In Ji-Li Jiang’s Red Scarf Girl, the story is set in Shanghai, China. In 1966, Ji-Li Jiang is a happy little girl of twelve years. She looks forward to a future working for Chairman Mao's New China and his Communist Party. However, her happy life is suddenly interrupted by the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, a movement led by Chairman Mao, to remove all parts of capitalism in Chinese society. Her family becomes the target of government persecution, since her parents and grandparents are labeled as ''Black'', which means that they are opposed to the (Red) Communist Party. Ji-Li and her family become outcasts of society as they live in fear of arrest. Ji-Li realizes that the Communist Party and Chairman Mao prevented China from improving …show more content…
its society and its freedom. She understands that she has responsibility for her family before anything. Second, she realizes that the cultural revolution did nothing but manipulate China. Lastly, she realizes the cultural revolution was not helpful to young people’s education. Ji-Li understands that she has responsibility for her family before anything.
One day, Red Guards ransack Ji-Li’s home. They search and find an incriminating letter, containing info of a complaint about the rebels treating people unfairly. The Red guards then punish them for being a landlord’s relative. A couple weeks later, Ji-li watches her grandma sweep the alley. It is her punishment for being a landlord's wife. One day, her mom makes her promise that Ji-li will take care of her siblings if anything happens to her. They do not know what terrible thing might come next. Ji-li promises and she means it. “Once my life had been defined by my goals: to be a da-dui-zhang, to participate in the exhibition, to be a Red Guard. They seemed unimportant to me now. Now my life was defined by my responsibilities. I had promised to take care of my family, and I would renew that promise every day.” (Jiang, Chapter 17). Ji-Li realizes that she has been taking care of her family for a long time and she could never hurt her family. She used to dream about being a Red Guard, but now she and her family sleeps on straw mats since all their furniture was ruined from the ransacking. Ji-Li does not have any life goals anymore; she just wants her family to be safe. It is always good to realize the importance of family. In the end, family comes before anything because a person’s family are the only people who that is truly reliable and trustworthy. Friends and jobs may be important to someone, but …show more content…
it is never more important than family. Not one person or thing can ever replace family. Secondly, Ji-Li realizes that the Cultural Revolution did nothing but manipulate China.
After Chairman Mao’s death, Ji-Li and the rest of China realize that he was never the right leader for China and instead of improving China’s society, he actually prevented it. In the end, Ji-Li knows she was brainwashed by Mao’s actions. The Communist Party told them what to wear, read, think, and how to act. They never let China be free to be who they are. It was not until Mao's death that Ji-li began questioning what they were told. “It was only after Mao’s death in 1976 that people woke up. We finally learned that the whole Cultural Revolution had been part of a power struggle at the highest levels of the Party. Our leader had taken advantage of our trust and loyalty to manipulate the whole country.” (Jiang, Chapter 18). Now, as an adult, Ji-li tries to bridge the gap between China and America. She loves the freedom she enjoys in America, especially that she does not have to worry about what she says or thinks, but she does not hate China. People can not use political corruption and injustice to get what they want out of society. Promoting equality and opportunities for all is key to improving society. We can not get behind beating people up or imprisoning them because they did not abide by society’s
rules. Lastly, the Cultural Revolution was not helpful to young people’s education. During Chairman Mao’s rule, nearly all of the kids around Ji-Li’s age were sent to the countryside for “re-education.” According to Mao, this was supposed to benefit both the young students and the farmers. The students would learn to respect the workers, and the farmers would learn new technology from the students. The students soon realized that the re-education system held them back from real education. “Like the Cultural Revolution, this did not work out as it was supposed to. After ten years of sacrifice in the primitive countryside most of these young people returned to the city with little education, few skills, and no beliefs. All regretted the waste of their youth, and all have struggled to start over again.” (Jiang, Chapter 18). Once these children grew up, they finally understood that Mao’s re-education program held them back from actually using their minds for what they might experience back in the city. All the children did was work in fields and they never understood how to strengthen their skills to prepare them for the concepts they had to know when they become adults. It is key for people to understand that in order to prepare children for the real world, they must learn in a class. Education is supposed to give us knowledge of the world around us and changes into something better. It helps people develop a perspective of looking at life, helps us build opinions, and have points of view on different things. All in all, Ji-Li recognizes that the Communist Party and Chairman Mao prevented China from improving its society and its freedom. She understands that she is responsible for her family before anything. Second, she realizes that the cultural revolution manipulated China. Lastly, she realizes the cultural revolution was not helpful to young people’s education. The Communist Party and Chairman Mao failed China by preventing China from living openly and honestly without interference from their leaders. They were forced to put politics over family and never knew how to improve society. No one should live in fear of being criticized by their bosses or arrested by the government for expressing themselves, even if they criticized or mocked their leader.
