A Letter From the Publisher

By Robert L. Miller

Our articles are a bit like letters to the world, and sometimes the world writes back. A year ago, TIME published excerpts from the best-selling book Life and Death in Shanghai, the gripping account of Author Nien Cheng's ordeal during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. When Cheng, who now lives in Washington, opened her mailbox a few weeks ago, she found a package of some 50 letters from sixth-graders in Alberta, Canada, who were deeply moved by her story. They wrote after Teacher Loretta Hofmann used TIME's excerpts last semester in a history course on China at Airdrie Elementary School near Calgary.

On learning about the ransacking of Cheng's home, her confinement to a tiny cell for 6 1/2 years and the murder of her daughter, Blake Hardy wrote, "I think that was horrible what they did to you, and for no reason at all! I feel that you are a very brave and courageous lady." Warren Driessen was blunt: "Sometimes I bet you would like to punch all those people." The children were struck by Cheng's assertion "I would rather die than tell a lie" and her refusal to confess to trumped-up charges.

The students wondered how she withstood such treatment. "I don't know why you just didn't confess and get out of there," wrote Damian Banick. "But I admire your courage." Declared Nickie Borley: "I would have died if they put me through that kind of pain." Said Jacquie Hollingsworth: "I'm not sure that I would have stood up for what I believed in, like you did, but then again, I'm not half as brave as you are." Nearly all had questions: "Do you have nightmares?" "Do you still have scars from the handcuffs and the kicking?" "Did you ever get a proper apology?"

Cheng, 73, plans to tell Mrs. Hofmann's class that "self-discipline is everything for one's character." Finding time to answer all the letters -- along with the hundreds of others she has received -- may take some doing. And more may be on the way. Soon after the packet arrived from Canada, Cheng received a telephone call from Joan Audrish, a teacher in Factoryville, Pa.; she plans to use the TIME excerpts to teach her ninth- and tenth-graders about the Cultural Revolution. As for Cheng, she is doing some studying herself, boning up on U.S. history in preparation for becoming an American citizen. Says she: "I haven't been so happy since 1966," the year her old life was shattered by the Cultural Revolution.