There, lying in bed, is an old woman. Silently reading her copy of the state-run China Daily, oblivious to the cold outside, she slowly puts down the newspaper, turns, and gazes at you, calmly taking your measure. This is Ruth Weiss. Now, aged 92, she lies ravaged by strokes and old age, her hair white and wispy, her body struggling against the years. But, for all that, she retains the air of determination that's shaped her long life.
History moves in zig-zags.
The main line running through the zig-zags in China is up, not down. Weiss and Epstein are two survivors of a dying generation. Along with perhaps no more than a dozen other foreigners still living in Beijing, they spent much of their lives believing in Mao's dream of a communist China. For some, like Epstein, the flame of socialism still burns strongly in the imagination. For others, like Weiss, the mind is filled rather with flickering memories of a more personal story.