Do Not Say We Have Nothing

On Ai-Ming’s 18th birthday, she pedaled down the streets of Beijing, in love with its “dignified” and “hopeful” residents (338). She thought about the hidden love letters she had found from Jiang Kai, about how their presence ruptured the “dull” image she had always had of her father (339). To celebrate her birthday, she went out to dinner with her parents and they had their picture taken by a professional photographer.

While her parents were at work, Ai-Ming studied, listened to the radio, and slept. On the day General-Secretary Hu Yaobang died, her father came home soaked from the rain and they talked for a tense moment about the official’s death. She then looked out the window and grew jealous of her fashionable neighbor Yiwen. Ai-Ming “crawled into bed” and listened to her parents talking, wondering how two people so different could be together (342).

The following Monday, Ai-Ming decided to desert her studies for a bit and go into Tiananmen Square to see the city in mourning, and possibly find Yiwen. All around her, protestors were making banners that celebrated the once disgraced Hu Yaobang and questioned the government’s current policies.