Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution
In 1966 Ji-li Jian was 12 years old. And oustanding student and a leader of her class, she had everything: brains, ability, the admiration of her peers -- and a shining future in Chairman Mao's New China. 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 few years Ji-li and her family were humilated and reviled by their former friends, neighbors and colleagues and lived in constant terror of arrest. At last, with the detention of her father, Ji-li was faced with the most dreadful decision of her life: denounce him, or refuse to testify 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 20th-century history -- and of one family's indomitable courage under fire.
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Become an affiliateJi-li Jiang was born in Shanghai, China, in 1954. She graduated from Shanghai Teachers' College and Shanghai University and was a science teacher before she came to the United States in 1984. After her graduation from the University of Hawaii, Ms. Jiang worked as an operations analyst for a hotel chain in Hawaii, then as budget director for a health-care company in Chicago. In 1992 she started her own company, East West Exchange, to promote cultural exchange between Western countries and China.
★ "Heart-pounding. A page-turner. Excellent."--School Library Journal (starred review)
★ "Absorbing. Jiang views devastating developments with the wide-eyed innocence of youth."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
★ "Engrossing. Transcends politics and becomes the story of one little girl trying to survive."--ALA Booklist
"I can only hope I would have shown the same decency and courage exhibited by Ji-li Jiang. Her actions remind me that, even under unbearable circumstances, one can still cling to love and justice. Above all, one can still hope for a happier tomorrow."--David Henry Hwang, playwright of M. Butterfly
"All the more powerful for the simplicity of its prose."--New York Times Book Review