Junzheng My Grandmother

The autobiography, Mao’s Last Dancer written by Li Cunxin, is effective in raising awareness of the injustice the Chinese people experienced during Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution and later communist policies in China. When Li’s parents got married in 1946, they were not living in poverty. However, when the Japanese invaded China during WWII and forced all the civilians into communes, Mao then kept these communes and the Li family lost their wealth—they faced injustice and marginalisation. The Chinese population were marginalised by Mao’s use of communist principles and propaganda. They were forced into believing Mao’s views—that the West (Capitalist countries) were filthy and bad, while China was good. Li’s visit to America was an eye-opener.

In the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Ji-li is full of thoughts of moving forward, and helping Mao’s work to succeed. She believes that she can make a difference in the world. Ji-li helps with the “Destroy the Four Olds” campaign, and is nearby when a shop sign is smashed for having a name that does not concede

Before Nanking was invaded a tough battle in Shanghai began the war in the summer of 1937. The Chinese put up a shocking battle against japan. This was slightly embarrassing to Japan because they predicted that the would conquer all of China in only three months. The battle in Shanghai alone lasted a little over five months. This infuriated the Japanese and increased the appetite for revenge that was led up to Nanking.

5. In Guangzhou what does Leah learn about the political situation in China? (page 22)

Monica Sone, her family, and the whole Japanese community faced a significant amount of stereotyping and prejudice during this time. This prejudice all began in 1937 when the Japan attacked Shanghai in China. This battle was part of a larger war between Japan and Chinese, which is known as the Second Sino-Japanese War. This battle was one of the bloodiest and harshest of the entire war, “It was also the first urban conflict during which massive destruction, especially aerial bombing, ensued with utmost disregard for the consequences to civilians…the result was a catastrophic amount of casualties” (Henriot). Nearly 300,000 soldiers died on both sides over a span of three months. The Chinese community continuously despised the Japanese community since this war; they even wore symbols to distinguish themselves from the Japanese. Monica began realizing that the Chinese in her community would act hostile towards her, “The Chinese consul announced that all

Li’s story took place during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of China, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution. This revolution took place from 1966 to 1976, lead by Mao Zedong, who was the leader of the Communist Party of China at the time. The Cultural Revolution led to millions of people being persecuted and thousands more being killed. Because of the Cultural Revolution, people no longer had freedom of speech and actions. If

From that first day of kindergarten fraught with mothers scraping their loving sons and daughters from the safety of their legs, to those tearful partings between lovers, siblings, and friends as careers, family, and extenuating circumstances fling you two on opposite ends of the state, the country, or the globe, separation is an opportunity at growth often masked with considerable pain and hardship. In Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, the Narrator must face a great number of conflicts, from alienation to avarice; the numerous trials and tribulations he faces are troubles difficult to face alone, but chief among them is a conflict he must fight alone: dependency. In this passage, the Narrator must face the mutilated mountain ridge torn apart by recent storms with Luo, whose daily journey to the Little Seamstress’ village has grabbed his attention. Soon we realize there’s more to this journey than Luo’s supposedly excessive fear of heights and come to see that their camaraderie is a crutch the Narrator depends on. Through his experience on that ridge, his attempt at separation and autonomy reveals itself to be no more than a boomerang careening away from dependency on Luo and looping back again.

Lindo’s upbringing was significant because her family was very traditional. As a result of her family abiding by tradition, Lindo was betrothed to Tyan-yu as a young girl. Lindo’s family treated her as if she was from a different family. When Lindo’s family lost everything in a flood, her father decided to move the family to Wushi. Lindo was old enough to move in with Tyan-yu’s family, so her family left her in Taiyuan with her future in-laws. When Lindo moved in with her new in-laws, Huang Taitai immediately put Lindo to work cooking, cleaning, and sewing. Lindo not only lost her family by moving in with the Huangs; she also lost her childhood innocence since she was forced to abandon playing with other children so she could be put to work. As a child, Lindo faced adversity due to her lack of American opportunities and therefore matured quickly.

In this narrative short story the author, Kayla Ravancho described her grandma’s experience in the Philippines during the attack of the Japanese soldiers in 1942. Lolo Poteciano was her great-grandpa and had seven children with his wife who was not alive at this time. Poteciano hid their children from the soldiers in a barn in their backyard. Her grandma brought her journal so she could write down exactly what she was feeling. The seven children were just sitting and were afraid to go outside, but someone came and knocked on the door, Poteciano didn’t say their children’s name aloud so he couldn’t gives their names away. When they opened the door for their father, he ran and gave them a huge hug and took them back home.

When a teenage girl spends years in a Japanese Internment camp, her identity experiences drastic change due to the immense pressure of the encroaching adulthood. Early in the book, the daughter assumed the role of the loving and caring older sister. When the boy was tired on the train, “he laid his head down on his sister’s lap and drifted off to sleep” (Otsuka 30). The same protective nature is seen throughout the entire first half of the book. While at the internment camp, the boy became sick and often coughed; his sister immediately “untied her scarf and shoved it into his hand and told him to hold it over his nose and mouth” (Otsuka 48). As the boy spent more time in the camp, he began having night terrors. When he woke up screaming, “he felt a hand on his shoulder and it was his sister telling him it was all just a bad dream” (Otsuka 57). Whether he was tired, sick, or scared, the boy could always count on his sister to be there for him. However as time progressed, a distance began to separate the once close and dependent siblings. The daughter began to choose eating “all her meals with her friends. Never with the boy or his mother” (Otsuka 92). The boy recounts a moment where “he saw her standing in line at the mess hall in her Panama hat and she hardly seemed to recognize him at all” (Otsuka 92). Comparing the daughter’s relationship to her brother from the beginning to the end of the

Japan started a campaign into China taking land. Japan pushed and took many supply ports on

Even though the Japanese played a major role in the events of World War II, their involvement in world affairs began three decades earlier.

After hearing the announcement of the powerless to stop Grandmother’s soul from leaving for the spirit world, See states, “Had all that walking back and forth across the room with Third Sister stolen Grandmother’s storehouse of steps? Had… Had the ghost spirits who’d come to prey on Third Sister been tempted by the possibility of another victim?” (33). The repetition of the opening sentence “had” emphasize the remorse of the family of not realizing Grandmother’s sickness. Grandmother, as the oldest and most respectful person in the household, is going to die because of the negligence of caring, becomes an extreme shamefulness to all of the family members. Here, it shows the family relationship and status in the ancient Chinese family, where

In the early 1930, before the start of WWII itself, Japan was already fighting and invading China. This was because Japan saw China was beginning to gain power and could possibly take back land Japan had taken in earlier war. As this happened, Japan began to lose power and, eventually, became desperate for resources and led to the eventual attack on Pearl Harbor.

Ji-li Jiang during China’s cultural resolution. During this time, Ji-li was humiliated, bullied and witnessed people very close to her heart, suffered horrible atrocities. Both book’s share a fascinating story, where socialist governments inflict such grief and lack of freedom upon the people. In some ways, I can infer similarities of both these phenomenal-books within certain aspects of my own life. As well as, to the current social and governmental trends of the world and most of all I can relate both books together!