At the start of the book Ling is leading a very comfortable life. Her parents are doctors in the best hospital in Wuhan. But when Comrade Li, one of Mao's political officers, moves into their apartment, Ling begins to witness the gradual disintegration of her world. In an atmosphere of increasing mistrust, Ling fears for the safety of her neighbours -- and soon for her family. This is a powerful story of the girl coming of age and fighting to survive during the Cultural Revolution. It is based on the real life experiences of the author who contextualises the story in an autobiographical note and brief account of the historical background at the end of the book.

Review The story begins when Ling is nearly nine years old. Her parents are doctors in a big city hospital who have stayed on to help build the new Communist society. It is 1972, the start of the Cultural Revolution and life for middle-class, professional families is changing. Ling is about to discover what Chairman Mao meant when he wrote, ‘A revolution is not a dinner party… (it is) an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.’ Comrade Li, political officer for the hospital moves in. Posters of a smiling Chairman Mao appear everywhere.

 Bad things begin to happen: food rationing, shortages and power cuts. Dr Wong, a neighbour is arrested. Mrs Wong is sent to a labour camp for re-education. Ling is learning the meaning of the word bourgeois: she is mocked for her pretty outfit by schoolmates dressed in Mao's army uniform. Comrade Li carries out public humiliation of many of Ling’s neighbours and on Ling's 10th birthday pastes up posters with Ling's father's name under a blood red X. Red Guards ransack their flat. One day, father promises, they will go to America. But Ling knows that can't be possible: no one is allowed to leave the city.

The book is divided into three parts. In Part Two, 1974 -76 Ling's family struggle to exist. Father is demoted from doctor to hospital cleaner, Mother to working at night. Ling takes on more responsibility as she learns to barter, scrounge and keep the flat clean. During these years she suffers constant humiliation and brutality at school. Then Father is arrested and in Part Three we see 12 year old Ling becoming an angry tiger and howling wolf, prepared to stand up to bullies whatever the risk. When Chairman Mao dies on September 9, 1976 she hopes that things will change for the better

2008-10-15