This book was absolutely amazing. It was the first time in years that I had not been able to put a book down. This book is a striking story of what it was like to live in China under Mao. If you are at all interested in this period of history, this book is a must read. It is a true story that is both passionately romantic and incredibly disturbing.

(From Booklist) This is an honest and frightening memoir of growing up in Communist China during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Min describes a systematically deprived Shanghai childhood (the family was forced into successively meaner quarters); school days spent as a member of the Red Guard, spouting the words of Chairman Mao and being forced to publicly betray her favorite teacher; and later teen years on a work farm in order to become a peasant because peasants were the only true vanguard of the revolution. The farm years, with their backbreaking workdays and heartbreaking, lonely nights, exemplify the grinding insanity of the Cultural Revolution, the terror and dehumanization it inflicted on ordinary Chinese. Eventually, Min was tapped by the party to be in the propaganda film Red Azalea, during the making of which she suffered more humiliation and political subterfuge. What is so extraordinary is that Min managed to keep a tight hold on her spirit. Her autobiography is not just a coming-of-age story or history lesson; it is a tale of inner strength and courage that transcends time and place.

A deep look into the life of a chineese woman, during the cultural revolution.She later, came to the U.S. ,and became a wonderfull author. A great book.

Excellent look into the hidden China during the Mao regime. This is a true story.

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Autobiography of young girls life in China during cultural revolution. Easy read and very interesting. Highly recommended.

my in-laws came from a communist country & my mother-in-law in particular really connected with the truth of this story.

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