In the very beginning, Ji Li is confidently dedicated to the revolution, but then slowly starts to discover the despicable truth. Ji-Li thinks, " We thanked heaven that Chairman Mao had started this Cultural Revolution… otherwise we would not have even known we were in trouble. What a frightening idea." (38). This quote depicts Ji-Li's thoughts on Chairman Mao as she started off in the beginning; an exemplary student and daughter of Chairman Mao. Her first carefree opinion is quickly countered when she is told she cannot participate in the audition. "'Ji-Li, the fact is that our family will not be able to pass the investigation'…For a long time I did not speak. ‘Why?' I whispered at last." (9). When she is told at this early point in the revolution she would not pass the audition, she is only getting an insidious whiff of what is to come, but has not experienced anything that would be wrong with her family, the revolution, or otherwise the world up until then. Although small, her first glimpse at the tormenting trials that are to come start to penetrate into her oblivious mind, and make her start to think...
At first, Ji-li thought she was the luckiest girl in the world. She came from a very wealthy, loving, respected, and dependable family. In growing up in such was so was she too, “I was happy because I was able to excel and always expected to succeed. I was trusting, too. I never doubted what I was told…”(Jiang 1). The way Ji-li felt towards her family, proving that is the kind of family is everything Ji-li wanted. It is important for her, so then she can feel comfortable, then the family dynamics changed. Ji-li’s relationship has changed due to the Cultural Revolution, because when the change started to happen, she was okay. Ji-li then hated her family’s guts and background; near the end of the book. Ji-li feeling’s toward her family was unbreakable or even strengthened more than ever, and never went away. “… I would never do anything to hurt my family, and I would do everything I could do to take care of them. My family was too precious to forget, and too rare to replace.” ( Jiang 262-263). The importance that she will never abounded her family even in the most difficult times in her life. The reason the change occurred was Ji-li knew she could change her name, but she will always be a Jiang. She could also never leave the best thing in her life. Ji-li had other problems in her life as well, besides her family, there were her friends. Well
The Sun of the Revolution by Liang Heng, is intriguing and vivid, and gives us a complex and compelling perspective on Chines culture during a confusing time period. We get the opportunity to learn the story of a young man with a promising future, but an unpleasant childhood. Liang Heng was exposed to every aspect of the Cultural Revolution in China, and shares his experiences with us, since the book is written from Liang perspective, we do not have a biased opinion from an elite member in the Chinese society nor the poor we get an honest opinion from the People’s Republic of China. Liang only had the fortunate opportunity of expressing these events due his relationship with his wife, An American woman whom helps him write the book. When Liang Heng and Judy Shapiro fell in love in China during 1979, they weren’t just a rarity they were both pioneers at a time when the idea of marriages between foreigners and Chinese were still unacceptable in society.
Communism came to power in China in the year 1949 and was dictated by Mao Zedong, who later ordered for all educated men and women of China to be reeducated in the countryside. Lou and the narrator were just two of many thousands to be sent off to be reeducated. Lou and the narrator then meet the Little Chinese Seamstress, and Lou, as well as the narrator to an extend fall in love with her.
