4 trial questions for gramdmother

Question #1: How do you feel about having been beaten on pages 244-259?

Answer #1: I was beaten and humiliated. They made me kneel down and face the wall and insulted me many times for because my granddaughter did not tell them where she had hid the letter (even though what was written on he letter was true) and because of my husband being a landlord. My husband was no longer even alive. Why did they want to beat me for the past, and it wasn't even me, it was my husband. Then thin face slapped me with all his strength on pages 253 and 254.

Question #2: Explain what you had to do with the dowry and why did you have to do this? Pages 94-97.

Answer #2: With the beautiful dowry chests themselves I had to die them black with the help of my family. Then with all the beautiful items in the dowry's which were things like glowing silk, satins and sparkling pearls I had to cut apart and make different dull things out of them like covers and things like that. I had to do this because otherwise the red guards would have accused us of rightists because these were called 'four olds'. Pages 94-97.

Question #3: How does it feel to always be afraid and never feel safe? Pages 118-121.

Answer #3: It feel horrible to never be able to feel safe and warm and every time I hear the sound of drums and gongs I would always feel like the red guards would come and beat me for no reason at all just because they felt like it and then they would make up some reason such as me being a rightist because they found some pictures of me wearing a fur coat. We could not have anything in our house anymore, the red guards were turning China into a horrible place. Pages 118-121.

Question #4: What were you forced to do during the last chapter(page 260-263) and was there any good reason for this?

Answer #4: In the last chapter on top of the red guards destroying our lives and leaving us with basically nothing at all they made me sweep outside all day every day. The only reason they did this was because they accused me of being a 'rightist' for having the 'four olds'. They had already done enough harm to our family and now they made me sweep all day every day. Last chapter(page 260-263).

The Red Scarf Girl

1. Who are the members of Ji-Li’s family? Describe her family home. What class status does her family belong to? What is the occupation of her father? Mother?
Answer:
Ji-Li's family members: Ji-Li's father, Song-Po-Po(nanny/housekeeper:P.14), Ji-Li's mother, Ji-Yong(younger brother), Ji-yun (younger sister), Ji-Li's grandmother (went to modern university, teacher, help found Ji-Li's primary school:P.14), Little white(cat)
Ji-Li's home: bright and warm and welcoming, appartement in Shanghai, had a french window, mahogany table, high ceilings, burgandy curtains, pots on steps.(P.7) 10 times bigger room than classmates, 100 times brighter, full-sized bathroom.(P.15~16)
Family status/class: Middle class who are doing well. Not super-rich, but well-off.
Family occupation: Both parents are an actor/actress. But the now the mother retired and works in a sports equipment store.(P.13)

2. What is Ji-Li’s life at school like? What special honor is Ji-Li picked for at school? Describe Ji-Li’s parents’ reaction. What does Ji-Li do instead of entering the audition?
Answer:
Ji-Li's school life: She's the student chairman of the whole school and also was an outstanding student (P. 9). She was happy and was always respected, loved, able to excel and expected to succeed (P.1). Ji-Li math test was display as exemplary work (P.3). She was known for being good at martial arts since 2nd grade (P.5). She had a da-dui-zhang badge for student chairman of the whole school (P.9). She was correcting her little sister about her piano practice (P.29).
Special honor: She was picked to do an audition for the Central Liberation Army Arts Academy (P.6)
Parents' reaction: Her dad told her not to do the audition and he was serious about it(P.8). She also saw a pain in her dad's eyes that she had never seen before (P.9). Her dad was worried about the political background investigation (P.9). They send a note principal Long (P.10)
Instead of entering the audition: Ji-Li tried hard not to cry about not going to the audition after talking to teacher Gu and An Yi, she dogged behind a tree so Principal Long and the 2 boys wouldnt see her because she didnt want to talk to anyone right then (P.12)

3. What are the "Four Olds"? Provide some examples of each and why they need to be destroyed. What does "prosperity" mean? Why is this considered an old thought?

The four olds are old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits (p 21). Respecting teachers and saying things such as good morning or good afternoon is a four old (p 35). Destroying old signs was part of the four olds (p 21). Another four old was wearing pants wide enough so a beer bottle could fit through them (p 32). Being named after something is an old habit (p 1). 

Prosperity means to be wealthy and to be successful in life. It is considered a thought because Mao says that only rightists are very wealthy and make lots of money.

4 What is an xenophile? Why was it bad to be a xenophile in the Revolutionary China?

A xenophile is someone who loves anything foreign (p 285). It is bad to be a xenophile because it was considered to be part of the four olds to follow foreign influences.

5. What are da-zi-bao? What are being done with them? Who is Jiang Xi-wen? Why does Ji-Li hang a da-zi-bao on her house? 

Da-zi-bao are a form of propaganda in the shape of a large handwritten poster presenting and important issue (p 276).  They were used to humiliate people like Ji-Li's Aunt (Jiang Xi-wen). Jiany Xi-wen had to put the da-zi-bao on her door because she was putting on make-up, and chairman Mao said that it was wrong to put make-up (p 44).

6. Why does Ji-Li stop going to school for a while?

Ji-Li stopped going to school for a while because someone wrote a da-zi-bao about her. She was what feeling uncomfortable and she also had a fever (p 52).

7.What is a rightist? Use your own words to breifly explain the process of remolding one's ideology.

A rightist is someone in the conservative party that disagrees with the communist party. 

Remold one's ideology means to change ones belief. The process of remolding one's ideology is to forget the past and make a new idea sink into your brain.

8. What did Ji-Li's grandfather do for a living? How does this affect Ji-Li's life?

Ji-Li's grandfather was a landlord. He owned lands and received money from the farmers. This affected Ji-Li because having you or even a member of the family be a landlord was very bad and it made you a rightist.