My Life in Prison: Memoirs of a Chinese Political Dissident

Jailed from 1999 until 2003 for the publication of an essay celebrating and memorializing the "Souls of the Heroes" of Tiananmen Square on its 10th anniversary, human rights activist Qisheng details his grueling incarceration in this engrossing memoir. In brief but vivid chapters, Qisheng recounts his time in Beijing's relatively comfortable Detention Center, where he awaited trial, spending his days working out with soda bottles and mastering Chinese chess. His reputation as "Political Prisoner" earned him the respect and unexpected camaraderie of many fellow inmates, but those friendships would be short-lived. After his trial, Qisheng was relocated to spend the remaining two years of his sentence in the deplorable conditions of the Transfer Center, where he endured "Guinness Record Levels of Suffering." Of the many daily hardships, Qisheng%E2%80%94an intellectual through and through%E2%80%94remarks several times on the lack of reading materials (aside from the numerous "violent and bloody martial arts novels" provided in every cell at the Detention Center) and his joy at being reunited with his beloved subscription to The World of English. In addition to the gripping account of an individual's triumph in a hostile environment, Qisheng's story is rife with relevant commentary on the state of Chinese rule: "It seems as though in China it is becoming more and more difficult to keep the populace in ignorance%E2%80%A6not only in society in general, but also in the Detention Center." (Feb.)