In the novel “Red Scarf Girl” by Ji Li Jiang, the theory of Marxism is at play as Ji Li strives to help the reader understand the impact that the Cultural Revolution in China had on her family and on her country. By using the struggle between the social classes, Ji Li helps the reader gain a greater understanding of the negative impact that a corrupt government can have and often times does have on the lives of its people. As the reader moves throughout the novel, it makes sense why, by the end of the book, Ji Li Jiang would call China her country but America her home, for she came to understand just how much she appreciates freedom.
There is no better way to learn about China's communist revolution than to live it through the eyes of an innocent child whose experiences were based on the author's first-hand experience. Readers learn how every aspect of an individual's life was changed, mostly for the worst during this time. You will also learn why and how Chairman Mao launched the revolution initially, to maintain the communist system he worked hard to create in the 1950's. As the story of Ling unfolded, I realized how it boiled down to people's struggle for existence and survival during Mao's reign, and how lucky we are to have freedom and justice in the United States; values no one should ever take for
Teenager, an age of rebellions is offered the perfect opportunity: to falsely testify against their parents, and became the educable children of Chairman Mao. But for many, the choice is not easy. Specially for the kid from "black" family, similar to main character Jiang; they have to choose between siding with their family, consider a disgrace, going against Chairman Mao's idea, or to be an honorable red guard,and side with the communist party."' Why don't you stay home with him? In case...' 'I've thought about that.' She looked away from my face to the litter on the table. 'But we can't allow personal matters to interfere with revolutionary duties. Especially for an important political assignment like the exhibition.'"(205). That's the idea chairman Mao encouraged, and it clearly separate family from politics. From this other girl point of view, she valued her policies and belief overtook her love for her brother. The action of this girl makes a strong contract to Ji-Li, bother third action define who they are.
Ever since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the legitimacy of the revolution of which it was built upon has perennially been in question. For example, in a 1999 issue of the International Herald Tribune, a prestigious scholar claimed that all of China’s tragedies are ‘sustained by a mistaken belief in the correctness of the 1949 revolution’ and that the future progress of China depends on the recognition that the revolution was a failure. However, the CCP government was certainly not perfect and its most significant failures were its political failures such as the Anti-rightist movement and the Cultural Revolution and also economic failures such as the great leap forward. Millions of peoples were falsely accused and persecuted during the political movements of the Mao period as the CCP focused on class struggle instead of economic development during the period and tens of Millions of peoples died due to starvation as there were widespread food shortages during the great leap forward movement.
For many outsiders, it might be easy to assume that all Chinese value communism, or that communism is the only thing to define Chinese politics by. However, when we watched “Born Under the Red Flag”, we could see that the Chinese views on communism are less black and white, and a little more complicated than one might think. Communism has played a big role as the main political system of China throughout its history, but not all Chinese have liked communism, just as not all have been against it. In the documentary “Born Under the Red Flag”, we can really see the reception of Communism in China, and how many have been split between those who oppose it and those who fight for it. During the rule of Chairman Mao Zedong, many of the youth became part of the infamous Red Guards, who used very violent and aggressive means to impose the teachings of Mao Zedong and communism on any person who was against it. These youth were so dedicated to Chairman Mao that they would go very far in enforcing his rule. Years later great numbers of youth in China were taking a different stance on communism, and marched in Tiananmen Square during the protests of 1989, wanting democracy instead of communism. Unfortunately this became a massacre, as the government would not give into the demands of the youth. Communism is certainly something one can come to associate China with, but even with that it can be hard to make assumptions that apply to all. To think that communism was a horrible oppressive system that did nothing but hurt the Chinese people is not completely accurate, as many loved the teachings of Communism and thought highly of Mao Zedong. But it is also not accurate to say that all Chinese people embraced communism, as it is clear that many opposed it. So the true thoughts of the Chinese on Communism, largely could depend on which Chinese person you ask, as many throughout the years
Jonathan Spence tells his readers of how Mao Zedong was a remarkable man to say the very least. He grew up a poor farm boy from a small rural town in Shaoshan, China. Mao was originally fated to be a farmer just as his father was. It was by chance that his young wife passed away and he was permitted to continue his education which he valued so greatly. Mao matured in a China that was undergoing a threat from foreign businesses and an unruly class of young people who wanted modernization. Throughout his school years and beyond Mao watched as the nation he lived in continued to change with the immense number of youth who began to westernize. Yet in classes he learned classical Chinese literature, poems, and history. Mao also attained a thorough knowledge of the modern and Western world. This great struggle between modern and classical Chinese is what can be attributed to most of the unrest in China during this time period. His education, determination and infectious personalit...
