Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution FROM THE PUBLISHER
In 1966 Ji-li Jiang turned twelve. An outstanding student and leader, she had everything: brains, the admiration of her peers, and a bright future in China's Communist Party. But that year China's leader, Mao Ze-dong, launched the Cultural Revolution, and everything changed. Over the next few years Ji-li and her family were humiliated and scorned by former friends, neighbors, and co-workers. They lived in constant terror of arrest. Finally, with the detention of her father, Ji-li faced the most difficult choice of her life.
Told with simplicity and grace, this is the true story of one family's courage and determination during one of the most terrifying eras of the twentieth century.Ji-li Jiang was twelve years old in 1966, the year that Chairman Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in China. An outstanding student and much-admired leader of her class, Ji-li seemed poised for a shining future. But all that changed with the advent of the Cultural Revolution, when intelligence became a crime and a wealthy family background invited persecution'or worse. For the next three years Ji-li and her family were humilated and reviled by their former friends, neighbors, and colleagues and lived in constant terror of attack. At last, with the detention of her father, Ji-li was faced with the most dreadful decision of her young life: denounce him and break with her family, or refuse to testify against him and sacrifice her future in her beloved Communist Party.
Told with simplicity, innocence, and grace, this unforgettable memoir gives a child's eye view of a terrifying time in twentieth-century history, and of one family's indomitable courage under fire.
01 Blue Spruce AwardMasterlist (YA Cat.)
SYNOPSIS
When China's Communist Party detained Ji-li's father, the 12-year-old was faced with the most difficult choice of her life. She could denounce her father and break with her family, or she could refuse to testify and sacrifice her future in her beloved Communist Party.
FROM THE CRITICS
Nien Chang
Ji-li's deeply moving story should be on the shelf of every person's library. He4r courage in the face of adversity and her steadfast loyalty and love for her family are truly inspirational for young and old alike.
Children's Literature - Sharon Salluzzo
Ji Li's childhood in Shanghai was a happy one. She lived with her parents, brother, sister and grandmother. They had a loving and devoted nanny/housekeeper. Growing up in Communist China, she had been raised to believe "heaven and earth are great, but greater still is the kindness of the Communist Party; father and mother are dear, but dearer still is Chairman Mao". When she was twelve years old, she looked forward to going to Shi-yi Junior High but her life changed forever when Mao announced his Cultural Revolution and the importance of destroying the "Four-Olds": old ideas, old cultures, old customs, old habits. Ji Li was excited about being a revolutionary and was surprised at her parents' reticence. Over the next two years, Ji Li would experience humiliation, confusion and fear as she and her family were judged by the fact that her deceased grandfather had been a landlord. Family photos were destroyed, their beautiful furniture was taken away, and Ji Li's father was imprisoned. Ji Li's warmth and exuberance immediately pull in the reader as she shares her story. As these true events unfold, she provides a personal glimpse into a major event about which Americans know very little. A fascinating memoir which fulfills the author's hope of helping Americans understand China.
VOYA - Kat Kan
Until her twelfth year, Ji-Li Jiang was the "golden girl" of her school in Shanghai, a bright, talented class leader who revered Chairman Mao and fervently embraced the revolutionary communist beliefs of her country. Mao Tse Tung's 1966 Cultural Revolution turned that world upside down; overnight, previously held virtues were now condemned, many in authority were removed, and even teachers were suspected of being exploiters and revisionists. Worse, a family secret became common knowledge: Ji-Li's paternal grandfather had been a "filthy capitalist," a landlord. The whole family was tainted by his class status, reviled by neighbors, and Ji-Li and her siblings were labeled "black whelps" and treated as pariahs. While Ji-Li struggled at school, she was also assailed by authorities who pressed her to betray her parents in order to restore her own good standing. Her steadfast loyalty to family cost her dearly. Ji-Li's memoirs of these critical years of her life from ages twelve to fourteen vividly portray the tumultuous period of the Cultural Revolution and its devastating effects on everyday people. Her compelling story makes history come alive for teens, much as Anne Frank's diary has done for decades. No reader will be able to put this book down without wondering whether he or she would have had the courage at such a young age to stand up to constant pressure and threats from peers and the authorities Ji-Li had been taught to obey. All libraries should have this book. Glossary. VOYA Codes: 5Q 3P M J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written, Will appeal with pushing, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9 and Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).
Library Journal
Gr 4-9-Red Scarf Girl (HarperCollins, 1997) is the memoir of Ji-Li Jiang, who grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution. Ji-Li Jiang was only 12 when Mao Zedong instituted the Cultural Revolution, and her life was greatly affected. An intelligent child, she quickly learned that her "bad" class status meant more in this new China than her scholastic successes. Her grandfather was a landlord, which caused the Jiang family many hardships. Throughout it all, Ji-Li struggled to remain loyal to both her family and Chairman Mao. She witnessed many of the humiliations experienced by people who had bad class status. Through an epilogue, listeners discover the final outcome for Ji-Li Jiang, her family, and some of the others highlighted in this memoir. Listeners are drawn into this emotional story immediately. Christina Moore's narration carries the story, conveying the emotional tensions that existed in Ji-Li's life. Moore does an excellent job of varying her tone and allowing each character to find his/her own voice, making it easy for listeners to follow the plot and distinguish the characters. This audiobook should fly off the shelf through word of mouth.-Kathryn King, Walnut Hill Branch, Dallas Public Library, TX Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
School Library Journal
Gr 5-9--This autobiography details the author's experiences as a teenager during the Cultural Revolution. Though wanting to be devoted followers of Chairman Mao, Jiang and her family are subjected to many indignities because her grandfather was once a landlord. Memoirs of the period are usually larded with murders, suicides, mass brainwashing, cruel and unusual bullying, and injustices. Red Scarf Girl is no exception. Where Jiang scores over her comrades is in her lack of self-pity, her naive candor, and the vividness of her writing. The usual catalogue of atrocities is filtered through the sensibility of a young woman trying to comprehend the events going on around her. Readers watch her grow from a follower into a thoughtful person who privately questions the dictates of the powers that be. She witnesses neighbors being beaten to death, her best friend's grandmother's suicide, the systematic degradation of her father, and endless public humiliations. At one point, Jiang even enters a police station to change her name in a confused attempt to dissociate herself from her branded and maligned family. She makes it very clear that the atrocities were the inevitable result of the confusion and fanaticism manipulated by unscrupulous leaders for their own petty ends. Ultimately, her resigned philosophy attaches no blame: this is what happens when power is grossly abused. The writing style is lively and the events often have a heart-pounding quality about them. Red Scarf Girl will be appreciated as a page-turner and as excellent discussion material for social studies curricula.--John Philbrook, formerly at San Francisco Public Library
Read all 7 "From The Critics" >
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
"Ji-li's deeply moving story should be on the shelf of every person's library. He4r courage in the face of adversity and her steadfast loyalty and love for her family are truly inspirational for young and old alike."
— Harper Collins - New Media
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