Acknowledgements p. xi
A Note on Transliteration p. xiii
Introduction p. xv
Earliest Recollections p. 1
Beginnings p. 3
Footbinding p. 4
An Extraordinary Journey p. 5
Home Again and Growing Up p. 8
Marriage p. 9
The Birth of Ding Ling p. 11
Ding Ling's Early Childhood p. 13
The Story of Qiu Jin p. 15
Mother and Daughter Embarking on a New Life p. 17
A New Life and a New Identity p. 18
To the Big City p. 20
The Daughter's Growing Independence p. 21
The Mother's Career p. 22
The Daughter's Schooling and the Death of the Only Son p. 24
Coping with Grief p. 25
Separation and Reunion p. 27
One Step Higher and One Step Away p. 28
A Reinvigorated Manzhen p. 30
Changing Schools p. 31
Plunging Back into Grieving p. 32
Breaking Away p. 35
Ding Ling's Engagement p. 35
Shanghai p. 37
A Time of Exploration p. 39
The Tragic Life of Qu Qiubai p. 43
The Mother's Struggle p. 44
Testing Her Wings in Raging Storm p. 47
Hu Yepin: A Sketch p. 48
Respite with Mother p. 51
From Free Love to Marriage p. 52
From Anarchism to Communism p. 54
A Turning Point p. 57
Seeing the Light p. 59
The Sudden Eclipse p. 61
Following Her Husband's Footsteps p. 63
Soaring High p. 65
Caged Up in a World of Demons and Monsters p. 67
News, Protests, and Rumors p. 70
The Contest of Wills p. 71
Wintering in a Summer Resort p. 76
The Mother's Visit p. 77
The Unspeakable Anguish p. 81
The Grip Loosens p. 82
Escape to Freedom p. 85
Shattered Dreams p. 89
The Captor: Xu Enzeng's Version p. 91
Feng Da's Feelings p. 93
Taking Off p. 93
The Yan'an Period p. 97
Yan'an p. 97
Chen Ming: A Sketch p. 100
Love and Marriage p. 101
A Communist First, Writer Second p. 102
The Triumph of the Communists p. 104
The Zenith of Ding Ling's Career p. 105
Trials and Tribulations in the Shifting Political Winds p. 107
The Anti-Rightist Campaign: 1957-1958 p. 108
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: 1966-1976 p. 115
Abuse, Imprisonment, and Hard Labor p. 116
Solitary Confinement p. 118
Free Again and Exonerated p. 121
Freedom and Rehabilitation p. 122
The Remaining Years p. 124
The Evolving Ideological Conviction: A Western Psychobiographical Analysis p. 129
Cognitive Dissonance p. 130
Psychological Resilience p. 134
Defensive Identification p. 135
A Filial Daughter and A Loyal Subject: A Chinese Interpretation p. 137
The Mandate of Heaven and the Responsibility to Remonstrate p. 140
Human Development in Sociohistorical Context p. 143
Afterword p. 147
Chronology p. 149
References p. 151
Index p. 157