Publishers Weekly Best Book * ALA Best Book for Young Adults * ALA Notable Children's Book * ALA Booklist Editors' Choice

Moving, honest, and deeply personal, Red Scarf Girl is the incredible true story of one girl's courage and determination during one of the most terrifying eras of the twentieth century.

It's 1966, and twelve-year-old Ji-li Jiang has everything a girl could want: brains,

...

"Cheng Gong and Li Jiaqi grew up together in a Chinese provincial capital in the 1980s. Now, many years later, the childhood friends reunite and are determined to follow the tracks of their grandparents' generation to the heart of a mystery. What exactly happened during that rainy night in 1967 in the abandoned water tower?"--

At the height of Mao's infamous Cultural Revolution, two boys are among hundreds of thousands exiled to the countryside for "re-education." The narrator and his best friend, Luo, guilty of being the sons of doctors, find themselves in a remote village where, among the peasants of Phoenix mountain, they are made to cart buckets of excrement up and down precipitous winding paths. Their meager distractions include a violin--as well as, before long, the...

"A teenage girl living in 1960s China becomes Mao Zedong's protégée and lover--and a poster child for the Cultural Revolution--in this provocative, poignant novel from the bestselling author of A River of Stars On the eve of China's Cultural Revolution and her sixteenth birthday, Mei dreams of becoming a model revolutionary. When the Communist Party recruits girls for a mysterious duty in the capital, she seizes the opportunity to escape her impoverished...

"Returning to his village invigorated by success in the army, Gao Aijun sees the beautiful Xia Hongmei walking barefoot alongside the railway track in the warm afternoon sun, and is instantly smitten. Hiding their relationship from their spouses, the pair hurl themselves into the struggle to bring revolution to their backwater village. They wait to consummate their relationship until Aijun has managed to dig a literal tunnel of love between their...

"A teenager working in a mountain encampment during the Chinese Cultural Revolution yearns for romance and excitement"--

A coming-of-age tale set in the final days of China's Cultural Revolution. Eleven-year-old Wang lives with his family in a remote village in Guizhou Province. Life is tough, but they make the most of what little they have. When Wang is selected to lead his school in daily gymnastics, he is told he must wear a clean, new shirt, which forces his family to make a great sacrifice. Soon after, Wang has an encounter with a wounded, desperate man on the...

In China, an entire generation's most formative years took place in remote rural areas when city kids were sent to the countryside to become rusticated youth and partake in Mao's mandated Great Leap Forward. In an inspiring tale, Emei Burrell shares her mother's true experience during the Down to the Countryside Movement of the early 1970s, which sought to increase agricultural outreach and spur social and ideological change amongst youth. Burell's...

"Through the life of a remarkable woman--based on pioneering stage director Sun Weishi (1921-1968)--this epic novel immerses us in the multifaceted history of China's Communist Party. Sun Weishi was educated in Moscow and when she returned to China she produced the works of Chekov, Gogol, and other socially progressive dramas. However, when the cultural revolution began in 1966, she was persecuted, arrested, and eventually died in prison."--