In 1942 Mao started a “Rectification” campaign, and invited criticisms about the way things were being run in Yan’an. A group of young research fellows from the Academy, led by Wang Shi-wei and including my father, put up wall posters criticizing their leaders and demanding more freedom and the right to greater individual expression. Their action caused a storm, and Mao himself came to read the posters. Mao did not like what he saw, and turned his campaign into a witch-hunt.
