Red Scarf Girl

The propaganda on the wall at the entrance to Ji-li’s alley is changed to “a beautiful copy of the popular painting Mao Ze-dong on His Way to Anyuan” (101). At this wall during “Morning Repentance” and “Evening Report,” several people in the “Five Black Categories” have to bow and confess their guilt and chant “long life for Chairman Mao” (101). Ji-li’s Aunt Xi-wen is one of this guilty group. They are supervised by Six-Fingers and the new “Neighborhood Dictatorship Group,” whose list of achievements includes arresting (for counterrevolutionary activities) a “ragpicker” who accidentally tore a newspaper picture of Chairman Mao while removing old da-zi-bao from the wall (103).

This chapter also describes a famous Red Guard’s report at a neighborhood meeting. At the meeting, Red Guard Jia Hong-yu describes the day she got to see Chairman Mao in person in Tiananmen Square and the hardships she endured leading up to this important moment in her life. She brings the crowd to tears as she describes how lucky she is to have seen Chairman Mao and to be able to dedicate her life to the Cultural Revolution.

Shortly after this neighborhood meeting, Ji-li witnesses her neighbor, Old Qian, whose son-in-law was executed as a counterrevolutionary, become the target of the Red Guards.