Morning Breeze: A True Story of China's Cultural Revolution = (Fu Lang)

cut 5 In 1966, as Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution swept through the People's Republic of China, the author and other high school graduates were sent to mountain villages to ``spread revolutionary seeds'' among the peasantry. Using lucid, spare prose and vivid descriptions, she tells of these experiences and of her activities as a leader of one of the largest Red Guard groups in Southwest China. After infighting erupted between Red Guard factions, she gave up her position and traveled around the country, working at various occupations. After Mao's death in 1976, Lo received a college degree; later, she came to the United States to study English literature. Though a candid chronicler of the Cultural Revolution, her impressions are occasionally over-simplified and naive; when recalling days spent with a friend branded a ``capitalist,'' she writes: ``Oh, how I miss her! How I miss the days when we played ping-pong and fished together. Meimei was such fun.'' However, the narrative is generally fascinating, showing with terrifying clarity what happens to ordinary people caught up in a revolutionary movement. Author tour. (Feb.)