A Year in Upper Felicity

A Year In Upper Felicity: Life in a Chinese Village During the Cultural Revolution is a book written and illustrated by journalist and author Jack Chen. Published in May 1973, the book chronicles a year spent in a rural Chinese village (Upper Felicity) during the Cultural Revolution. It was based upon the author's stay in the village during 1969-1970. A Year in Upper Felicity is not a work of fiction as the original entry erroneously stated.

The book is organized around the four seasons. It describes the day-to-day life of rural Chinese peasants, and how city dwellers (such as the author) were sent to live and work with peasants to further the supposed imminent socialist revolution that dominated Chinese politics in the 1960s.

Jack Chen has written a number of other books about life in China, including:

  • Chen, Jack (1957). New earth. Southern Illinois University Press. – "Until now, very little firsthand informa­tion about Communist China has been available in this country. Of extraordinary importance, therefore, is this story of an early collective farm in East China’s Chekiang Province in the 1949–56 period."
  • Chen, Jack (1975). Inside the cultural revolution. Macmillan. – "Here he gives a favorable recapitulation of the Cultural Revolution, written in a mixture of dry academese and Maoist jargon."
  • Chen, Jack (1990). The Chinese of America. Harper & Row. – "Examines the events that led to the Tian'anmen Square massacre, discusses religious freedom in China, and speculates on whether a Chinese democracy could survive."

Famous quotes containing the words year, upper and/or felicity:

    “The author’s conviction on this day of New Year is that music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance; that poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music; but this must not be taken as implying that all good music is dance music or all poetry lyric. Bach and Mozart are never too far from physical movement.”
    —Ezra Pound (1885–1972)

    “Surely you wouldn’t grudge the poor old man
    Some humble way to save his self-respect.
    He added, if you really care to know,
    He meant to clear the upper pasture, too.”
    —Robert Frost (1874–1963)

    “They flaunt their conjugal felicity in one’s face, as if it were the most fascinating of sins.”
    —Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)