A seminal document of the Cultural Revolution in China, Ji Xianlin's dissident memoir, Memories of the Cowshed, has been considered essential reading for any Chinese citizen interested in the revolution since its first publication in 1998. Now, this monumental account is easily accessible to a Western audience in Chenxing Jiang's original English translation.

"A bestseller in China, this memoir calls attention to the tremendous injustices wrought in that anarchic time. . . . [Ji s] pages seethe with grievance and reckoning. . . . [A] meaningful document of a time too little chronicled and now all but forgotten by younger Chinese people." Kirkus Reviews "Ji, as a world-renowned expert on Buddhism, Sanskrit, and comparative religions, brings a perspective to this hellish time that is marvelously informed, ironic, and revealing. Western readers get far more than simply an opportunity to be immersed in the sordid details of Red Guard torture. This book raises questions about religiosity, dictatorship, and trauma that will impact far beyond the China studies world. Chenxin Jiang s translation and notes elucidate with skill, and empathy, the difficult details of the text. . . . Here lies the opportunity of genuine testimony, as glimpsed so dramatically in the works of Primo Levi, Jean Amery, and Dori Laub." Vera Schwarcz, Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies, Wesleyan University "The most detailed account of Mao-era violence ever published inside China, now available in English translation." Perry Link, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages, University of California, Riverside To a remarkable extent, "The Cowshed" achieved Ji s goal of directing public attention to the brutality of the Cultural Revolution. And in light of current events such as artist Ai Weiwei s house arrest and Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo s imprisonment, Ji Xianlin s eyewitness story of surviving reform through labor is an especially timely read. Jiang Chenxin"

Ji Xianlin (1911-2009) was born in the impoverished flatlands of Shandong province weeks before the Qing government was overthrown, and educated in Germany in the 1930s. After the Second World War, he returned to China to cofound the Department of Eastern Languages at Peking University. A distinguished scholar of Sanskrit and Pali, Ji was best known as an influential essayist and public intellectual. The former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao paid visits to the author during Ji's final years, and made it known that he considered Ji a mentor. Chenxin Jiang was born in Singapore and grew up in Hong Kong. Forthcoming translations include a novel by Xiao Bai for HarperCollins and one by Zsuzsanna Gahse for Dalkey Archive Press. She received the 2011 Susan Sontag Prize for Translation, as well as a PEN Translation Grant for her work on Ji Xianlin. Chenxin also translates from Italian and German. She studied comparative literature and creative writing at Princeton University. Zha Jianying is a journalist and nonfiction writer. She is the author of two books in English, China Pop: How Soap Operas, Tabloids, and Bestsellers are Transforming a Culture and Tide Players: The Movers and Shakers of a Rising China. She has published work in a variety of publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Dushu. She divides her time between Beijing and New York City.