Reviews

School Library Journal
"A page-turner. Excellent." 

From Kirkus Reviews , September 1, 1997
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. (Memoir. 11-15) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. 

From Horn Book
This is a rare personal glimpse of the upheaval China suffered during the 1960s, and twelve-year-old Ji-li's point of view is firmly maintained, sometimes to the point of self-dramatization. The breathlessness of the narration, tortures and triumphs related indiscriminately, gives the book immediacy if not subtlety; the conflict between political and family expectations is well portrayed. Glos. -- Copyright © 1998 The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved. 

ALA Booklist

"Engrossing...Transcends politics and becomes the story of one little girl trying to survive."

Nien Chang, author of A Life and Death in Shanghai

"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." 

Book Description
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 ht 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.

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. A "Publishers Weekly" Best Book of 1997.

Synopsis
An outstanding student and much admired leader of her class, Ji-Li Jiang was poised for a shining future in the Communist party until the Cultural Revolution of 1966. 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. 

Buy this book.

Last Updated: 10/19/01