...ear and listen. That’s why most of the Chinese youth were inspired to join the army due to the books that were sold and the song that was written just for the Red Guards army. The book’s name is “Little Red Book.” The song’s name is “Red Guard Song.” For the members, the “Red Guard Song” reminds them of their purpose of why they joined the Red Guards. To add on, two young women had wrote their own memoirs to explain what their life was when the Cultural Revolution was happening and how their life was changed when they joined the Red Guards and started to rebel against their parents and their own teachers. As they grew older, they soon realized that everything that they’ve been doing the whole entire time was wrong and regret joining the Red Guards. They realize that all these time, they were killing innocent people that clearly was doing nothing to harm the country.
The Red Guard strove to remove and destroy the Four Olds, foreign influence, enemies of the Party and the current societal structure by persecuting those who supposedly perpetuated them. All vestiges of outdated customs, habits, culture and ideas were to be destroyed, since the movement represented “a triumph of youth over age, of ‘the new’ over ‘the old.’” To do so, the Red Guard wrecked thousands of art collections and the contents of libraries, and changed “reactionary” street signs. They persecuted members of the public who attempted to stop them or refused to give up the Four Olds. Those who had foreign ties, like businessmen, missionaries, or who had western education were also persecuted to prevent backwards or rightist ideologies from spreading into the new Chinese society. Chinese intellectuals were also hounded for the same reason: to prevent free thought. The messages of the movement were “negative—against the established authority, against the Party, against the military” and the outdated structures of the older generation. To destroy the established order, the Red Guards attacked educational and political institutions that were enemies of Mao and the party, and created general havoc within China. The Red Guard targeted teachers, education policies, and universities to change the core of education and the qualities that it had extolled. Members of the general public and even party officials themselves were attacked, to remove the “capitalist roaders” with bourgeois tendencies from society. Mao hoped that in this chaos a new communist China would emerge.
It can also be argued that the political activities of Chairman Mao’s Communist China were more of a continuation of traditional Imperial China, based heavily in Confucian values, than a new type of Marxist-Leninist China, based on the Soviet Union as an archetype. While it is unquestionable that a Marxist-Leninist political structure was present in China during this time, Confucian values remained to be reinforced through rituals and were a fundamental part of the Chinese Communist ...
The early part of the novel shows women’s place in Chinese culture. Women had no say or position in society. They were viewed as objects, and were used as concubines and treated with disparagement in society. The status of women’s social rank in the 20th century in China is a definite positive change. As the development of Communism continued, women were allowed to be involved in not only protests, but attended universities and more opportunities outside “house” work. Communism established gender equality and legimated free marriage, instead of concunbinage. Mao’s slogan, “Women hold half of the sky”, became extremely popular. Women did almost any job a man performed. Women were victims by being compared to objects and treated as sex slaves. This was compared to the human acts right, because it was an issue of inhumane treatment.
Dressed in the drab military uniform that symbolized the revolutionary government of Communist China, Mao Zedong's body still looked powerful, like an giant rock in a gushing river. An enormous red flag draped his coffin, like a red sail unfurled on a Chinese junk, illustrating the dualism of traditional China and the present Communist China that typified Mao. 1 A river of people flowed past while he lay in state during the second week of September 1976. Workers, peasants, soldiers and students, united in grief; brought together by Mao, the helmsman of modern China. 2 He had assembled a revolutionary government using traditional Chinese ideals of filial piety, harmony, and order. Mao's cult of personality, party purges, and political policies reflect Mao's esteem of these traditional Chinese ideals and history.