Difference between revisions of "Red Scarf Girl SSR Project"

Red Scarf Girl is a book written by Ji-li Jiang. It talks about a young girl's experiences during the Cultural Revolution of China. It is in the memoir genre.

The main character, Jiang Ji Li, is a 12 year old girl. She and her family have to survive the hardships of The Cultural Revolution. Her family is considered a Black Family, because her grandfather was a landlord. Ji li has many friends and enemies.

Jiang Ji li is a real person. She grew up, moved to the U.S., and began to learn English. When she finally spoke fluent English, she started writing her book. She called it 'Red Scarf Girl'.

-Wikipedia "Red Scarf Girl" 11 October 2006 11:59 UTC

The social and political upheaval that overtook China from 1966 to 1976. During this time many innocent people were ruthlessly persecuted. The Cultural Revolution was launched by Chairman Mao to rid the country of any anti-Communist influences. Long afterward it was revealed that Chairman Mao had unleashed this chaos in order to protect his own political position.

Cul·tur·al Rev·o·lu·tion -noun

reform movement in China in 1960s: a political and cultural reform movement in the People's Republic of China from 1965 to 1968 that was intended to revolutionize political opinion and behavior. It was characterized by social upheaval. The Red Guard played a prominent role in the movement, which was aimed at restoring principles associated with Mao Zedong.

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (无产阶级文化大革命) often abbreviated to 文化大革命 wénhuà dà gémìng, literally "Great Cultural Revolution", or even simpler, to 文革 wéngé, "Cultural Revolution") in the People's Republic of China was a struggle for power within the Communist Party of China, which grew to include large sections of Chinese society and eventually brought the People's Republic of China to the brink of civil war. It was launched by Communist Party of China Chairman Mao Zedong on May 16, 1966 to regain control of the party after the disasters of the Great Leap Forward led to a significant loss of his power to rivals such as Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. Though Mao himself officially declared the Cultural Revolution to have ended in 1969, the term is today widely used to also include the period between 1969 and the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976.

Between 1966 and 1968, Mao's principal lieutenants, Vice-Chairman Lin Biao and Mao's wife Jiang Qing, acting on his instructions, organised a mass youth militia called the Red Guards to overthrow Mao's enemies and seize control of the state apparatus. In the chaos and violence that ensued, millions died and millions more were injured or imprisoned.

The official historical view of the Communist Party of China on the Cultural Revolution and Mao's role within it is incorporated in the Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China' adopted on June 27, 1981. In this document, it is stated that "Chief responsibility for the grave `Left' error of the `cultural revolution,' an error comprehensive in magnitude and protracted in duration, does indeed lie with Comrade Mao Zedong" and that the Cultural Revolution was carried out "under the mistaken leadership of Mao Zedong who was used by the counterrevolutionaries Lin Biao and Jiang Qing and brought serious disaster and turmoil to the Party and the Chinese people." This official view, which has since become the dominant framework for the Chinese historiography of the Cultural Revolution, separates the personal actions of Mao during the Cultural Revolution from his earlier heroism as well as separates the Mao's personal mistakes from the correctness of the theory that he created.

The Cultural Revolution remains a sensitive issue within the People's Republic of China. While there is little censorship of descriptions of events of the Cultural Revolution, historical views which run counter to the version outlined in the 1981 Resolution, either by suggesting that the Cultural Revolution was a good thing or that Mao was more or less culpable than the official history indicates are routinely censored.

-Wikipedia "Cultural Revolution" 12 October 2006 01:16 UTC

An economic system in which all means of production, such as land and natural resoucres are owned by the entire community and used for the good of all its members.

com·mu·nism [ kómmyə nìzzəm ] -noun

classless political system: the political theory or system in which all property and wealth is owned in a classless society by all the members of that society

[Mid-19th century. < French communisme < commun "common" < Latin communis]

Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a future classless, stateless social organization, based upon common ownership of the means of production. It can be classified as a branch of the broader socialist movement. Early forms of human social organization have been described as 'primitive communism' by Marxists. However, communism as a council communism, Luxemburgism, anarchist communism, Christian communism, and various currents of left communism, which are generally the more widespread varieties. However, various offshoots of the Soviet (what critics call the 'Stalinist') and Maoist interpretations of Marxism-Leninism comprise a particular branch of communism that has the distinction of having been the primary driving force for communism in world politics during most of the 20th century. The competing branch of Trotskyism has not had such a distinction.

