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The Man Who Stayed Behind

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"The Man Who Stayed Behind" is the remarkable account of Sidney Rittenberg, an American who was sent to China by the U.S. military in the 1940s. A student activist and labor organizer who was fluent in Chinese, Rittenberg became caught up in the turbulence that engulfed China and remained there until the late 1970s. Even with access to China's highest leaders as an American communist, however, he was twice imprisoned for a total of sixteen years.
Both a memoir and a documentary history of the Chinese revolution from 1949 through the Cultural Revolution, "The Man Who Stayed Behind "provides a human perspective on China's efforts to build a new society. Critical of both his own mistakes and those of the Communist leadership, Rittenberg nevertheless gives an even-handed account of a country that is now free of internal war for the first time in a hundred years.

497 pages, ebook

First published April 1, 1993

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Amanda Bennett

6 books23 followers
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
Profile Image for Lewis Weinstein.
Author 11 books597 followers
December 9, 2021
Only 50% thru but so far this is an utterly compelling memoir told like a novel ... UPDATE ... it only got better ... the descriptions of life in China during the years 1945 to 1980, 16 of which Rittenberg spent in solitary confinement, are honestly portrayed by a person who was trying to make sense of them. A communist in America before WWII, and a devoted follower of Mao in China for decades, Rittenberg finally concluded that the root of the problem was the communist doctrine itself and the perverted use of that doctrine in pursuit of personal power.
Profile Image for CarolineFromConcord.
493 reviews19 followers
December 9, 2016
I am now at page 208. I am probably not going to finish it. Although it is interesting and well-written (ghostwriter from Wall Street Journal is very good), it is frustrating.

During WW II, Sidney Rittenberg, an American Communist and labor organizer in his 20s, learns Chinese, joins the Army, and ends up in China in 1945, just as the civil war between the Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government and Mao Zedong's Communists is heating up. What Rittenberg sees of the former is feudal callousness, brutality, and corruption. What he sees of the the latter is how peasants are treated equally with Communists leaders and people are industrious and content.

After proving himself in numerous ways, he is accepted eventually into the Chinese Communist party, most unusual for a foreigner. He works closely with the leaders as an interpreter and propagandist. In 1949, at the behest of the Russian Communists, who don't want Communists from any other country gaining sway in China, he is arrested. In prison for six years, he is tortured mentally and spends most of his time trying to be a more faithful member of the Party by correcting his individualist thinking.

When he gets out, after Stalin's death in Russia, he is suddenly not only rehabilitated but moved to a high level of trust in the radio administration. There he cheerfully reports colleagues who might harbor counterrevolutionary thoughts and thinks it is all for their own good and the greater good of the Party (which is China, in his view).

He is either incredibly naive or determined to delude himself. Having admired the 1945 Communists for the egalitarian living conditions, he has nothing to say about now living like other leaders in Beijing--in other words, like a prince. It's a frustrating read. It is hard to find anything uplifting in it.

Compare this to, say, Greg Mortenson working with the more open-minded mullahs in Pakistan and submitting to sharia law as they work to counter fatwahs from the radical clerics. He is building schools for girls. He is not brainwashing himself. But Rittenberg writes propaganda, and in spite going to jail for another 10 years in China--eventually becoming disillusioned and bringing his family to live in the U.S. after 35 years straight in China--says he has no regrets.

