The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, by Ji Xianlin

Translated by Chenxin Jiang

New York Review Books

(1989)

(Memoir)

Dr. Ji was a professor of Eastern Languages and Comparative Religions at Peking University in 1968. The Cowshed is his memoir of the persecutions he suffered during the Cultural Revolution. He watched as the university consumed itself in “making revolution.” Accused by students and colleagues, he suffered public interrogations and struggle sessions. Eventually, he was condemned to build his own wooden prison—called a cowshed—on the grounds of the university, where he and other disgraced students and professors served as a warning to others. Dr. Ji published his short book (184 pages) in China in 1989, and it became an instant best-seller, perhaps because his experiences were so common, or because his book finally gave people the opportunity to break their silence about the violence of Mao’s rule.

“I originally told myself I would simply write an objective account of what happened, without bitterness or rancor. But I am, after all, a human being with emotions, and I found it impossible to avoid tears and outrage as I was writing; I felt I needed to accept these emotions as part of the story if I wanted to be true to my experience. The largest difference between the first and final draft is that there are fewer tears and less outrage in this version. I would have preferred the original version, but I decided to tone down my writing in order to avoid stepping on people’s toes…In the years since the Cultural Revolution, I have never taken revenge on any of these people, even though my position as department head was restored and I was named to national political positions…I continue to value the relationships we were able to build before and after the Cultural Revolution.” (149 “Author’s Afterword”)