When Orville Schell, a young American fluent in Chinese, visited the People's Republic during the last months of Chairman Mao's life, he had the rare opportunity to work with the Chinese in a Shanghai factory and at the Tachai People's Commune, one of the most renowned model farms in China. This book, the result of his unique experience of everyday life in China, provides a portrait of China and the Chinese as few experts or diplomats have ever known them.