Response to REVOLUTION Is Not a Dinner Party

I had started to read Revolution is Not a Dinner Party before I had done any research on the Chinese Culture Revolution. At first the book was interesting, but it became even more interesting after I had done some research and was able to make connections between the book and the history of China. This is my favorite thing with reading historical fiction is that you get more of a personal experience through reading a text based on a point of time in history. The author, Ying Chang Compestine grew up during the Chinese Culture Revolution and based many of the characters within the book around herself, her family and people she knew.

It blew my mind to read about young students starting the Red Guard and that one person’s beliefs could change the lives of so many others. Another thing that caught me by surprise was how they took doctors and those that were highly educated and declared that they needed to be reeducated, that their bourgeois ways were now frowned upon. The sides of the table were flipped and people who were of the lower working class became leaders and would give speeches of how Chairman Mao provided them with saving grace.

Ling’s parents were doctors before the Revolution and we were able to watch as their life was turned upside down, Ling’s father became a janitor, and the mother had to work as a nurse in the ER late at night. They had to tiptoe and they could not communicate with people outside of China because their mail was being watched. Any piece of mail or piece of evidence that the Red Guards could find to claim that the families were anti-revolutionists would end them.

Ling’s father was arrested and put into jail but Ling and her mother did not know he was in jail for a long time. Throughout the entire book Ling showed so much love for her father. I was on the edge of my seat as I was reading hoping that her father would be ok because if her did not make it, Ling’s whole world would crumble.

This was also in a way a coming of age story, Ling started off as a little girl and by the time the book had ended and the revolution ended as well, Ling had grown within leaps and bounds. You could see this with how the relationship between Ling and her mom evolved over time. At first Ling’s mother treated Ling like a spoiled little girl but eventually over time Ling’s mother in a way looked up to Ling and gave her more and more responsibility. Ling took on this responsibility and indeed matured over time, though I do not know how something like this could not age you.

Though Ling fought many battles, the thing that made my stomach turn the most was how the kids at school treated her. I am a future teacher and bullying is a big thing that we have to watch for. It is all around schools these days and for me to read about her classmate continuously being so cruel to her it boiled my blood. I also couldn't stand the fact that the one teacher who stood up for her was within a few weeks sent away for being a "bourgeois." Ling had to stand up for herself, and all by herself. This girl was strong and very brave. 

Towards the end of the book when Comrade Li was arrested I also found it interesting how quickly his little rats went against him. As if it were nothing but the next trend to turn to, they turned on him in seconds and declared that he was now the outsider and that those should whiteness his trial, his public embarrassment.