Liberation army dancer -- Destroy the four olds! -- Writing Da-zi-bao -- Red successors -- Graduation -- Sound of drums and gongs -- Propaganda wall -- Search in passing -- Fate -- Junior high school at last -- Locked up -- Educable child -- Half-city Jiangs -- Class eduction exhibition -- Rice harvest -- Incriminating letter -- Sweeping -- Epilogue -- Glossary.

An outstanding student and much admired leader of her class, Ji-Li Jiang was poised for a shining future in the Communist party until the Cultural Revolution of 1966. Told with simplicity, innocence and grace, this unforgettable memoir gives a child's eye view of a terrifying time in 20th-century history--and of one family's indomitable courage under fire.