This is the gulag archipelago… but for 12-year-olds and about the Chinese social revolution instead of the USSR. It’s a short memior that covers the life of the author from age 12 (1966) to 14. She tells her story from the perspective of the child she remembers. The book is about the changes in China as the cultural revolution gathered steam; the driving narrative is about the conflict between Jiang’s loyalty to her country Vs. her conservative values as represented by her attachment to her family.
Among other things, the story highlights the inherent unfairness of seeing people as avatars of their group and for punishing man for adam’s transgressions. Jiang constantly wars with her family’s “black” status, granted by her long-dead grandfather’s profession of landlord. It means emotional turmoil, bullying, exclusion from opportunity, and legitimized theft and property destruction. While the children’s story lacks the vivid and hellish scenes of gulag (for obvious reasons) Mau’s restorative justice and deliberate destruction of the wisdom of the past looks plenty bad from the innocent and tear-stained eyes of a child.
This book covers an important time and place, it’s just a bit shallow for my taste. It’s inspired me to look for deeper material.