Harriet Cornelia Mills (2 April 1920 – 5 March 2016) was a scholar and professor of Chinese language and literature at the University of Michigan from 1966 to 1990.
[3] After the beginning of the Korean War, Mills and other US Americans tried to leave China but were denied exit visas.
[1] Mills was arrested in July 1951 at the same time as several other foreigners, including Antonio Riva, Ruichi Yamaguchi, W. Allyn and Adele Rickett.
She said she had confessed passing on information to British and US diplomats, stressing repeatedly she had been "treated with the utmost consideration and courtesy" by her captors and that she had not been tortured.
A major reason for this identification was teaching basic literacy to the women in her cell who had been imprisoned for petty theft, prostitution, or for family connections with the Nationalist Party.
Their energy in learning and hope that they might contribute to the new society made her feel guilty for her comfortable life and for remarking as a child that she wanted to stay in China because she liked having someone to shine her shoes.