Ji-li is so depressed, but she knows she has to keep her head up for her family without each other, they have nothing. She now has to sweep the streets as punishment, and more of their stuff is taken. Red Guards come to the door, find the letter, and slap her grandma around a bit. When Ji-li gets to go back home, she finds out that her mom has written a letter to the government, complaining. It's back-breaking work, and she even faints from the heat. When she refuses to testify, they drop her from the exhibition, and before long, she's sent to the fields to work long days picking wheat. For what? They don't really care, as long as she does it.Įven though Ji-li believes in the revolution, she can't lie about her dad. ![]() Afterward, though, government officials ask her to testify against her dad. She gets everything ready for the big day, and she nails it at the rehearsal. When she's asked to make a presentation about Mao at a big exhibition, she's thrilled-at least she's still good at school stuff. Ji-li tries to support Mao and the new beliefs, despite the trouble it's caused her family. Her dad is arrested and put in jail for no reason. People come to search Ji-li's home and take a bunch of her family's stuff away to teach them a lesson. When word gets out that her grandpa was a landlord, everyone shuns her family-it's a big no-no to be related to someone who was rich, even if he is long dead. Suddenly things are way different in Ji-li's life. All of her classmates write mean notes (da-zi-bao) about their teachers people shut down Ji-li's favorite bookshop everyone has to get rid of their old school stuff. Chairman Mao tells everyone to get rid of the "four olds," a.k.a. Ji-li can't spend too much time worrying, though, because the Cultural Revolution is at hand. She tells her teacher the news the next day, but she remains confused by the whole thing. ![]() Huh? Ji-li thought she had the perfect family life. Her dad explains that she won't pass the background check, so she better drop it. She's always wanted to be a performer, and she rushes home to tell her parents-but they aren't thrilled (to say the least). This doesn't impact her life all that much until she's chosen to audition for the super-competitive Liberation Army dance troupe. The only difference between her and you? She's growing up in China in 1966 (okay, your mom probably isn't an actress, too). She goes to school, gets annoyed at her siblings, and dreams of becoming an actress one day, just like her mom. Ji-li is just like any other teenage girl.
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