The Man Who Stayed Behind

Rating:
Summary: . . . integrity of a worm.
Review: After reading "The Man Who Stayed Behind," I thought the title should be changed to "Memoirs of a Masochist - How to Spit on Me in Ten Different Ways, Comrade."

Rittenberg's decision to stay in China had more to do with his pathological need for acceptance than some strong revolutionary desire. As a foreigner, his ability to speak Chinese was what provided him admission into the Chinese Communist Party at a time when international support for their cause was lacking. He was just a freak at the right place and the right time.

As I read this book, I thought how weak and cowardly he was. When Rittenberg wasn't running from bombs like a little girl (he states how he was always the only one to run for safety), he was constantly crying and begging the jailers to accept him as a true Communist Party member.

Actually, I was surprised by his lack of embarrassment or shame for the opportunist life he lived in China. He criticized Zhou Enlai for his "unbecoming obsequiousness" to Chairman Mao yet the same mirror can be applied to Rittenberg as he continuously groveled like a lapdog to be accepted as the "only foreigner in the Chinese Communist Party."

The first time he was sent to a Chinese jail was due to his naivete. The second time it was due to his stupidity. His hubris and egotism was the real cause for the senseless waste of his life in a Chinese prison.

In this whole story, his second wife, Yulin, and later his children, were the only ones with intelligence and character. Rittenberg comes off as having the integrity of a worm.

I gave this book three stars because of its readability - the font size was very comfortable to read.

This book should be read in order to provide insight into the psychological weaknesses of individuals who join cults, extremist political parties, terrorist groups, etc. I am sure the American's who joined the Taliban and Muslim terrorists groups have a similar psychological profile as Mr. Rittenberg.

B. Polk
Beijing, China

Rating:
Summary: A man of true integrity
Review: As an ethnic Chinese grown up in China and having lived in Europe and the US for 17 years, I find this book very readable and highly educational. I immensely admire the courage and candidness of Mr. Sidney Rittenberg in presenting his complete life experience in China, particularly those embarrassing experiences. It is exceptionally rare that an autobiography author does not elevate one's wisdom, ability, and strength, glorify one's success or accomplishments, forget one's own weakness and short-comes, and blame others for failures.

The 35 year life experience of Mr. Rittenberg in China is a dramatic odyssey and a unique story, which could only be found in a masterpiece novel. He went to China as a US army soldier equipped with Chinese language capability at the end of World War II, stayed as a UN aid worker, and then worked as an English language expert for Chinese Communist propaganda organs at the proximity of the power center. He witnessed and experienced how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) relentlessly purged itself to preserve its core strength and how the CCP leadership changed from grass-root to self-isolation. Although he worked very hard and tried everything to win the trust and acceptance of the CCP and was a member of the Party, ironically he was groundlessly accused of spying for the US and imprisoned twice for 16 years in total. He married two Chinese women. The first one divorced him during his first imprisonment, but the second waited for him for more than 9 years when he was in jail for the second time. His tour of duty ended with bringing his family to the States shortly after all the false accusation on him was cleared up.

This book can be read from several aspects or levels. One can enjoy it as a novel with a moving and amazing story. This is also a documentary of personal witness of Chinese revolution, Cultural Revolution, and astonishing changes in many aspects of China occurred during these 35 years. It clearly describes one's struggle in living in and getting accepted by an alien culture. Furthermore and furthermost, it is a highly educational book on valuable life lessons. Among many valuable life lessons, the following are just a few of such examples:

