Explore "Snow Falling in Spring" by Ming Li on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
THE YEAR 1976 BEGAN AND ENDED LIKE A LONG, TRAGIC SAGA. WHEN THE HISTORICAL CURTAIN FINALLY SHUT, IT CLOSED ON THE LIVES OF THE most dramatic players on the stage of twentieth-century China-Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai, and Marshal Zhu De. For almost a century, these powerful figures had dominated the Chinese scene, changing the country's history forever. This fateful year stayed in my memory as a series of shock waves. By the end of it, I felt as if I had lived through several lifetimes packed with unexpected events-all of them earthshaking, and all of them very sad.
On January 8, in the dead of winter, I got up early after spending a warm and welcoming night at the home of my youngest auntie. Outside her fifth-floor apartment windows, frosted by the icy wind, the day was just breaking. Reluctantly, I closed the door behind me and fastened the top button of my dark blue winter coat. Covering most of my face with a yellow woolen shawl, I braced for the penetrating chill.