question about the book

Despite the fact that her family were vilified, their home ransacked and belongings stolen; despite the fact that her father was arrested and imprisoned when he had done nothing wrong; despite that fact that beloved teachers who had won awards for excellence in education were now hated and arrested, Ji-Li still felt some kind of hero worship for China's revolutionary dictator. This shows how Communism worked in China; by taking away all information other than that which praises the Revolution, there are no other thoughts available to each of its people.

The book also shows the evil of militarizing the police force so that they become a more dangerous criminal faction that those who would traditionally have been thought to be criminals. The Red Guard routinely beat people us in their homes, stole possessions and arrested the innocent. Educating people was now a crime. Free thought was now a crime. Offenses such as leaving the Communist party in the past, reading pre-revolutionary literature of succeeding in any way whatsoever became crimes, and the punishment was given swiftly without due process. Despite the fact that the author has been brainwashed into seeing only positives about Mao and his government the story that she tells shows that this is not the case at all.