Questions and Answers Forming a Summary of Red Scarf Girl Essay

The cultural revolution is a strange period in Chinese history laced with intense struggle and anguish. The cultural revolution mobilized the all of society to compete for all opposing factions that they belonged to (Ong, 2016). Mao mobilized the young people of society during a background of political turmoil, which helped Mao to mobilize the students in order to enforce his political legitimacy and ideas (Ong, 2016). Mao’s charismatic authority created his personality cult and most defiantly leant a helping hand in mobilizing the red guard movement (Ong, 2016) (Weber, 1946) (Andreas, 2007). No matter which faction of the red guard they belonged to, they all mobilized against their common enemy; the better off, upper class. (Ong, 2016). Multiple ideologies within the youth led red guard movement explain why the movement gained momentum and became incredibly powerful (Walder, 2009).

Overall, the Culture Revolution was in many ways a war on the Chinese people beliefs, sexuality, customs, gender, and view. Yang perfectly illustrates the ideological turmoil that people suffered from during this period. The revolution lead to Yang’s family’s disfranchisement, her blurred understanding of sexuality and gender roles, as well as, disillusionment of the communist party as a whole. Yang escaped the clutches of communism and the Great North Wilderness with the acceptance of her application to attend the University of

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

Fourth, the definition of the word "democracy" has changed. The way Americans see the word doesn't refer to a static system as it once did, it is ever changing and improving.

Consider the passage in which Ji-li witnesses her cousin Shan-Shan as he walks right past his mother, who has fallen on the street (page 142)? Does Ji-li shun her own parents in any way because of their class status? How does she overcome her desire to break with her family? Are there any circumstances which justify putting the goal of your country before that of your family?

According to the Online Dictionary, the “Chinese Cultural Revolution” is defined as “a movement in China, beginning in the year 1966 and led by Mao Zedong, to restore the vitality of communism in China.” To begin, the Chinese Cultural Revolution performed a significant role in establishing the setting and conflicts in the novel of “Red Scarf Girl”. The setting of the story took place in the city of Shanghai, specifically throughout the course of two and a half years from the year 1966 to 1969. The protagonist and narrator of the story, Ji Li Jiang, was a 12-year-old Chinese girl who lived as a wealthy resident in the brownstone apartments of Shanghai. As the story progressed, Ji Li developed alterations in her relationships with her peers at school, the perception of her goals and responsibilities in life, and knowledge of her family history in relation to her class-status in the community. Therefore, throughout the course of the story, it was evident that significant changes and development of the relationships, perceptions, and knowledge of Ji Li Jiang occurred as a result of the events that she experienced.

9. What is a da-zi-bao? What conflict did Ji-li confront when she was asked to write a da-zi-bao? What did she do?

Jook-Liang’s grandmother doesn’t let her become a movie star, because Poh-Poh thinks that Jook-Liang is a girl and that she is useless, she can’t be a movie star, she can do nothing. Conversely, that is just her opinion without any proof, even though Poh-Poh is also a woman. This kind of gender discrimination and ridiculous opinion makes Jook-Liang hate Grandmother. Thirdly, this traditional Chinese thinking makes her think about herself.

The apex of Wong’s book is how she displays the emotional overtones in reciting her account of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989. She tells of being holed up in a hotel across the street from the square and actually being able to see the violence between the protesting students and citizens, and the soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army. When she describes bodies falling from gunshot wounds, people being squashed by tanks, and the bullets ricocheting off their hotel walls, it produces multiple senses of horror, sorrow, and absolute terror. She further hammers this point across by displaying two images taken from the scene (245). The first is of a PLA platoon leader who was beaten, set afire, disemboweled, and to add further insult, positioned so that he would serve as an example of what the proletariats were capable of. The second, was of PLA soldiers examining the destruction of Tiananmen Square after they seized the square. Smoke and debris from the protestors are widely prevalent, and the image was even used in a propaganda brochure for the government.

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

Mi-ran began an innocent relationship with a young man named Jun-sang, who was a few years older than her. Although, Jun-sang came from a good family and was in turn in a higher class, he was intrigued by Mi-ran. They would often walk in the dark of the night, since there was rarely electricity, they were able to do so inconspicuously. She worked hard for her education and was even accepted into a teaching school. She grew tired of the small emaciated children she would see everyday. Children would many times come to school without any food and would ultimately stop coming to class. She did not like to think of reasons why they would not be in class

As she recalls back on this time by telling her daughter what she calls her Kweilin story, Suyuan describes her feeling during this horrible time as “And inside I was no longer hungry for the cabbage or the turnips of the hanging rock garden. I could only see the dripping bowels of an ancient hill that might collapse on top of me. Can you imagine how it is, to want to be neither inside nor outside, to want to be nowhere and disappear?” (22) At this point in her life Suyuan was separated from her husband who is in the military and eventually is forced to abandon her two young daughters. This aspect of Suyuan’s life parallels the life of Amy Tan’s mother. Daisy tan was also married to a military man during the Chinese Civil War and like Suyuan was forced to abandon her two daughters in Shanghai. This was an experience that would affect her mother for the rest of her life and a story she would continue to tell and never forget. The life of Amy Tan is also a parallel to the life of Jing-Mei Woo of “June”. As a young girl June was forced to play the piano and practice constantly to become the best like Amy Tan was as a child. Along with playing the piano Suyuan also had high expectations for June as far as her future. She wanted her daughter to be the best in her class and go off to medical school to become a well educated doctor, the same expectation’s Amy Tan’s mother had for her. Both daughters decided to follow their dreams and

However, her mother sees it as a way for her daughter to be the best. Meanwhile, Jing-mei decides to rebel against her mother’s wishes. During piano lessons with Mr. Chong she realizes easy ways to get out of practicing.

With the economic benefit of getting an education virtually eliminated by the Cultural Revolution, the main characters, Wang Fu and Beanpole, sought moral and ethical meaning in education. Despite the seemingly purposelessness of obtaining an education, Wang Fu views Beanpole’s dictionary as a “sacred object” (163) and, after failing to win the dictionary from a bet with Beanpole, “copie[s] the dictionary every day...after school” (168). His motivation for copying “‘fifty thousand characters, a hundred characters a day [for] five hundred days” (168) is revealed to stem from filial piety as well as his desire to stick up for his father, Wang Qitong. Despite Wang Qitong’s immense strength, which makes him capable of carrying hundreds of pounds of rice for an entire team, he is bullied and harassed by his teammates for being mute and declares that “‘[he] is not as strong as Wang Fu, because Wang Fu can read and write” (176). Because of his adoration for his father as being “ones of the strongest men in the world” and his knowledge that “people in the team bully [his father]”, Wang Fu wants to do the right thing and “study and learn how to speak for [his father]” (176). Beanpole, upon being warned by Chen to teach according to the “unified teaching materials” (165), justifies his actions by saying that “[w]hen [the children] return to their teams, they won't have

Unlike Chinese culture, Jing-Mei starts to revolt against her mother. As a result of her mother