This is an autobiography of a lady who was imprisoned for six years during the Cultural Revolution in China. The story commences just before the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1965 and continues until she leaves China for the US after obtaining a passport in 1980. After the death of her husband the author worked for the Shell Oil Company in Shanghai until it closed. She seems to have been left in rather comfortable circumstances as she has a couple of servants. Her daughter had been born while they were posted to Canberra, Australia. On the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution the author is called to a meeting at which employees of foreign firms are denounced. The author’s house is ransacked and looted by red guards in the name of the Cultural Revolution. Presently, she is taken away and imprisoned at the No 1 detention house. The conditions at the prison are very bad. There is no heating and the food is barely adequate to sustain life. Periodically she is taken from her cell for interrogation. She is encouraged to make a confession. She steadfastly refuses to confess to any crimes she did not commit. It seems as though the authorities have nothing on her but are hoping they can get her to confess to something that would justify her incarceration. As one year draws out into the next she falls ill. Medical treatment is almost non-existent. It seems as if the authorities are not too concerned whether she recovers or not. Her courage in the face of adversity is nothing short of amazing. At one point she is handcuffed. The handcuffs are squeezed so tight by a particularly mercenary prison guard that they cut through the skin on her wrists. She is told that she only has to confess to have the handcuffs removed. She is seriously worried about the permanent damage to her hands that could occur but she still maintains she has done nothing wrong. She still does not confess. It is six years before the Cultural Revolution is running out of fervour and changes are taking place in the top echelons of government. Eventually she is released but she is still under surveillance. But, with the release, comes the cruellest blow of all. The author continues to live through the changes in regime. From that of Mao Tse Tung to that of Deng Xao Ping. At one point it looked like the “Gang of Four” headed by Madame Mao would seize power and continue the reign of terror. It is almost inconceivable how cruel governments can be towards the people that they are supposed to serve. Yet, it happens time and again. The democratic system is no guarantee. Adolf Hitler, too, was democratically elected. Margaret Thatcher said that it is not that society needs to be protected from the individual, but the individual that needs to be protected from society. People are still detained for their political beliefs. People are still detained without trial. And yet this is described as “bringing them to justice”. There is so much hypocrisy in the world. We say one thing but do another.