JOHN ROGERS
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Da Chen, the brilliant storyteller who drew from the hardships he suffered as a persecuted child growing up in the midst of China's cultural revolution to create the critically acclaimed memoir "Colors of the Mountain," has died at age 57.
Chen died of lung cancer on Dec. 17, his wife, Dr. Sun-Ling Chen, told The Associated Press on Tuesday from the family's home in Temecula.
His most recent book, "Girl Under a Red Moon," was published just three months ago.
Chen's breakthrough came in 1999 with the critically acclaimed, best-selling "Colors of the Mountain," in which he recounted the abuses he and his family suffered during the latter years of the country's Cultural Revolution.
It was a time when the Communist Party and its leader,
