The novel Forbidden City by William Bell

Though the books assigned to read in junior high are meant to get students informed about both literature and social issues, unfortunately reading these books is often pushed aside to focus on more interesting hobbies, and students are left to pray that sparknotes has a summary. In ninth grade, however, a new year’s resolution committed me to reading The Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang. The book is a memoir about the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and the book quickly became one of my favorites. After finishing the book for the first time, I decided to research the politics behind the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and that led into researching the political history of more countries. I have been deeply interested in politics since then, and along with politics, I have been deeply interested in the law. The ability that people have to use the law to make a difference is both inspiring and terrifying, exciting in a way that you can protect people, and terrifying in a way that, like Chairman Mao discovered, it can be used to control an entire population. My interest in the law and in serving others began with this

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.

The setting is in Muji, China during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. The leader of the communist party at the time is Chairman Mao and ruled based on a Marxist model by the story mentioning the concrete statue of him in the center of the square. The author states that “the Cultural Revolution was over already, and recently the Party has been propagating the idea that all citizens were

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, today we will celebrate the life of an individual who achieved the impossible through perseverance and mental strength. Also, I will convince you why the film Mao’s Last Dancer MUST be screened at this year’s film festival. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.” This insightful quote ultimately embodies the notion of working hard for your freedom instead of waiting for it. So, precisely, one will only have the strength to gain freedom by persevering throughout life’s obstacles and hardships. Li Cunxin did not expect freedom to arrive at his doorstep; he was acutely aware that freedom and success are born from hard work; he suffered through blood, sweat and tears throughout his whole journey to earn his freedom.

The eighteenth-century German philosopher Johann Wolfgang van Goethe is quoted as saying: “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free”. If Goethe, who died in the early 1800s, could have looked forward a hundred and twenty years to Mao Zedong’s Communist China, he would have doubtless seen his words ring painfully true. Mao’s dynastic rule survived on elimination of any thought deemed contrary to his own. Those who dared to speak out were dealt with swiftly and severely. Yet some people did not believe they were free, and were willing to do risk everything to subvert Mao’s manufactured culture. “The Mao Button”, “Black Walls”, and “Dogshit Food” are short stories that criticize the

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).

Bob Fu conveys clearly the inexorable control that Communist leaders in China have over their people. For example, after Fu and his friends participated in the Tiananmen Square protests, Fu was coerced, day in day out, to write a confession of his purported misdeeds against China and her people as a “counterrevolutionary” (79-82, 85, 87).

Even with her previous experiences at Beijing University and at Big Joy Farm, Wong still held some belief that the Chinese system wasn’t as bad as it was sometimes made out to be. This event proved to her that it was. “The enormity of the massacre hit home…Although it had been years since I was a Maoist, I still had harbored some small hope for China. Now even that was gone” (259). As a reporter Wong was able to view the progression of the protests in leading up to the massacre, and in viewing it understood that the Chinese people were much more independent than they had previously demonstrated over the past 50 years. She had continuously seen the Chinese people following what they were told between learning in school or with physical labor, yet this protest was one of the first large scale displays of the unacceptance of the regime by the people, and the government did not know what to do with it. But because of this, Wong was able to recognize that the people were not reliant on this way of life that they had previously been bound to, but truly could lead for themselves and take control. The massacre awakened Wong both to the reality that the government was not acting to benefit the people, and that the people were more than capable of acting for

This memoir of Ma Bo’s sent shock waves throughout China when it was published and was even first banned by the Communist Government. This passionate story paints a clear picture for what the Great Chinese Cultural Revolution was really like. Many Chinese living today can attest to similar if not identical ordeals as expressed in Ma Bo’s story. The toils of being a young Red Guard in inner China were experienced by many if not millions. The horrors and atrocities were wide spread throughout the country, not just in Inner Mongolia. The experiences illustrated in Blood Red Sunset uniquely belong to Ma Bo’s entire generation of mislead Chinese. As expressed in the books dedication the Cultural Revolution

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.

I believe that this paragraph is a transparent representation of torture, dictatorship, persecution and power. Removing the fallacy of human emotion, manipulative language, and the denial of the acting party —it presents the true intentions behind revolution. The paragraph itself is intertextual in that it references seizures of power in the past (German Nazis and Russian Communist) that claimed to be for the “good of others,” but failed to recognize their true agenda —whether intentional or not. Being transparent about a desire for power, dictatorship or the use of torture would not garner much support for the movement; additionally, shrouding the true intentions of the movement with promises of betterment, an agenda focused on the good of

We stood on the island in the middle of the road and that was the moment I become part of the revolution.” This shows the authors view on the rebellion and how she believes what she’s doing is the best for her country. Lines 61-68 state “From time to time there would be a burst of flame. The great hotels: the Semiramis Intercontinental, Shepherd’s, the Ramses Hilton, had all darkened their lower floors and locked their doors. On the upper-floor balconies stick figures were watching us. At the other end of the Midan, from the roof of the American University, the snipers were watching us too. Silently. Everywhere there was a continuous thud of guns and from time to time a loud intermitted rattling sound.” Here the author is painting a picture of the protest. It was loud and scary and dangerous. This protest

is the opening of this poem, which is suggesting that freedom is important and is valued to the speaker. Chinese at the time were protesting against their government for individual rights and freedom (Tiananmen Square Incident). There is much irony when the speaker speaks about freedom because it foretells of the massacre that would occur in Tiananmen

The Hall of Supreme Harmony in The Forbidden City Wood has been widely used in numerous applications from early ages to present. Wood is an very important material for constructions. Talking about wood, the first thing that comes to my mind is the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is a great masterpiece in the world, representing Chinese people’s wisdom and hard work.

In the novel, Man’s Fate by Andre Malraux, there is turmoil and war against two different forces trying to conquer over the government in Shanghai, China. Andre Malraux on purpose narratives the novel from the perspective of Ch’en and Kyo who are both extremist and terrorist for the communist party. Malraux is showing the point of view of the revolution through the eyes of the powerful leaders compare to normal peasant. To allow readers to experience the politics and controversial ideas from a leaders point of view that any civilization goes through. In connection with the name of the novel, Man’s Fate, it shows the irony and karma that no man can control their fate, which is death.