What were they thinking when telling Ji-Li Jiang, what was wrong with her?

Question

In school, we are reading the book, Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang herself. I just don't understand what the Red Sucessors were excpecting when they told Ji-Li, all the things that were wrong with her. Were they excpecting her to change herself? Kill herself? Leave China? Or what?

Answer 1

I haven't read the book though I've seen it at Barnes & Noble. During the Cultural Revolution in China, a favorite Communist tactic was to tell people what was wrong with their behavior or political beliefs, and why those behaviors or beliefs made them poor Communists. The person was expected to criticize themselves also and to reform their bourgouis thoughts and deeds by participating in "struggle sessions" (unending sessions of reading, discussing and quoting Mao). Public humilitaion was a common tactic also. There is a Chinese saying "The nail that sticks up is pounded down" and such was the aim of the Communist party. The aim was to make everyone, without fail, subservient to the Communist "ideals".

In China and other Asian countries "losing face" is about the worst thing that can happen to one. If a person "loses face", they lose the respect of their peers. You have to remember people in Asian countries are very other-oriented, the Asian person's own thoughts and feelings are subservient to those of the group (family, work group, classmates, whatever). This has always been the case from Confucious on down. The Communists played upon this to "pound the nail down" and try to achieve their Communist goals.

They probably expected Ji-Li to show remorse, admit her wrongdoing, state that only the works of Mao could reform her, and they expected her to submit to Communist brainwashing.

Answer 2

I believe you're talking about the mandatory political meetings where people were expected to accuse other and themselves of anti-Communist behavior. The accused were supposed to take the criticism and change their behavior to fit the current politically correct guidelines. This was a type of psychological watch-dogging that kept the common people at each others' throats and deflected attention from their government's failures.

Answer 3

Hey I had the pleasure of speaking to Ji-Li she explains upon this in the interview here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhEIelEoO3k .