Nien Cheng or Zheng Nian (January 28, 1915 – November 2, 2009) was the pen name of Yao Nien-Yuan She was a Chinese author known for recounting her experiences during the Cultural Revolution in her memoir Life and Death in Shanghai.
Biography
Cheng was born into a rich landowning family in Beijing. She studied at Yenching University and later went to London to obtain a master's degree at the London School of Economics. She returned to China after graduation.
During her time in London, Cheng also met her husband Kang-chi Cheng and converted to Christianity. Upon their return to China, Kang-chi Cheng joined the Foreign Affairs ministry of the Nationalist government. The couple lived in Australia briefly, setting up an embassy there, The couple had one daughter named Meiping,
In 1966, Cheng was targeted by the Red Guards and accused of being a British spy, as she was both Western-educated and the widow of a former manager of a foreign firm in Shanghai.
Cheng lived in China until 1980. Using funds that her husband had placed in overseas bank accounts, she first emigrated to Canada and later to Washington, D.C., where she wrote the autobiography. Cheng never returned to China. She stated that the main reason she remained in her self-imposed exile was that she could not bear the constant reminder of her dead daughter at the sight of other young Chinese women. Meanwhile, Cheng also suspected that she was still a constant target of surveillance by the Chinese government. In an interview conducted in 1998, Cheng said she would never return to China until the portrait of Chairman Mao was removed from the gate of Tiananmen Square.
Cheng was a longtime friend of Nelson T. Johnson and his wife. After moving to Washington, D.C., Cheng traveled extensively and was a frequent speaker on the lecture circuit. She was also a close friend of Suzanne Hiltermann-Souloumiac, who encouraged her to write about her experiences. Nien and Suzanne exchanged several letters on Life and Death in Shanghai. Canadian singer Corey Hart recorded an instrumental song inspired by her memoir in his 1990 album Bang!
Cheng died of renal failure in Washington, D.C., on November 2, 2009.