Sydney Rittenberg

choi

Mr Rittenberg was friend of Chinese Communist Party, jailed for 16 years, released and returned to US. I will have a second part tomorrow.

Sidney Rittenberg, Looking Back From Age Ninety. Hong Kong Economic Journal (HKEJ). Nov 12, 2011.
http://www.hkej.com/template/blo ... blog_posts_id=76147

Note:
(i)
(A) Sidney Rittenberg and Amanda Bennett, The Man Who Stayed Behind. In 1946, a young American marched with the revolutionaries across the war-torn China. Over the next three decades, he remained to fight their fights, keep their secrets and befriend their leaders of power, and survived 16 years in their prisons. Now he has returned to tell his story * * *   Simon and Schuster, 1993.
(B)

(ii) humph (interjection; imitative of a grunt): "used to express doubt or contempt"
www.m-w.com
(iii) The retrospective said, "I went out, as soon as my duffle bag was stowed in the barracks."

stow (vt): "to put away for future use : STORE"
(iv) The "stocks" were mentioned as torture implements.

(A) stocks (n):
"plural : a device for publicly punishing offenders consisting of a wooden frame with holes in which the feet or feet and hands can be locked"
(B) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stocks
(v) The retrospective commented, "But he dogged my footsteps, and my buddies’, as long as we were in Beijing, and was a sinister nuisance."

dog (vt):
"1a : to hunt, track, or follow like a hound <dogged her every move>
b : to worry as if by pursuit with dogs : PLAGUE <dogged by his past failures>
c : to bother or pester persistently <dogged him about his grades>"

(vi) The "flush" in "first flush of excitement" is a noun that means
"a fresh and vigorous state <in the first flush of womanhood>."
(vii) grungy (adj; origin unknown): "shabby or dirty in character or condition"
(viii) entr’acte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entr'acte
(ix) newsie (n; First Known Use 1971):
"a person who works in the news industry; especially : REPORTER"
(x) The author quoted Shalespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Act 5, Scene 1:

Romeo to apothecary:

"Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness,
And fear’st to die? Famine is in thy cheeks.
Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes."

, whose translation is:
"You’re this poor and wretched and still afraid to die? Your cheeks are thin because of hunger. I can see in your eyes that you’re starving."
http://nfs.sparknotes.com/romeojuliet/page_252.html