1980--June 1981)	627	(23)
New Hope: The Birth of My Son (June 1981--May 1982)	650	(17)
High Official Versus High Official: My Parents' Divorce (September 1980--January 1984)	667	(23)
Uncovering the Mystery of `the Neighbours': My Mother's Battle to Clear Her Name; My Parents' Second Marriages (September 1980--February 1986)	690	(26)
One Couple, One Child: Press Officer for the State Family Planning Commission (1982--October 1987)	716	(17)
No Right to Divorce, No Right to Love: The End of My Marriage (May 1982--October 1987)	733	(29)
`Heaven never Seals off all the Exits': My Decision to Find a New Life; the Death of My Father (1987--June 1988)	762	(20)
Epilogue (July 1988--2000)	782	(9)
Chronology	791	(7)
Index	798