Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution

by Ji-li Jiang, David Henry Hwang (Foreword by)

Overview

This accessible autobiography is the true story of one girl's determination to hold her family together during one of the most terrifying eras of the twentieth century.

It's 1966, and twelve-year-old Ji-li Jiang has everything a girl could want: brains, friends, and a bright future in Communist China. But it's also the year that China's leader, Mao Ze-dong, launches the Cultural Revolution—and Ji-li's world begins to fall apart. Over the next few years, people who were once her friends and neighbors turn on her and her family, forcing them to live in constant terror of arrest. When Ji-li's father is finally imprisoned, she faces the most difficult dilemma of her life.

A personal and painful memoir—a page-turner as well as excellent material for social studies curricula—Red Scarf Girl also includes a thorough glossary and pronunciation guide.

Supports the Common Core State Standards

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780064462082
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/30/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	538
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	780L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Ji-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.

Read an Excerpt

Red Scarf Girl
A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution

Chapter One

I was born on Chinese New Year.

Carefully, my parents chose my name: Ji-li, meaning lucky and beautiful. They hoped that I would be the happiest girl in the world.

And I was.

I was happy because I was always loved and respected. I was proud because I was able to excel and always expected to succeed. I was trusting, too. I never doubted what I was told: "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."

With my red scarf, the emblem of the Young Pioneers, tied around my neck, and my heart bursting with joy, I achieved and grew every day until that fateful year, 1966.

That year I was twelve years old, in sixth grade.

That year the Cultural Revolution started.

The Liberation Army Dancer

Chairman Mao, our beloved leader, smiled down at us from his place above the blackboard. The sounds and smells of the tantalising May afternoon drifted in through the window. The sweet breeze carried the scent of new leaves and tender young grass and rippled the paper slogan below Chairman Mao′s picture: study hard and advance every day. In the corner behind me the breeze also rustled the papers hanging from the Students′ Garden, a beautifully decorated piece of cardboard that displayed exemplary work. One of them was my latest perfect math test.

We were having music class, but we couldn′t keep our minds on the teacher′s directions. We wereall confused by the two-part harmony of the Young Pioneers′ Anthem. "We are Young Pioneers, successors to Communism. Our red scarves flutter on our chests," we sang over and over, trying to get the timing right. The old black pump organ wheezed and squeaked as impatiently as we did. We made another start, but Wang Da-yong burst out a beat early, and the whole class broke into laughter.

Just then Principal Long appeared at the door. She walked in, looking less serious than usual, and behind her was a stranger, a beautiful young woman dressed in the People′s Liberation Army uniform. A Liberation Army soldier! She was slim and stood straight as a reed. Her eyes sparkled, and her long braids, tied with red ribbons, swung at her waist. There was not a sound in the classroom as all forty of us stared at her in awe.

Principal Long told us to stand up. The woman soldier smiled but did not speak. She walked up and down the aisles, looking at us one by one. When she finished, she spoke quietly with Principal Long. "Tong Chao and Jiang Ji-li," Principal Long announced. "Come with us to the gym." A murmur rose behind us as we left the room. Tong Chao looked at me and I looked at him in wonder as we followed the swinging braids.

The gym was empty.

"I want to see how flexible you are. Let me lift your leg," the Liberation Army woman said in her gentle voice. She raised my right leg over my head in front of me. "Very good! Now I′ll support you. Lean over backward as far as you can." That was easy. I bent backward until I could grab my ankles like an acrobat. "That′s great!" she said, and her braids swung with excitement.

"This is Jiang Ji-li." Principal Long leaned forward proudly. "She′s been studying martial arts since the second grade. She was on the Municipal Children′s Martial Arts Team. Their demonstration was even filmed."

The Liberation Army woman smiled sweetly. "That was very good. Now you may go back to your classroom." She patted me on my head before she turned back to test Tong Chao.

I went back to class, but I could not remember the song we were singing. What did the Liberation Army woman want? Could she want to choose me for something? It was too much to contemplate. I hardly moved when the bell rang to end school. Someone told me that the principal wanted to see me. I walked slowly down the hall, surrounded by my shouting and jostling classmates, seeing only the beautiful soldier, feeling only the electric tingle of her soft touch on my head.

The office door was heavy. I pushed it open cautiously. Some students from the other sixth-grade classes were there already. I recognised Wang Qi, a girl in class two, and one of the boys, You Xiao-fan of class four. I didn′t know the other boy. The three of them sat nervously and respectfully opposite Principal Long. I slipped into a chair next to them.

Principal Long leaned forward from her big desk. "I know you must be wondering about the Liberation Army soldier," she said. She sounded cheerful and excited. "Why did she come? Why did she want you to do back bends?" She looked at us one by one and then took a long sip from her tea mug as if she wanted to keep us guessing. "She was Comrade Li from the Central Liberation Army Arts Academy."

I slowly took a deep breath.

"She is recruiting students for the dance training class. She selected you four to audition. It′s a great honour for Xin Er Primary School. I′m very proud of all of you, and I know you′ll do your best."

I did not hear the rest of her words. I saw myself in a new Liberation Army uniform, slim and standing straight as a reed, long braids swinging at my waist. A Liberation Army soldier! One of the heroes admired by all, who helped Chairman Mao liberate China from oppression and defeated the Americans in Korea. And a performer, just like my mother used to be, touring the country, the world, to tell everyone about the New China that Chairman Mao had built and how it was becoming stronger and stronger.

I couldn′t help giving Wang Qi a silly smile.

Red Scarf Girl
A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution. Copyright (c) by Ji-li Jiang . Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Editorial Reviews

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.

Nien Chang

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.

Children's Literature - Sharon Salluzzo

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).

VOYA - Kat Kan

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.

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

School Library Journal

A child's nightmare unfolds in Jiang's chronicle of the excesses of Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution in China in the late 1960s. She was a young teenager at the height of the fervor, when children rose up against their parents, students against teachers, and neighbor against neighbor in an orgy of doublespeak, name-calling, and worse. Intelligence was suspect, and everyone was exhorted to root out the "Four Olds"—old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits. She tells how it felt to burn family photographs and treasured heirlooms so they would not be used as evidence of their failure to repudiate a "black"—i.e., land-owning—past. In the name of the revolution, homes were searched and possessions taken or destroyed, her father imprisoned, and her mother's health imperiled—until the next round of revolutionaries came in and reversed many of the dicta of the last. Jiang's last chapter details her current life in this country, and the fates of people she mentions in her story. It's a very painful, very personal—therefore accessible—history.

Kirkus Reviews