Q. and A.: Zha Jianying on Remembering the Cultural Revolution

Nearly 20 years after the appearance in China of one of the most shocking first-person narratives of the Cultural Revolution, “The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution,” The New York Review of Books has published the book in English. Written by Ji Xianlin, the account appears with a new introduction by Zha Jianying, a writer and media critic based in New York. Mr. Ji, who was a distinguished professor of languages at Peking University, offers a rare and harrowing description of life as a prisoner of the Red Guards. The title refers to the flimsy structures with dank floors and reed mats where victims of the Red Guards at the university, including Mr. Ji, were kept. Read more