ABSTRACT

First published in 2010. At the beginning of this quarter of a century Chinese women still concealed herslef in her boudoir, and confined herself to needlework and embroidery, cooking and wahing nad sometimes composing poetry.  This conservative tradition had lasted several thousand years. Only during the ned of the twenry five years a new China was born. The spirit of this period of change is expressed in the autobiography written around 1926.

chapter |14 pages

Introduction

part One|31 pages

My Childhood

chapter Chapter I|4 pages

What My Grandmother Told Me

chapter Chapter II|5 pages

My Family

chapter Chapter V|4 pages

My First Suffering

chapter Chapter VI|6 pages

The Village Private School

part Two|36 pages

My Schooldays

chapter Chapter VIII|5 pages

My First School

chapter Chapter X|4 pages

Headmaster Grandma

chapter Chapter XI|3 pages

My First Literary Attempt

chapter Chapter XII|6 pages

Platonic Love

chapter Chapter XIII|3 pages

A Public Love Letter

chapter Chapter XIV|4 pages

The Beginning Of My Struggles

chapter Chapter XV|3 pages

My First Love

Extracts from my diary for 1926

part Three|42 pages

My Army Life

chapter Chapter XVI|3 pages

Joining The Army

chapter Chapter XVII|4 pages

Country Girls And The Train

chapter Chapter XVIII|5 pages

Expelled Again

chapter Chapter XIX|6 pages

Serving In The Ranks

chapter Chapter XX|3 pages

‘Down With Love!’

chapter Chapter XXI|3 pages

Some Points On Discipline

chapter Chapter XXII|4 pages

Setting Out

chapter Chapter XXIII|6 pages

An Incident On The Road

chapter Chapter XXIV|4 pages

Night March

chapter Chapter XXV|4 pages

Demobilisation

part Four|51 pages

My Prison Life At Home

chapter Chapter XXVI|5 pages

My Home-Coming

chapter Chapter XXVII|9 pages

My Quarrel With My Mother

chapter Chapter XXVIII|7 pages

Confined By My Mother

chapter Chapter XXIX|8 pages

My Pilgrimage

chapter Chapter XXX|4 pages

Bad News

chapter Chapter XXXI|4 pages

Secret Meeting

chapter Chapter XXXII|6 pages

My First Attempt At Escape

chapter Chapter XXXIII|3 pages

Second Attempt

chapter Chapter XXXIV|5 pages

Third Attempt

part Five|32 pages

My Wandering Life

chapter Chapter XXXV|4 pages

In Prison

chapter Chapter XXXVI|4 pages

Out Of Prison

chapter Chapter XXXVII|6 pages

The Schoolmistress

chapter Chapter XXXVIII|5 pages

Under Suspicion

chapter Chapter XXXIX|4 pages

The Night Of Terror

chapter Chapter XL|5 pages

More Terrors

chapter Chapter XLI|4 pages

Deliverance