Nien Cheng: Life and Death in Shanghai

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Word Count: 486

From Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng


“I believe the main reason I was able to survive my ordeal was that the Maoist Revolutionaries failed to break my fighting spirit” (128)

After Nien Cheng was imprisoned, she went through a lot of abuse from the prison guards. When reading this, one of the things I wondered was how she survived this torment. I think it was a combination of the small kindnesses shown to her in the prison, the way she was raised, and the fact that they never broke her spirit.

Most of the people she interacts with in the prison are horrible to her in many ways. Most often, she was forced to endure a lot of physical suffering combined with the sense of doom she felt knowing that she could die from her wounds. Nien Cheng herself said that they did not break her fighting spirit, but they did try. Even when these guards tried to take away her choices, she still found the ability to make her own choices and that was the reason that her fighting spirit did not break and she was able to survive. The kind woman from the kitchen actually helped with this process as well. 

The other prison guards recognized that her hands were important and tried to deprive her of her hands by placing handcuffs on her. Her hands were cut by the handcuffs and then got infected. This was Nien Cheng’s biggest worry throughout this story because she knew that she could die or lose her hands without treatment. Through her imprisonment and torture, the kind woman not only helped her eat her food, she suggested she wail to get attention and help for her hands, but even with that suggestion, Nien Cheng chose not to because she was raised not to show emotion. She felt embarrassed by this display of emotion, but regardless, after her previous experience trying to get help she knew that that wouldn't work. Even through all the pain she suffered, she refused to give in and accepted the idea of her hands being crippled. She chose, daily, to get up and renew her strength and do what she could to get better. When the guards understood they were failing at their job they told her, “You deserve all you are getting. You are tired of living, I'm sure. I have never seen a prisoner as stubborn and stupid as you” (117). The handcuffs were eventually removed after she almost died and she took care of them and they continued to try to discourage her. Nien Cheng is able to continue to make her own choices and therefore has power in her situation. Because of that power, they could not get to her and they were unable to break her spirit and therefore they failed at their job.

Comments

  1. Christopher ThiryJanuary 27, 2023 at 6:46 AM

    I certainly think Cheng defines what it means to have a fighting spirit. The torture she received and the gruesome effects she describes in great detail would have broken 99% of people including myself. The recognition of small kindnesses is an important observation that I didn't pay as much credit to as I think I should have after reading your perspective.

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