I think I will clean the palate with a murder mystery and then decide if I am going back to this book.
Profile Image for Mabon Finch.
160 reviews5 followers
May 29, 2021
What an incredible book. Rittenberg’s story is truly one for the history books. He provides a firsthand account of China from WW2 until 1980, where he led a life that saw fame and power with the Communists on one side and pain and jail time on the other.
Profile Image for Arjen.
201 reviews10 followers
May 2, 2015
This autobiography is not your usual expat in China story. Sidney Rittenberg stayed on in China after his assignment with the US army at the end of WW2 was done, first joining a U.N. mission and then joining the Communists in Yan'an, becoming the first American to ever become a Chinese Communist Party member. Rittenberg climbs to an influential position at China International Radio responsible for translating and delivering Mao Zedong Thought and propagating China’s view on communism to the world. Rittenberg witnessed first-hand much of what occurred at upper levels of the CCP and knew many of its leaders personally and had access to many classified documents. He was a fervent believer in the communist cause and his writing illuminates his reasoning very well. Later, he was twice imprisoned in solitary confinement accused of being a spy, for a total of 16 years, when he heard the voice of Jiang Qing in the prison hallway he knew his days in prison were numbered. Rittenberg had a unique opportunity and reading his book I felt having the same privileged access. Rittenberg, together with a co-writer, manages to write without hindsight what went through his mind at the time. Highly recommended reading!
Profile Image for Leslie.
354 reviews15 followers
January 24, 2012
This is a great inside look at the Chinese Revolution--from before the Communists won until Mao's death. Sidney Rittenberg was one of the tiny handful of foreigners that were allowed to live and work in China after 1949. He was also the first American to join the Chinese Communist party. He participated in the many campaigns like the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution and he knew Mao, Zhou Enlai, and other top government officials personally. He was jailed twice, once for six years and once for ten, both times in solitary confinement.
This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in modern China. It shows what happened there from a very unique perspective.
5 reviews3 followers
June 30, 2008
Knowing Sidney probably biases my rating. The writing is a bit dry and overly detailed at times, but his story is utterly amazing. A naive young military recruit who excelled in foreign languages finds his way to the center of China's cultural revolution and in an odd twist of fate becomes Mao's right hand man, spends more than two decades in a Chinese prison and makes it home to the US.
30 reviews
June 10, 2012
I could not put it down. The author is a neighbor of mine on Fox Island, WA. You not only learn about him during 35 years in China, but also the vast changes in Chinese politics and culture every time he gets out of prison. The former Communist is now a consummate Capitalist, taking Bill Gates and others who want to do business in China, there to meet the leaders he grew up with. Fascinating!
Profile Image for Stormy.
205 reviews12 followers
February 29, 2008
I read this book on recommendation of my brother who had read it and traveled in China. I wanted to confirm what I'd read and learned in reading Rivertown by a Peace Corps volunteer. This author spent 35 years in China and really got involved in the Communist era. Well worth the read!
Profile Image for RYD.
622 reviews57 followers
June 12, 2011
Sidney Rittenberg was an American Communist from South Carolina who learned Chinese as a World War II draftee and ended up living there through the 1970s. This memoir shows both his idealism about Chinese Communism and the terrible price he paid for it. His was a history I was totally unaware of.
Profile Image for Roger Humbke.
15 reviews
October 25, 2009
An absolutely riviting autobiography that any Caucasion that believes he understand Chinese culture should read. It scared me to death and made me think of moving on!
Profile Image for Wallace.
342 reviews9 followers
March 18, 2015
Clearly written portrayal of an American who hoped that Chinese Communism would make the world a better place. I appreciate any book that offers another perspective on politics and capitalism.
Profile Image for Cody.
12 reviews
July 10, 2020
A great biography that give I site into the Chinese Civil War and the beginnings of the CCP.
Profile Image for Gmaharriet.
476 reviews4 followers
June 25, 2020
This is the autobiography of Sidney Rittenberg, an extremely idealistic man, who was sent to China by the US Army. He believed that Chinese communism would create a better world, joined the Party and knew Mao Zedong and Chou Enlai during China's revolution.

He worked as a translator and was much honored by the Chinese...until he wasn't...twice spending mullti-year periods in their prisons, and then being told with apologies that they'd made a mistake. Even in prison, he never lost faith in communism. But after being released the second time, and after Mao's death, he finally became disillusioned, returning to America with his wife and children.

This book really makes clear the appeal of communism to people who are poor and having nothing. In theory it should be wonderful, and if people were angels, it might work. Unfortunately, people at the top become blinded by adulation, becoming much the same as the dictators they've overthrown.

Interesting tale. Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Qmmayer.
155 reviews3 followers
August 11, 2019
3.5

Rittenberg's story is mind-boggling. I found his book especially useful for illuminating just how desperate things were for the majority of Chinese citizens before the Communists took over. It helps to make sense of the tragedy that follows (the Anti-Rightist Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution) which Rittenberg all details as an eye-witness to the Revolution and member of the Communist Party. He is twice imprisoned and eventually becomes disenchanted with the Party, although that seems as much to do with the corruption that accompanied Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening.

