Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990 TAG: 9004100419
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Speaking to a few hundred people at Tech's Continuing Education Center, Cheng responded to a Chinese student's question: What can Chinese students do to help?
Cheng said the teen-age members of the Red Guard who ravaged her home and imprisoned her in 1966 were brainwashed by Mao and the Communist Party. "But China's young people of today have had their eyes opened. They are the hopes of China's future."
She told the dozens of Chinese students in the auditorium that they must study their subjects. But they also must study how America became a democracy so they will know how to make changes in their own country if and when they return, she said.
Cheng's 1 1/2-hour lecture - which highlighted historical Chinese events from the Industrial Revolution to last summer's student revolt in Tiananmen Square - was part of Tech's International Week, which began Saturday and runs through Friday.
Cheng, 75, became a U.S. citizen two years ago after moving here in 1980 upon her release from China. It was then she began writing her book, "Life and Death in Shanghai," which became an international best seller after its 1986 release.
"I've gotten a lot of letters lately from people showing their concern for the conditions in China," said Cheng, who now lives in Washington, D.C. "And they all say that my book has helped them understand the nature of Communist Party rule in China today."
The book is Cheng's story of how Red Guards declared her a "capitalist roader," confiscated all her property and locked her in solitary confinement for more than six years. During that time she was tortured and her daughter was killed.
For the first half of her talk, she spoke of the events in Chinese history that led to the Cultural Revolution that lasted from 1966 to Mao's death in 1976. Those events included civil war, the Communist Party's success over national rule and Mao's efforts to stamp out all forms of capitalism in China.
During the second half, she spoke of the horrors of her years in Detention House No. 1.
Many times she thought she would die from cold, a lack of food and frequent beatings, she said. "But I had to prove they were wrong. It was a challenge and it kept me going. I had to fight."
Cheng, who looks closer to 55 than 75, spoke with the same passion and strength that comes through in her book. It was that strength, along with perseverance and stubbornness, that got her cleared of all charges against her in 1978 and gained her a public apology from the Communist government.
She said she is happy that the success of her book has allowed people all over the world to know her story and the story of the Cultural Revolution, especially because of the similarities to events in China today.
"My story has a happy ending for me. But what about the other Chinese who are still living in China?" she said. "There are students now going through what I have gone through. It is a dark moment in China's history, but I am optimistic."
by CNB