The Red Scarf Girl

1. Who are the members of Ji-Li’s family? Describe her family home. What class status does her family belong to? What is the occupation of her father? Mother?

Answer:
Ji-Li's family members: Ji-Li's father, Song-Po-Po(nanny/housekeeper:P.14), Ji-Li's mother, Ji-Yong(younger brother), Ji-yun (younger sister), Ji-Li's grandmother (went to modern university, teacher, help found Ji-Li's primary school:P.14), Little white(cat)
Ji-Li's home: bright and warm and welcoming, appartement in Shanghai, had a french window, mahogany table, high ceilings, burgandy curtains, pots on steps.(P.7) 10 times bigger room than classmates, 100 times brighter, full-sized bathroom.(P.15~16)
Family status/class: Middle class who are doing well. Not super-rich, but well-off.
Family occupation: Both parents are an actor/actress. But the now the mother retired and works in a sports equipment store.(P.13)

2. What is Ji-Li’s life at school like? What special honor is Ji-Li picked for at school? Describe Ji-Li’s parents’ reaction. What does Ji-Li do instead of entering the audition?

Answer:
Ji-Li's school life: She's the student chairman of the whole school and also was an outstanding student (P. 9). She was happy and was always respected, loved, able to excel and expected to succeed (P.1). Ji-Li math test was display as exemplary work (P.3). She was known for being good at martial arts since 2nd grade (P.5). She had a da-dui-zhang badge for student chairman of the whole school (P.9). She was correcting her little sister about her piano practice (P.29).
Special honor: She was picked to do an audition for the Central Liberation Army Arts Academy (P.6)
Parents' reaction: Her dad told her not to do the audition and he was serious about it(P.8). She also saw a pain in her dad's eyes that she had never seen before (P.9). Her dad was worried about the political background investigation (P.9). They send a note principal Long (P.10)
Instead of entering the audition: Ji-Li tried hard not to cry about not going to the audition after talking to teacher Gu and An Yi, she dogged behind a tree so Principal Long and the 2 boys wouldn't see her because she didn't want to talk to anyone right then (P.12)

3. What are the "Four Olds"? Provide some examples of each and why they need to be destroyed. What does "prosperity" mean? Why is this considered a thought?

The Four Olds are- Old culture, Old ideas, Old habits, Old customs. (P.21)

Examples:
Old habits- being named after something(p.1).
Old ideas- that umbrella is Yang-san(p.3237).
Old culture- destroying old signs because they are old(p.20-27).
Old customs- wearing pants with a narrow bottom(p.32-33).

Four Olds need to be destroyed because: China would become a strong socialist country if the four olds are destroyed. (Glossary and pg 21)

Prosperity: Prosperity means to be successful, dominating in the world and wealthy. In this book (page 21) there is a market called The Great Prosperity Market and the sign had to be destroyed because the word prosperity was in it. Mao says “that if you are prosperous, than you are bourgeois”.

4. What is an xenophile? Why was it bad to be a xenophile in the Revolutionary China?

Answer-

Xenophile-An xenophile is a person who loves anything foreign(p.285 Glossary)

The xenophile was considered bad because of the four olds to have foreign influence. He wanted everything to be Chinese ,but nothing foreign.

5. What are da-zi-bao? What are being done with them? Who is Jiang Xi-wen? Why does Ji-Li hang a da-zi-bao on her house?

Answer
THE meaning of Da-zi-bao is-a form of propaganda in the shape of a large handwritten poster presenting an important issue. During the cultural revolution, da zi bao were used to attack and humilate people.

People are using the Da-zi-bao to actually humiliate people throught handwritten posters.

Jiang-Xi-Wen is a very close aunt of Ji- Li.

JI-LI hangs a da-zi-bao on her house because she is accused to be a rightist and They have a da-zi-bao because Yin-Lan-Lan and Du Hai wrote that teacher Ke and Jiang Ji-Li have a realationship going on.(pg.49)

6. Why does Ji-Li stop going to school for a while?

Answer
There is a person who writes a letter to Da-zi-bao about her and Ji-Li getting a very high fever. (pages 45 - 56)

7.What is a rightist? Use your own words to briefly explain the process of remolding one's ideology.

A rightist is a memeber of a conservative party who disagreed with or opposed the Communist Party.

Ideology is when you forget what happened in the past, and think about the future and present.

8.What did Ji-Li's grandfather do for living? How does this affect Ji-Li's life?

Answer:
Ji-Li's grandfather was a landlord. (pg.60-67)
This effected Ji-li's life by being accused by her classmates because she was the granddaughter of a landlord ( which in that time was a big thing or job). She couldn't be a Red guard because of her family and their beliefs about Red Guards.(pg.59- 67)