This is likely more for someone with a pre-existing interest in China. But essential for anyone who fits that description.
Profile Image for Peter Man.
Author 2 books5 followers
September 15, 2025
I knew Sidney in person. His book recounts the personal story of a young GI in China at the end of the Second World War, ending up in Yan'an to live among the highest echelons of the Communist Party, including Chairman Mao. He would live in China for the next thirty-eight years, sixteen of which in prison. While one reads Sidney's story, one also learns about history in the making. If one is interested in understanding this vast country, which is the main topic of every pundit nowadays, reading Sidney's book will provide more context. You can, of course, also read my book Unconquered.
Profile Image for Janice.
53 reviews
August 25, 2017
Fascinating book. I still don't understand how it could take someone 2 prison terms in isolation to understand the evil behind communism. Glad he wrote this book because I know so many people who idealize and romanticize this ideology. Must read for those who do not know history of the communist way of life. Great for high- schoolers.
Profile Image for Stephen Rowland.
1,357 reviews67 followers
April 23, 2018
A fascinating book for anyone interested in communist China, but also an infuriating one. Rittenberg's complete lack of critical thinking skills pushed me toward a myocardial infarction many times and his constant boasting and self-importance is rather annoying, but he finally sees the light. All it takes is 15 years in solitary confinement.
64 reviews
June 6, 2019
This one took awhile for me to get through. The author certainly has had an extraordinary experience and there were parts of the book, like his experience during the Cultural Revolution, that really held my attention. However, other sections of the story were just kind of slow and hard to get through.
1 review
June 9, 2021
According to official records Mr Rittenberg never went to Yan’an. No journalists that did go make no mention of him.He makes no mention of the Dixie Mission,or any of the visits by American politicians.
With this in mind I cannot believe any part of his story.
Solomon Alder Lawrence Rossinger and Frank Coe who he does mention,were found to be communist spies during the Venona/I.P.R enquiries.
279 reviews
June 3, 2025
Well worth a read to see what inspired him to stay despite multiple times when he went through years of suffering, as a long-time China expat this was a must read and should be for anyone whose stayed here.
Profile Image for Tony Taylor.
330 reviews16 followers
January 18, 2010
I met Sidney Rittenberg in Seattle in 2004; very interesting man. He lives on Fox Island, WA

The Man Who Stayed Behind is the remarkable account of Sidney Rittenberg, an American who was sent to China by the U.S. military in the 1940s. A student activist and labor organizer who was fluent in Chinese, Rittenberg became caught up in the turbulence that engulfed China and remained there until the late 1970s. Even with access to China’s highest leaders as an American communist, however, he was twice imprisoned for a total of sixteen years.
Both a memoir and a documentary history of the Chinese revolution from 1949 through the Cultural Revolution, The Man Who Stayed Behind provides a human perspective on China’s efforts to build a new society. Critical of both his own mistakes and those of the Communist leadership, Rittenberg nevertheless gives an even-handed account of a country that is now free of internal war for the first time in a hundred years.
5 reviews1 follower
March 21, 2008
The Man Who Stayed Behind is the story of an American soldier that stayed in China after World War II and became a part of Mao Zedong's communist regime. During this time Sidney Rittenberg went from a high level member of the communist party to a purged dissident and back to an accepted member of the communist party.

Sidney Rittenberg has a uniquely western and inside perspective on the post World War II history of China that should be educational to anyone interested in Chinese history.
Profile Image for Lacey.
12 reviews
April 1, 2009
I have met Rittenberg in person and I asked him what had gotten him through the 16 years in isolation in China, and he said to me,"The belief in truth". This man has an amazing way of making light of any situation. I am looking to buy this book, although I know it was published in the 60's and it will be difficult to find a copy.
Profile Image for David.
134 reviews1 follower
May 16, 2009
The memoir of a true believer, an American who joined the Chinese Communists and attained a fairly high position in the government. Eventually, like most people who shared a cave with Mao in the good old days of revolutionary struggle, he ended up in prison during the Cultural Revolution. Facinating life.
Profile Image for Lou.
120 reviews
May 4, 2025
This book started out very slow and then move into a good story. The author was a good man and wanted the best for the people. But as fate would have it greed and power always seem to creep in. After all his experiences I still have a hard time wondering why he was still a communist a heart. The story says it all. check it out.
Profile Image for Michael.
2 reviews
Want to read
May 31, 2009
I met the Mr Rittenberg on a flight from San Diego and what an interesting gentleman, I'm looking forward to reading this book.
Profile Image for Philip B..
Author 3 books
May 19, 2010
Incredible story of an idealistic naif on the Long March. Excellent counter point to the 10 lb Mao book.
Profile Image for Rob.
135 reviews7 followers
November 5, 2012
Interesting, but with no background in Chinese history, skimming a few wikipedia articles first would have been useful.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews

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