One Man’s Bible

the eagerly-awaited new novel from Gao Xingjian, the first Chinese recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature.Full of wisdom, wit, pain and redemption, One Man’s Bible is a book which sets out to make sense of the horror that was China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). there has been much written about this period, and the Chinese people are often portrayed as innocent victims, powerless to stop the government stamping any cultural pursuit that wasn’t state-sanctioned. Gao argues however that everyone - from paddy-field worker to government cadre - was complicit and should take responsibility for what happened.Some 30 years later, the book’s main character reflects on the tragedy and absurdity which swept through China under Mao’s rule, recalling the endless rounds of recrimination and the policing of every word and deed - how nothing that did not conform to the mandates of the state or the Party was allowed and anyone who dared speak out was denounced, imprisoned or killed. He traces his perilous path through those times and examines every aspect of his life.