F

Hu Feng's Prison Years

By: Mei Zhi, Gregor Benton (Translator)

Write A Review

11 February 2013 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

No. of Pages
304

Dimensions(cm)
24.77 x 16.51 x 3.18

RRP $39.99

$36.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $9.19 with

Ships in 10 to 15 business days

Hu Feng, the ‘counterrevolutionary’ leader of a banned literary school, spent twenty-five years in the Chinese Communist Party’s prison system. But back in the Party’s early days, he was one of its best known literary theoreticians and critics—at least until factional infighting, and his short fuse, made him persona non grata among the establishment.

His wife, Mei Zhi, shared his incarceration for many years. F is her account of that time, beginning ten years after her and Hu Feng’s initial arrest. She herself was eventually released, after which she navigated the party’s Byzantine prison bureaucracy searching for his whereabouts. Having finally found him, she voluntarily returned to gaol to care for him in his rage and suffering, watching his descent into madness as the excesses of the Cultural Revolution took their toll.

Both an intimate portrait of Mei Zhi’s life with Hu Feng and a stark account of the prison system and life under Mao, F is at once beautiful and harrowing.

With support from English PEN

This book has been selected to receive financial assistance from English PEN’s Writers in Translation programme supported by Bloomberg. English PEN exists to promote literature and its understanding, uphold writers’ freedoms around the world, campaign against the persecution and imprisonment of writers for stating their views, and promote the friendly co-operation of writers and free exchange of ideas. For more information visit www.englishpen.org.

Industry Reviews

"What kind of people are those we don't execute? We don't execute people like Hu Feng ... not because their crimes don't deserve capital punishment but because such executions would yield no advantage ... Counterrevolutionaries are trash, they are vermin, but once in your hands, you can make them perform some kind of service for the people." - Mao Zedong

"A brilliant literary writer and critic ... [F: Hu Feng's Prison Years] is a vivid portrayal of the suffocating intellectual life of Mao's years." - Ngeow Chow Bing, China Report

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $89.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction History Regional & National History Asian History Biographies & True Stories Biographies Historical, Political and Military Biographies Historical, Political and Military Autobiographies Memoirs Politics & Government Political Control & Freedoms Social Services & Welfare

Crime & Criminology Penology & Punishment Prisons Literary Biographies

Past Events Disperse Like Smoke
It Started with a Letter	p. 3
Reunion	p. 13
A Gaol Visit, Not a Family Visit	p. 22
The Third Meeting	p. 28
Warm Current, Cold Wave	p. 33
An Unpredictable Future	p. 39
An Uncompleted Mission	p. 45
At Around the Time of the Sentencing	p. 50
Welcoming the Prisoner Home	p. 56
Family Reunion	p. 62
Visiting in Beijing, Heart of the Ancestral Country	p. 68
Farewell Beijing, Farewell Dear Ones	p. 74
Living with a Prisoner
An Uncertain Future	p. 85
First Lesson	p. 97
Ominous Portents	p. 110
The Tempest	p. 122
A Bleak and Chilly Autumn Wind Arises	p. 128
Snake and Mouse	p. 136
A Serious Illness	p. 146
Convalescing Deep in the Mountains	p. 157
Helping One Another in Time of Need	p. 168
Learning How to Plant Tomatoes	p. 177
Taken Away Yet Again	p. 186
Hoping	p. 196
Behind High Walls
Escorted by Snowflakes	p. 209
Is It Really Him?	p. 218
Terror and Confusion	p. 231
A Turn for the better in Our Lives	p. 239
A New Beginning	p. 245
'Chopping Down to No Avail, Disentangling into Disarray'	p. 251
Hope, Distant Hope	p. 260
A Bolt from the Blue	p. 267
Taking Part in the Exposure Campaign	p. 278
In the Reform Through Labour Hospital	p. 286
Waiting	p. 299
Emerging from Behind the High Walls	p. 311
Epilogue	p. 323
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

F

Hu Feng's Prison Years

At a Glance

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in Historical, Political and Military Autobiographies

The Last Battle

Australian SAS, Commandos and our Greatest Victory in our Longest War

Becoming

The Sunday Times Number One Bestseller

Matters of the Heart

The inspirational and deeply moving memoir from one of Australia's most significant Indigenous voices, for readers of Anh Do, Ash Barty and J.D. Vance

Make Your Bed

Feel grounded and think positive in 10 simple steps

Balcony Over Jerusalem

A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and Beyond

The Gulag Archipelago

(Abridged edition)

PATRIOT

Eleven Bats

A story of combat, cricket and the SAS

Trump

The Art of the Deal

The Diary of a Young Girl

70th Anniversary Edition

Forged in Fire

An Australian commando's story of life and death on the frontline

Helmet for my Pillow

The World War Two Pacific Classic

Under Siege

My Family's Fight to Save Our Nation

Fly, Wild Swans

My Mother, Myself and China

Freezing Order

Vladimir Putin, Russian Money Laundering and Murder - A True Story

The Happiest Boy on Earth

The incredible story of The Happiest Man on Earth

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Storm of Steel

Penguin Modern Classics

Annastacia Palaszczuk

The Politics of Being Me, from the former Premier of Queensland

American Sniper

The Autobiography of Seal Chief Chris Kyle, the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History

A Promised Land

The Presidential Memoirs Vol. 1

The Nazis Knew My Name

A remarkable story of survival and courage in Auschwitz

Lily's Promise

How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live

The Journals of Captain Cook

Penguin Classics

This product is categorised by