Nien Cheng was the pen name of Yao Nien-Yuan, a Chinese-American author known for her memoir, Life and Death in Shanghai. Born on January 28, 1915, Cheng vividly recounted her harrowing experiences during the Cultural Revolution in China.

As the manager of a foreign firm in Shanghai, Shell, she became a target of attack by the Red Guards. They accused her of being a British spy, exploiting her position to strike at Communist Party moderates for allowing the firm to continue operating in China post-1949.

Cheng displayed remarkable courage and resilience, enduring six and a half years of brutal imprisonment without falsely confessing to the charges. Her memoir documents this period of intense adversity and the tragic murder of her daughter, Meiping Cheng, a renowned Shanghai film actress, by Maoist revolutionaries.

Nien Cheng passed away on November 2, 2009.