During the Cultural Revolution, because she had studied in England and had worked at a British firm, Nien Cheng was accused of being an "imperialist spy" and thrown into prison. The next year her daughter, for refusing to denounce her mother, was beaten to death and pushed off the ninth floor of a building to make her death look like suicide.
鄭念在文革期間，以曾經留學英國又為英國公司工作，而被誣指為「帝國主義間諜」入獄，第二年，女兒就因不肯指控母親而被活活打死，又推下九樓，佯裝自殺。