Karl Marx held that society could not be transformed from the capitalist mode of production to the communist mode of production all at once, but required a transitional period which Marx described as the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat. The communist society Marx envisioned emerging from capitalism has never been implemented, and it remains theoretical; Marx, in fact, commented very little on what communist society would actually look like. However, the term 'Communism', especially when it is capitalized, is often used to refer to the political and economic regimes under communist parties that claimed to embody the dictatorship of the proletariat.

-Wikipedia "Communism" 14 October 2006 23:49 UTC

(1893-1976) Tyhe chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and leader of China from 1949 to 1976. Formally spelled Mao Tse-tung.

Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976) (毛澤東) was a Chinese Marxist military and political leader, who led the Chinese Communist Party to victory against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War, leading to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949 in Beijing.

Mao pursued the ideal of a strong, prosperous and socially egalitarian China, endeavoring to build a modern, industrialized, socialist nation. However, the failings of Mao's most significant socio-political programs — including the Anti-Rightist Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution — have been widely criticized. Mao is a controversial figure today. While officially held in high regard in China, he is today rarely mentioned by the government, whose policies have diverged greatly from those of Mao. Maoists around the world look to Mao as a great revolutionary leader whose thought is the highest expression of Marxism. Many of his detractors however accuse him of having been a mass-murderer, holding his leadership accountable for the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese.

-Wikipedia "Mao Zedong" 14 October 2006 23:00 UTC

During the Cultural Revolution a very pouplar, semiformal organization of high school and college students who were from "red" family backgrounds or who, though not "red" had proven themselves to be revolutionries. They were Chairman Mao;'s loyal supporters and pioneers of the Cultural Revolution.

Red Guard (plural Red Guards) -noun

1. Chinese Communist youth movement: the 1960s Chinese Communist youth movement that attempted to bring about the Cultural Revolution of Mao Zedong
2. young Chinese Communist: a member of the Red Guard

In the People's Republic of China, Red Guards (红卫兵) were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people, who were mobilised by Mao Zedong and his allies to defeat their enemies within the struggle for power officially called the Cultural Revolution, between 1966 and 1976.

Initially under the control of the Cultural Revolution Group within the Communist Party leadership, led by Mao's principal allies, Vice-Chairman Lin Biao and Mao's wife Jiang Qing, the Red Guards soon got out of control and divided into many factions, some of which fought against each other, bringing the country to the brink of civil war by 1969. The Red Guards nevertheless achieved Mao's objectives of removing from power other leaders within the Chinese Communist Party (who were viewed as trying to take China back to capitalism). Particularly, it removed leaders such as Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping along with thousands of others, by a process of revolutionary mass movement.

Many young Chinese were enthusiastic about the prospect of "being politically influential at such a young age." With Little Red Books in their hands, squads of Red Guards formed and began to go from house to house looking for potential elements of corruption, which sometimes included teachers, relatives, and then their own families. The accusations against their opponents sometimes became ridiculous as well. Punishments could be exceptionally cruel. The number of people who perished during the period was estimated by some to be in the millions.

There were cases where particular members would start by targeting their parents (Pavlik Morozov-style) in order to demonstrate uncompromising fairness and absolute obedience to Mao. Then others were required to measure up or even surpass these efforts, resulting in a vicious cycle of competition.

-Wikipedia "Red Guards (China)" 11 October 2006 16:53 UTC

A primary-school group that included most children in every school. Aprroved by the school committe, membership in the Youg Pioneers was inteneded toward eventual membership in the Communist Party.

The Young Pioneers of China (中国少年先锋队) is a mass youth organization for children in the People's Republic of China. The YP of China is run by the Communist Youth League, an organization of older youth that comes under the Communist Party of China. The YP of China is similar to Pioneer Movements that exist or existed in many Communist countries around the world.

