Red Scarf Girl
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Red Scarf Girl is a book written by Ji-li Jiang, when she was 12, about her personal experiences during the Cultural Revolution of China. It is a memoir about her life.
The book starts while she is a 12 year old girl still living in China. Ji-Li is at the top of her class, the da-dui-zhang or Student Council President of her school. However, her father prevents her from auditioning for the Centeral Liberation Army Arts Academy due to her class status. Her family is considered a Black Family, because her grandfather was a landlord. Ji-Li must deal with this choice between her future or her family, as this is the primary focus for the entire book.
After the book ends, it reveals that Ji-Li grew up, moved to the U.S., and began to learn English. When she finally spoke fluent English, she started writing this book.
[edit] Summary
Ji-Li's world is turned upside down when Mao Ze Dong starts the Cultural Revolution to eradicate the four-olds from society. He claims that old ideas, old customs, old culture, and old habits are holding back China from its strong socialist future. For example, pants with legs narrower than 9 inches were just cut off on the streets; pointed shoes were considered taboo. Profit making and capitalism were strictly forbidden and frowned upon. Ji-Li suffers because her grandfather was a landlord. Landlords were seen as exploitative of the lower class. For 12 years, Ji-Li lived a comfortable life in a mid-sized apartment. But now, any inequality in wealth between people must be removed. Ji-Li is forced to avoid her somewhat-affluent past. Ji-Li's father and mother fire their servant, burn their old photos that contain people wearing old-fashioned gowns, and repaint their mahogany furniture. They know that the Red Guards are on the patrol for rouge citizens who do not remold their ideologies and extinguish their former wealth.
Ironically, the guards leading the way are no other than Ji-Li's peers. Those that did not do well at school, now discover their power as members of the Young Pioneers. Ji-Li, a straight honor student, must cope with the reversal of power in the classroom. The students rebel against the teachers, driving them out of school and eroding the typical respect they had for their elders. They even go as far as accusing the teachers of poisoning their minds. For example, they had corrupted a young revolutionary by buying him bread when he did not have a lunch. Ji-Li, as an honor student, is saddened and tries to support the teachers. Her position is frowned upon by her friends. But when the students accuse her of a relationship with a male teacher, Ji-Li fears for her personal safety, and tries to distance herself from the rest of the group, leaving her open to even more accusations of being a counterrevolutionary.
Being a counterrevolutionary was dealt with very harshly and fiercely during Ji-Li's time. Groups of people went around ransacking homes and searching people in the streets to try and find any evidence of resisting Chairman Mao and his cultural revolution. Unfortunately, there were not actually very many people plotting against the government in Shanghai, Ji-Li's hometown. Therefore they accuse people of treason for even the smallest of crimes. A trash man is arrested for accidentally tearing a picture of Chairman Mao while removing scrap papers.
Ji-Li's life is also made more difficult because she had landlord grandparents. The Red Guards want Ji-Li to break all ties with her family and become a new person. Ji-Li is torn between the family she loves and her future. The decision is easy for some students in her class. But when Ji-Li's father is arrested for interrogation, Ji-Li must make the big decision affecting her entire future. Does she renounce and accuse her father of crimes that he did not commit, or should she seal her fate as a counterrevolutionary forever, thereby subjecting her to forced labor and "study" sessions for the rest of her life?
The book starts out as Ji Li being nothing more than a happy girl with many friends. But as Mao Ze Dong, dictator of China starts the Cultural Revolution, Ji Li's life falls apart. Everything she wanted to be was ruined. Her dad was an actor, he was also ruined because he was from a "black family". As it turns out in the end, Ji Li is left with nothing but a few boxes, a boyfriend, and a broken stool because the Red Guards took everything else away.
[edit] Afterwards
In the Afterwards, Ji Li states that she loved Mao when she was little, but when Mao died, everyone found out that they had been deceived. Ji Li moved to the U.S., but she could not forget her childhood, so she wrote this book. Her dad, Jiang Xi-reng, an actor, came to the United States as well, where he had roles in television such as The Sopranos (as ke le fe), Lost (as Jin), and Prison Break (as Michael) .
[edit] References
- Presentation made by Ji-Li Jiang at Egan Junior High School.
- ThePlaz's Book Report
- Ji-li Jiang's Homepage
