cover image Testimony of a Confucian Woman: The Autobiography of Mrs. Nie Zeng Jifen, 1852-1942

Testimony of a Confucian Woman: The Autobiography of Mrs. Nie Zeng Jifen, 1852-1942

Nie Zeng Jifen. University of Georgia Press, $40 (199pp) ISBN 978-0-8203-1509-6

This memoir by a Chinese matriarch recalls how, as both the daughter and widow of powerful industrialists--military and government officials of the old empire--she ``steered the careers'' of her husband and sons. Translated, edited and heavily annotated by researcher and genealogist Micki Kennedy and Washington State University history professor Thomas Kennedy, the book provides invaluable cultural and historical background information. From the fall of the Manchu's Qing dynasty through numerous wars and the rise of Communism, Mrs. Nie's strong Confucian values, buttressed by her ``new Christian faith'' and adaptability to change, helped her to survive during a long widowhood and to maintain bewilderingly extended family relations. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)