-Wikipedia "Young Pioneers of China" 14 October 2006 06:20 UTC

In a Chinese elementary school, the student chairman of the entire school, roughly equivalent to the Student Council president in an American school.

Zeno's paradoxes are a set of paradoxes devised by Zeno of Elea to support Parmenides' doctrine that "all is one" and that contrary to the evidence of our senses, the belief in plurality and change is mistaken, and in particular that motion is nothing but an illusion.

Several of Zeno's eight surviving paradoxes (preserved in Aristotle's Physics and Simplicius's commentary thereon) are essentially equivalent to one another; and most of them were regarded, even in ancient times, as very easy to refute. Three of the strongest and most famous—that of Achilles and the tortoise, the dichotomy argument, and that of an arrow in flight—are given here.

Zeno's arguments are perhaps the first examples of a method of proof called reductio ad absurdum also known as proof by contradiction. They are also credited as a source of the dialectic method used by Socrates.

Zeno's paradoxes were a major problem for ancient and medieval philosophers, who found most proposed solutions somewhat unsatisfactory. More modern solutions using calculus have generally satisfied mathematicians and engineers. Many philosophers still hesitate to say that all paradoxes are completely solved, while pointing out also that attempts to deal with the paradoxes have resulted in many intellectual discoveries. Variations on the paradoxes (see Thomson's lamp) continue to produce at least temporary puzzlement in elucidating what, if anything, is wrong with the argument.

-Wikipedia "Zeno's paradoxes" 5 October 2006 23:30 UTC

sa·lon [ sə lón, sa láwN ] (plural sa·lons) -noun

1. grand sitting room: an elegantly furnished room in a large house where guests are received and entertained
2. social gathering of intellectuals: a regular gathering of prominent people from the worlds of literature, art, music, or politics, especially one held at the home of a wealthy woman. Salons were especially popular in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
3. place for hairdressing or beauty treatments: a commercial establishment where hairdressers or beauticians work, sometimes part of a larger store or a hotel
4. expensive clothes shop: a shop selling elegant or fashionable women's clothes, especially expensive designer clothes
5. art exhibition or gallery: an art exhibition, especially one devoted to the work of living artists, or the hall in which the exhibits are displayed

[Late 17th century. Via French < Italian salone "large hall" < sala "hall" < Germanic]

For other uses see salon.

A salon is a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings, often consciously following Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "to please and educate" (aut delectare aut prodesse est). The salons, commonly associated with French literary and philosophical salons of the 17th century and 18th century, were carried on until quite recently in urban settings among like-minded people of a 'set': many 20th-century salons could be instanced.

The word salon first appears in French in 1664 (from the Italian word sala, used to designate the large reception hall of Italian mansions). Literary gatherings before this were often referred to by using the name of the room in which they occurred, like cabinet, réduit, ruelle and alcôve. Before the end of the 17th century, these gatherings were frequently held in the bedroom (treated as a more private form of drawing room): a lady, reclining on her bed, would receive close friends who would sit on chairs or stools drawn around (this practice is even found with Louis XIV's petit levée). The expression ruelle, literally meaning "little street", designates the space between a bed and the wall in a bedroom, and more generally the entire bedroom; it was used commonly to designate the gatherings of the "précieuses", the intellectual and literary circles that formed around women in the first half of the 17th century, whose affectations were ridiculed by Molière.

-Wikipedia "Salon (gathering)" 7 October 2006 19:14 UTC

det·ri·men·tal [ dèttri mént'l ] -adjective

harmful: causing damage, harm, or disadvantage

det·ri·men·tal·ly adverb

A form of propaganda in the form of a large handwritten poster presenting an important issue. During the Cultural Revolution, da-zi-bao were used to attack and humiliate people.

Mén·i·ère's dis·ease [ màyn yérz di zz ] or Mén·i·ère's syn·drome -noun

ear disorder: a disorder caused by an accumulation of fluid in the labyrinths of the inner ear. Symptoms include vertigo, persistent ringing in the ears, and some loss of hearing.

