Red Peonies (eBook)

Born in 1942 in Chongqing, Sichuan, Zhang Yihe was the daughter of Zhang Bojun, a high official in the Chinese Communist Party who was purged in 1957, during the PRC's Anti-Rightist Campaign, and labeled a public enemy. Three years later, Zhang Yihe entered the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, but in 1963, she was sent down to a Sichuanese opera troupe, far from Beijing, for offending Mao Zedong's powerful wife. For this offense and the fact of being the daughter of 'China's Number One Rightist,' Zhang Yihe was convicted in 1970 of counterrevolutionary activities and sentenced to twenty years in prison. In 1979, she was cleared and allowed to return to Beijing, where she joined the Chinese National Opera Academy and eventually became a professor of theatre arts. She retired in 2001 and started writing memoirs of people who lived during the era of Mao and the Cultural Revolution. In 2004, she received the International PEN Award for Independent Chinese Writing.StewartFrank:

Frank Stewart, professor of English at the University of Hawai'i at M?noa, is a writer, translator, and editor of M?noa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing.GernantKaren:

Karen Gernant is professor emeritus of Chinese history at Southern Oregon University.ZepingChen:

Chen Zeping is professor in Chinese linguistics at Fujian Normal University.

Zhang Yihe (Author)
Born in 1942 in Chongqing, Sichuan, Zhang Yihe was the daughter of Zhang Bojun, a high official in the Chinese Communist Party who was purged in 1957, during the PRC's Anti-Rightist Campaign, and labeled a public enemy. Three years later, Zhang Yihe entered the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, but in 1963, she was sent down to a Sichuanese opera troupe, far from Beijing, for offending Mao Zedong's powerful wife. For this offense and the fact of being the daughter of 'China's Number One Rightist,' Zhang Yihe was convicted in 1970 of counterrevolutionary activities and sentenced to twenty years in prison. In 1979, she was cleared and allowed to return to Beijing, where she joined the Chinese National Opera Academy and eventually became a professor of theatre arts. She retired in 2001 and started writing memoirs of people who lived during the era of Mao and the Cultural Revolution. In 2004, she received the International PEN Award for Independent Chinese Writing.

Frank Stewart (Editor)
Frank Stewart, professor of English at the University of Hawai'i at M?noa, is a writer, translator, and editor of M?noa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing.

Karen Gernant (Translator)
Karen Gernant is professor emeritus of Chinese history at Southern Oregon University.

Chen Zeping (Translator)
Chen Zeping is professor in Chinese linguistics at Fujian Normal University.