were sent to attend governmental cadre schools in Zhanjiang and Dongting Lake, where they were forced to work as labourers on a remote farm. Their daughter was taken away and given to another family to raise during this period, and Fu was not permitted to leave the farm to visit her, even though she sent most of her monthly earnings to support the child. They did not see their daughter again until after their release from farm work. In 1972, Fu and her husband returned to Beijing and worked as technicians in a surveillance equipment factory under the Ministry of Public Security. From 1978 to 1979, Fu took English lessons at the PLA Foreign Languages Institute in Nanjing. She had noticed a widespread lack of children's books for Chinese children and was interested in translating English books for her daughter. Fu published a short story in November 1979 – her first published work – and at this point began using the name Dai Qing. While studying at the Foreign Languages Institute, she had been recruited by the Chinese army's intelligence department. Because of her writing skills and English ability, she was assigned to join the Chinese Writers Association, make foreign contacts, and spy on writers taking part in international exchange programs. Her career as a spy turned out to be short-lived: her cover was blown by a colleague who gave a list of army personnel to the CIA, and Dai subsequently left the army in 1982. In 1982, she left the Army and joined Guangming Daily (光明日報) as a news reporter. Early life as a journalist In 1966, Dai Qing graduated from the Harbin Military Engineering Academy (哈爾濱軍事工程學院), predcessor of National University of Defense Technology. After graduation, she furthered her studies in Japan to become an oil engineer, and she was also trained as a missile engineer. In the same year, she worked as an engineer in a top secret plant which specialized in intercontinental missiles. After working as an engineer, she started her career as a writer/news reporter. She was noticed in 1969 when the Guangming Daily published her short story which depicted the plight of a husband and a wife separated during the Cultural Revolution. As a result, she joined the Chinese Authors Association (中國作者協會) in 1982. After publishing the short fiction, "Pan" ("盼"), she was paid high tribute as an author. She then became a reporter for