Red Flower of China

May 3, 1993
``The Cultural Revolution had transformed me into a devil,'' writes Zhai. In 1966, at age 15, she led a Red Guard brigade that tortured Chinese citizens branded counterrevolutionaries. She beat innocent people to death and had others exiled; her squad raided homes and murdered people. Now a professor of engineering in British Columbia, Zhai expresses remorse and guilt rather perfunctorily, and her cool confession is tinged with rationalizations. She blames the flourishing of her ``evil, barbaric side'' on her blind faith in Chairman Mao. Her fervor gave way to bitter disillusionment when she herself was banished to the countryside in 1969 to do three years of hard labor and be ``re-educated'' by peasants. This is a grisly account of how political brainwashing can induce converts to commit monstrous acts.

April 15, 1993
This autobiography shares many similarities with Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro's popular Son of the Revolution ( LJ 2/15/83). Both authors adopted the chronicles of the Chinese Communist Party as a framework for their individual experiences during the Cultural Revolution. Zhai provides a detailed account of her fervent involvement with the Revolution. As a Red Guard leader, she participated in the home-raiding, beating, and torturing of innocent people. Her book is full of haunting memories delivered in a cynical and remorseful tone. Zhai is careful to keep the narration accurately dated and to provide background about various political events, which is helpful for American readers. However, Zhai seems too absorbed in her personal recounting of the past to offer much insight into this tumultuous period. For public and academic libraries.-- Mark Meng, St. John's Univ. Lib., New York

Copyright 1993 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.