I was born in 1957 and spent my childhood in China's remote Xinjiang region, where my father, Ai Qing, had been exiled. He was a poet, not a revolutionary, but the Communist Party had no tolerance for free thinkers. So he spent years cleaning toilets, enduring beatings and public humiliation. To me, it was a lesson in how horribly humans can treat one another.
On Oct. 1, the Party will mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic. Thanks to the ability of the Chinese people to struggle and...
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