Red Scarf Girl - by Ji-Li Jiang

"The Communists Did alter China in many positive ways. Before Mao's liberation, my father remembered as a boy in the city of Shanghai seeing corpses of beggars lying in the streets while the wealthy drove by in chauffeured limousines. The Communists worked for the benefit of the poor, and united a nation shattered for decades into warring factions. Increasingly , however, it became clear that Mao Ze-dong, though an inspiring an leader and brilliant revolutionary , was less skilled in the practical affairs of managing a country. ...Deciding that sparrows were harmful to the rice crop, for instance, Mao ordered the Chinese to hunt and kill them. While his directive did succeed in reducing the sparrow population, he had neglected to consider that birds also eat bugs; suddenly, the nation was besieged by a plague of insects." From David Henry Hwang, in the forward to this book.

Chairman Mao came across as a leader of the people - and he was loved for this. He praised the worker - especially the field worker. In China during his time: intellectuals, landlords, and anyone who did not work with his hands was vilified. I believe that he did initially care about the common working person -he loved to be photographed working in the fields. But that somewhere along the way he became corrupted and became just a demagogue.

(Photocredit - By The People's Republic of China Printing Office [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons0

Books like the Red Scarf Girl show us how much power the written word can have. By Clicking the Button Below You can bring the gift of reading to children who otherwise could not afford it. Please Click Everyday - It Costs you nothing to give so much!

I have heard it said that if you want to work for justice, work to help the poor. The incredible difference between the rich and poor classes were a setup to allow for a man like Mao to come to power. He may have been a respected leader at one time, but he became a tyrant. And the masses, so used to being beaten down by the oppressive rich, unfortunately found that they were being beaten down by the very people who were supposed to be their liberators.





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All people rebel eventually if they are hungry, there needs to be way for all of a country's citizens to meet their basic needs to keep true peace.

Recently people have come here in search of the strange love story or at least would be love story of the girl in the red scarf in Edmonton. A billboard occurred on 111 Ave and 156 Street - "Girl with the Red Scarf. Saw you at Grandin LRT. Can we meet?"

It's cute - but how is he supposed to know where to meet her?
But lo and behold - She answers back " Guy who Saw me at Grandin Station. Sure does this Friday work for you?
Also you owe me like 2000."

And a little later " Girl in the Red Scarf, I haven't seen you for weeks - should I give up?"

Nope - not the story of the Cultural Revolution. I wouldn't have mentioned it except I lived in Edmonton for 8 years, and it brought back memories. So if you came here for that here it is. :)