"All the more powerful for the simplicity of the prose." - The New York Times Book Review

"A page-turner. Excellent." -- -- School Library Journal

"Engrossing...Transcends politics and becomes the story of one little girl trying to survive." -- -- ALA Booklist

In 1966 Ji-li Jiang turned twelve. An outstanding student and leader, she had everything: brains, the admiration of her peers, and a bright future in China′s Communist Party. But that year China′s leader, Mao Ze-dong, launched the Cultural Revolution, and everything changed.

Over the next few years Ji-li and her family were humiliated and scorned by former friends, neighbors, and co-workers. They lived in constant terror of arrest. Finally, with the detention of her father, Ji-li faced the most difficult choice of her life.

Told with simplicity and grace, this is the true story of one family′s courage and determination during one of the most terrifying eras of the twentieth century.

Browse Inside: Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution

This is the true story of one girl's determination to hold her family together during one of the most terrifying eras of the twentieth century.

This award-winning memoir of a shattered childhood recalls a haunting time which chills the soul. At almost every turn, we listen to the heart-pounding struggle of a little girl, and her struggle between her belief in Chairman Mao and the Communist Party, and her beloved family. Writing with powerful simplicity and unblinking understatement, Ji-li makes the Cultural Revolution meaningful to children as well as adults.

Red Scarf Girl stands beside The Diary of Anne Frank and Zlata's Diary, and forever changes the way we see the world and ourselves.

See Inside: Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution

Chapter One

I was born on Chinese New Year.

Carefully, my parents chose my name: Ji-li, meaning lucky and beautiful. They hoped that I would be the happiest girl in the world.

And I was.

I was happy because I was always loved and respected. I was proud because I was able to excel and always expected to succeed. I was trusting, too. I never doubted what I was told: "Heaven and earth are great, but greater still is the kindness of the Communist Party; father and mother are dear, but dearer still is Chairman Mao."

With my red scarf, the emblem of the Young Pioneers, tied around my neck, and my heart bursting with joy, I achieved and grew every day until that fateful year, 1966.

That year I was twelve years old, in sixth grade.

That year the Cultural Revolution started.

The Liberation Army Dancer

Chairman Mao, our beloved leader, smiled down at us from his place above the blackboard. The sounds and smells of the tantalizing May afternoon drifted in through the window. The sweet breeze carried the scent of new leaves and tender young grass and rippled the paper slogan below Chairman Mao's picture: study hard and advance every day. In the corner behind me the breeze also rustled the papers hanging from the Students' Garden, a beautifully decorated piece of cardboard that displayed exemplary work. One of them was my latest perfect math test. ...

Visit Ji-Li Jiang's Official Web Site

Ji-li Jiang was born in Shanghai, China, in 1954. She graduated from Shanghai Teachers' College and Shanghai University and was a science teacher before she came to the United States in 1984. After her graduation from the University of Hawaii, Ms. Jiang worked as an operations analyst for a hotel chain in Hawaii,then as budget director for a health-care company in Chicago. In 1992 she started her own company, East West Exchange, to promote cultural exchange between Western countries and China.

For over twenty years, Ji-li Jiang nursed her childhood memories of surviving the Cultural Revolution in China , and finally brought them to life in her first book Red Scarf Girl . Since its publication in 1997, Ji-li has been invited to speak at hundreds of schools and conferences. Following up the success of Red Scarf Girl, in 2001 she published her adaptation of the Chinese classic folklore Magical Monkey King- Mischief in Heaven , which was serialized in 140 newspapers in USA and received so warmly by children – both young and old – that it was published in book form the next year. In 2007, this lovely story was selected for International Literacy Day by World Association of Newspaper in Paris and was serialized in 17 countries worldwide.

Ji-li was a science teacher in Shanghai , China before she came to United States in 1984. She studied Travel Industry Management at University of Hawaii , and worked as a corporate operations analyst and budgeting director. In 1992, she co-founded East West Exchange , a company that promotes and facilitates cultural and business exchanges between China and western countries. In 2003, she started a nonprofit organization, Cultural Exchange International to continue and expand the cultural exchanges she believes in.

Ji-li Jiang now lives in the San Francisco Bay area, which she considers home. She goes to Seattle often to visit her family. Her father, whose stage name is Henry O, still appears in various films . Besides writing, Ji-li continues to speak at schools and conferences about her books and native China . She also devotes time to various cultural exchange programs, including leading cultural trips to China for large groups. She believes that a better understanding among people around the world is the only route to global peace.

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