![]() Okay, that’s the story, but that’s not really the story, you know. She eventually left China for the US in the 80s. After a few years, Anchee was miraculously plucked from obscurity to partake in the Chinese propaganda film industry in Shanghai, where she encountered a whole other host of problems. In her late teens, she was later forcibly sent from the city to work at a communal farm-as were millions of other urban youth to work brutal days from 5am to 9pm. As a child, Anchee was part of the Red Guards, a youth military group dedicated to enforcing Maoism and the Cultural Revolution. It was a movement to “purge” remaining capitalist and traditionalist elements in what was now a communist country. Red Azalea follows Anchee (note: I decided to refer to her by her first name since it feels weird to call the character in the book by a last name!) growing up in the last days of Mao’s China, during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 70s. Shame on me for not reading this earlier. ![]() ![]() I can’t believe I might not have found this book if I hadn’t made an effort to research books by queer people of colour. I was totally and utterly blown-away by the gorgeous, unique writing and the page-turning, I-can’t-believe-this-is-true plot. ![]() One such writer is Anchee Min, whose memoir Red Azalea I read a few weeks ago. I’ve read a ton of great stuff, and one of the best things this challenge has made me do is discover some authors that I never would have encountered otherwise. This year I’ve been doing a reading project of only authors of colour, pretty much all LGBTQ. ![]()
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