Red Scarf Girl
By:Ji Li Jiang
After Story of the Chinese Cultural Revolution
Q1. Which ideas in your novel are connected to its particular setting, and which ideas are still relevant today?
A: The classic novel, Red Scarf Girl by Ji Li Jiang, is a biography that won the Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People (Ji- Li Jiang, author of Red Scarf Girl, Biography). The setting plays an important role in this story. This story takes place in China, at the time of cultural revolution in China called the Chinese Revolution. The Chinese revolution took place through 1949 ~ 1976 (After story of China). A reader can see it has related more to the setting of the Chinese Revolution. The setting in China and communist countries, and the thoughts that they have, in still in place today. Mao Zedong was the chairman of China during the Chinese Revolution. He was the leader of communism, which is a political system with a dictator ruling over their own country. Communist countries still have common thoughts about Communism, but Mao and the strong dictators from the past have mostly died for example President Fidel Castro, and more and more countries have now changed into democracy. Clearly in Red Scarf Girl, one can sees the issues of family royalty, dealing with the dictator, and issues of growing up. The setting is mostly about the life of a girl during the Chinese Revolution.
Many of the ideas of this book are relevant today. Going on, China could have been a communist country, but because Mao Zedong died and his people didn't have the power and the thoughts that Mao Zedong had of making China the best communist country anymore, yet they didn’t continue to change like most communist countries. Adding on, there are still some problems that many people struggle with today. As mentioned, they still have a dictator Xi Jinping (Xi Jingping), they still struggle with Taiwan, and they still have poverty (Chinese Revolution). Literature sometimes meers history. Continuing, you can find that the Cultural Revolution of China has influenced lives and this novel. Concluding, many ideas are still relevant, which were influenced by Mao Zedong and his pack. But out of all relevant ideas, many will think, ‘ The most worst part of China is, they haven’t had any change in poverty, government, and their lives.’