1.We are all educated that there never are too many friends in anyone's life; however, Mr. Rittenberg's first imprisonment tells us good friends may bring us troubles as well. This is such a common experience for many people, yet it is hardly acknowledged anywhere.
2.His second imprisonment could well be avoided if he shined away from many luminescent foci. He was not cunning enough to play the games. But how many of us know where we really belong to, until too late.
3.It is pity that the book did not elaborate the advice of his boss and friend, Mei Yi, to him never to accept a chief executive officer position. Although having literally taken this most valuable advice that he got in China and recorded in this book, Mr. Rittenberg might not truly comprehended the full implication of this advice. He never was one ordinary member of his comrades' club.
4.He lived a roller coaster life in China, and always in two extremes: either highly privileged and beloved, or dismissed and untrusted. He dined at a small canteen, befriended with many high rank cadres, and had access to inner circle information prior to his first imprisonment, and had a salary at least ten times higher than his colleagues and even higher than Chairman Mao (!!!), and lived in an apartment compound exclusively for foreign experts before his second imprisonment. Such privilege would undoubtedly build an impassable barrier preventing his colleagues from sharing and communicating opinions and thoughts with him at equal footing. If he was consciously aware of such a barrier, his life experience in China might be very different.
5.We all know the fact that anyone's life can make a sudden turn by some unexpected events or unknown people. Mr. Rittenberg's experience in China exemplified this belief.

After finishing reading the book, I could not stop thinking about the story. This book has left the readers with many issues to ponder, such as:
1.If his first Chinese wife did not divorce him while he was in prison, what will be the situation after his release and finding that she was no longer the same woman he loved and married to?
2.If he had no option to move back to the US with his family after his release from second imprisonment, how would he struggle to go back to work in the Broadcast Administration?
3.He had many high rank and influential friends. How had those friends tried to help him and his family when he was in prison?
4.As a privileged alien totally devoted to the CCP, he had to struggle so hard to get accepted by the Party. If he did not have all the privilege, what would be his life experience in China?

As a Chinese, I feel terribly sorry for all the pain and suffers that Mr. Rittenberg was imposed. It is often and common to see people, who had been mistreated by others and become the biggest victim of him- or herself, developed overwhelming bitterness and irrational prejudice. It was yet another amazing character of Mr. Rittenberg. After having had such experiences in China, he did not have any bitterness against China and/or Chinese people, and he did not blame anyone for his personal suffering (16 years in solitary confinement). At the end of the book, it becomes crystal clear that in spite of all the weakness he might have had, Mr. Rittenberg is a man of true integrity with a big heart, strength, courage, and honesty. Honesty is so precious; people practice it rarely. "The Man Who Stayed Behind" is a rare and valuable exception.

Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: The Kirkus Reviews above claim that this book is a "dramatic odyssey of an American who cast his lot with mainland China's Communists following WW II--and who lived to regret it.", I wonder if the reviewer really read the book or not, since the author expressed explicitly in serveral places as well as the feeling run throught the book that he never regreted any of his experiences in China, instead found himself enriched, strengthened, and grateful for it;

Another reviewer's comment that "How this man earn a living in the US as an expert on a country he never seemed to understand is beyond me.", is actually beyond myself. I doubt if a man can't at least learn one or two things about a country if one lived there for 35 years, especially with about half of the time shut in a prison, devoting to a course he believed in. What the course is and whether it is really there or an illusion, is another matter.

In my own experience the book could be read on serveral levels: a personal autobiography from youth to the old age; the story of an American youth's adventure in the middle kingdom across 1949; Chinese revolution, from Yanan period to its end in late 70s, in the eyes of a foreigner of left wing political persuation, especially as an active (foreign) participant's memory/story of Culture Revolution. The experience is rich as well as unique, writing clear and smooth, reading the book is highly enjoyable and educational.

But here also weakness of the book lies, that different themes and levels of discourses can be in conflicts to each other: chinese revolution and Culture Revolution could be too big, social and impersonal to constraint and present in a biographical framework; events and various persona, from Chairman Mao to individuals living around the author, could only be presented from one perspective, without other independent references.

Still, the experiences are unique, stories moving, themes grand, the book is highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: The Disillusioned Communist
Review: The real heroine of this book is the authors second Chinese wife. Even after 16 years in a Chinese prison the author thought that Communism was the total answer to the problems of the Chinese people. He admits that he was wrong in almost all the decisions he made in supporting Communism in China and that he was eventually double crossed by every high ranking Chinese leader that he decided to support. Only after he returned to the United States were he, his wife and four children completely hsppy!