Zhai Zhenhua was born in China in 1951, two years after the Communist Party assumed power. Schooled in party loyalty, she was nonetheless swept into the fervour of the Cultural Revolution. She joined the Red Guards at 15, leading raids on homes and beating her fellow citizens, until the Red Guards fell from favour and she was sent to a destitute region of China to do hard labour. Re-educated and selected for university, she was sent abroad to study in 1980. She received a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Manitoba, then her doctorate from McGill. In Montreal she met and married Professor Charles B. Daniels. They moved to Victoria where Zhenua now teaches. Her 1992 autobiography is Red Flower of China.

[BCBW 1992] "Biography"