Growing Up in the People’s Republic
Weili, Ye, and Xiaodong, Ma. 2005. Growing up in The People's Republic. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Growing up in the People’s Republic is a detailed account of two individual women’s generational struggle during the controversial periods of The Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and the Cultural Fever of the 1980’s. Their case study tries to define their individual identity growing up in Communist China. Ma Xiaodong and Ye Weili’s lives allow the reader to understand the struggle that ensued for each individual at the time of change that was the Cultural Revolution. This conversation between “Two Daughters of China’s Revolution” reexamines the way China’s history is viewed by offering an individual …show more content…
Ye, an individual whose paternal grandfather was an “old-style banker bureaucrat-turned-banker and industrialist” and maternal grandfather a landlord, were seen as prime targets of the communist revolution and would later be labeled the “exploiting class.” This would later pursue a period for Ye of treading lightly when the Cultural Movement attacked Capitalist families. However the reader should note that Ye did not face prison or torture like her relatives, but was able to move up the social ladder. Ye’s mother and father both fought against the Japanese invasion in Northern China. Ye’s mother was crippled by childbirth, but she was not afraid as was shown throughout her life, and she overcame this disfiguring condition with the belief that “the interest of the revolution is above everything else.” This idea encompasses the Chinese Communist Party’s belief, more than the belief of the individual’s which supports humanist tendencies. Ma came from a broken family whose parents and grandparents suffered great economic hardships and this allowed Ma to understand that “everybody’s life has a story.” This followed Ma throughout her life where she tried to understand those around her as individuals. Most powerful to Ma were Mao’s words stating, “Chinese daughters have high aspiring minds / they love their battle array, not silk and satins.” This belief was powerful in reinforcing Ma and Ye’s desire to be like me and always be able to do as much work as a man could. For example, when Ma was in a work-farm she pushed herself to meet the quota of digging holes that the men had achieved, which was 50 holes in one day. This showed she wanted to be a true revolutionary. Ye was also caught up in this revolutionary fervor by having to reject her childhood ideals and literature in return for adopting party beliefs. This brought about
Weili, Ye, and Xiaodong, Ma. 2005. Growing up in The People's Republic. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Growing up in the People’s Republic is a detailed account of two individual women’s generational struggle during the controversial periods of The Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and the Cultural Fever of the 1980’s. Their case study tries to define their individual identity growing up in Communist China. Ma Xiaodong and Ye Weili’s lives allow the reader to understand the struggle that ensued for each individual at the time of change that was the Cultural Revolution. This conversation between “Two Daughters of China’s Revolution” reexamines the way China’s history is viewed by offering an individual …show more content…
Ye, an individual whose paternal grandfather was an “old-style banker bureaucrat-turned-banker and industrialist” and maternal grandfather a landlord, were seen as prime targets of the communist revolution and would later be labeled the “exploiting class.” This would later pursue a period for Ye of treading lightly when the Cultural Movement attacked Capitalist families. However the reader should note that Ye did not face prison or torture like her relatives, but was able to move up the social ladder. Ye’s mother and father both fought against the Japanese invasion in Northern China. Ye’s mother was crippled by childbirth, but she was not afraid as was shown throughout her life, and she overcame this disfiguring condition with the belief that “the interest of the revolution is above everything else.” This idea encompasses the Chinese Communist Party’s belief, more than the belief of the individual’s which supports humanist tendencies. Ma came from a broken family whose parents and grandparents suffered great economic hardships and this allowed Ma to understand that “everybody’s life has a story.” This followed Ma throughout her life where she tried to understand those around her as individuals. Most powerful to Ma were Mao’s words stating, “Chinese daughters have high aspiring minds / they love their battle array, not silk and satins.” This belief was powerful in reinforcing Ma and Ye’s desire to be like me and always be able to do as much work as a man could. For example, when Ma was in a work-farm she pushed herself to meet the quota of digging holes that the men had achieved, which was 50 holes in one day. This showed she wanted to be a true revolutionary. Ye was also caught up in this revolutionary fervor by having to reject her childhood ideals and literature in return for adopting party beliefs. This brought about