Heroine in China
WOLFE, ANN F.
Heroine in China The Story of Mary Liu. By Edward Hunter. Farrar, Straus. 248 pp. $4.00. Reviewed by Ann F Wolfe Contributor, N.Y. "Times Book Revieio," "Saturday Review" It was bad enough to be...
...its subject was "no longer acceptable...
...That she was merely bent, but not broken, by the brainwashing is a tribute to Mary's spiritual fortitude and patriotic resolve...
...their devotion and enlightened guidance saw her through school and college and led her to editorial work in Shanghai...
...The output of the church publishing houses was all but liquidated...
...Mary, meanwhile, was living in a nightmare of subtle and unnerving persecution, of ceaseless demands for betrayal of associates...
...All about her, old colleagues were taking part in orgies of accusation and self-criticism...
...Shanghai fell to the Communists...
...Times Book Revieio," "Saturday Review" It was bad enough to be born a girl in pre-Republic China, even when one was indentured as a slave to a famous old family...
...Religion was being efficiently converted into an instrument of Communism...
...Ominously, a fellow editor suggested that Mary be reported to labor headquarters for having "connections with the imperialists" —the Americans, of course...
...She saw cherished companions among the intelligentsia fired from lifetime jobs and given the Red promise: "When we liberate America, you'll all get jobs as interpreters...
...she made a dramatic escape to Hong Kong...
...Yet, lonely Mary Liu, family-less in a world where the family was the social unit, did not become a beggar...
...Despite the cruel odds against her, Mary was a fortunate child...
...Nevertheless...
...people's bookshops" were set up throughout China...
...As a parting gift for 22 years of dedication to Chinese-American friendship, she received a copy of Mao Tse-tung's selected writings...
...Even when enrolled at Columbia University, the high-hearted young woman refused the slightest favor or concession, preferring to fight the battle of New York on the same terms as any other solitary foreign student...
...Some committed suicide, thereby penalizing surviving relatives...
...the author of Brainwashing in Red China is the ideal chronicler of Mao's ordeal at the hands of Mao's thorough laundry crews...
...And after her American year she devoted her spare time to a Chinese translation of The Robe...
...Missionary friends were hounded to death or endured a living death in jail...
...In Shanghai, Mary became editor of the Woman's Messenger, a mission publication with one of the largest circulations in China...
...For one thing, she fell into the hands of American Protestant missionaries in Nanking...
...And to lose both hands and feet at the age of 4 seemed to augur little but misery and exploitation in the beggars' guild...
...Hunter proves to be master portraitist for an inspiring new kind of heroine...
...Needless to say...
...Ultimately trapped into accusing benefactors, she endangered none of them...
...She rose above her handicaps not only to lead a distinguished career but to achieve spiritual triumph over the Communists who wrecked that career...
...Mary was born with an indomitable spirit that lighted her way through years of pain and the torture of successive operations and kept aflame the ambition to lead the life of an average girl...
...Before long, the translation of The Robe was refused publication...
...She had other responsibilities, too, especially during the unhappy period of the Japanese occupation...
...In I'M...
...just before Pearl Harbor she adopted a three-day-old orphan girl...
...Their remarkable surgical care saved her life...
...Convinced at last that Red China offered her no foothold for patriotic or religious service...
Vol. 40 • April 1957 • No. 15
