My friend Caroline Beckenhaupt writes in with a gem today from a memoir of the Cultural Revolution, Morning Breeze by Fulang Lo.  

Caroline explains that the author has asked her mentor, a writer, what the play she was writing was about. Her mentor replies:

"[It’s about] our daily life.  About how to be an honest citizen living in our land. It  is difficult to be an honest citizen, since many people have been trained to lie."

She looked at me with determination.  “Everyone has tears, as the sun has light, as the tree has leaves, everyone has a voice, as the birds in the trees. But we are taught not to be free and see and talk.  Even if we see a donkey, we must say it is a horse.”

She went on, “As a writer, one must write honestly to be true to life, to the people, and the land.”

Isn't it just too terrible that communism blighted the lives of those unfortunate people so very far away from here?