[Late 19th century. After Prosper Ménière (1799-1862), French physician]

Ménière's disease is a disorder of the inner ear that can affect hearing and balance. It is characterized by episodes of dizziness and tinnitus and progressive hearing loss, usually in one ear. It is caused by an increase in volume and pressure of the endolymph of the inner ear. It is named after the French physician Prosper Ménière, who first reported that vertigo was caused by inner ear disorders in an article published in 1861.

-Wikipedia "Ménière's disease" 12 October 2006 04:10 UTC

The Chinese "dollar." During the Cultural Revolution the offical value of a yuan was about one thirsd of a US dollar.

yu·an [ yoo n ] (plural yu·an) -noun

unit of Chinese currency: the main unit of currency in China, worth 10 jiao

[Early 20th century. < Chinese yuán "round"]

The yuan (everyday use: 元; 圓; 圆; 元; yuen; literally "round") is, in the Chinese language, the base unit of a currency; for example, the US dollar is Meiyuan (美元). However, in an international context, yuan refers to the base unit of various Chinese currencies, including the renminbi (CNY) and the New Taiwan dollar (TWD). The English pronunciation of yuan is sometimes /ju:'æn/ (two syllables), although in Chinese the word is one syllable and pronounced closer to the English pronunciation of "yen." In some parts of China, it is colloquially known as the kuai (块). The Hong Kong dollar and Macanese pataca are also written as yuan in Chinese. The Japanese yen uses the same Chinese character and comes from the same origin as the Chinese yuan (albeit different simplified form since World War II).

One yuan is divided into 10 jiao (角) or colloquially mao (毛). One jiao is divided into 10 fen (分). In Cantonese, widely spoken in Hong Kong and Macau, jiao and fen are called ho (毫) and sin (仙). "Sin" is a word borrowed into Cantonese from the English "cent".

Shop prices in mainland China and Taiwan are usually marked with 元 after the digits. In mainland China, ¥ (a Y with two crossbars) before the digits is also common.

-Wikipedia "Chinese yuan" 27 September 2006 10:54 UTC

Bai Shan (around page 237)

Black - their landlord past, writting the letter, and the fact that they were searched many times supports the fact that they were not considered red

Answers include:

• listening to foreign radio
• being a member of a landlord family (being "black")
• making serious mistakes during the Anti-Rightest movement (page 224)

Song Po-po

a. The Proletarian Photo Shop

During China's communist era, land owners were looked down upon. In fact any rich people were persecuted because having money and wealth was the opposite of communism. One of communism’s central ideas is to spread around the wealth equally to all of the people. Wealthy people were assumed to have exploited the heavy labors of the working class for their own personal gains. Wealth and riches just didn't fit in well with communism ideals. In addition, the wealthy could organize and attempt to overthrow Chairman Mao. That, however, must be avoided at all costs!weatly could

Ji-Li could not renounce her family because she loved them too much. Her love and dedication for them prevents her from changing her name. She knows that if she is still associated with the “Half-City Jiangs” her possible political career will go up in smoke. This is confirmed when she is replaced from the Class Exhibition for not cooperation (228). In addition, Ji-Li does not want to testify against her father because she honestly believes her father did nothing wrong (226). Her family did go along with the revolution by getting rid of four-olds, but was still persecuted.

Much later after the Cultural Revolution ended, it was revealed that the entire Cultural Revolution was just a big ploy by Mao Zedong to stay in power. In addition, the raids, especially in Ji-Li’s town were just ridiculous. The Cultural Revolution seemed pretty successful in removing four-olds from society. Tragically, Mao managed to erase much of China’s rich history to protect the superiority of socialism as it was failing.

The students who previously floundered along in school became the leaders of the Red Guard. They discover power and influence. They finally can feel as if they are doing something right. This angers Ji-Li who previously tutored some of these students. They are now turning on her exposing her “black” class status. Before they were denied and put down, but now they are using that anger of oppression to get back at Ji-Li.

At the end of the book, Ji-Li’s life is very different then it was when she started. She has aged a few years but lost a lot. Her hopes of a big political career get carried away by the Red Guards, along with most of her family’s positions and wealth. By the end of the book Ji-Li is left will little more then a few sticks of furniture. Her memories, heirlooms, and cultures were swept away by insatiable quest to eradicate four-olds in the guise of making a strong socialist state.