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English Titles

		RED LAND, YELLOW RIVER: A STORY FROM THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION ANGE ZHANG ILLUSTRATIONS: ANGE ZHANG TORONTO: GROUNDWOOD BOOKS, 2004. 55 P. ISBN 0888994893 AGES 8 TO 12
Red Land, Yellow River: A Story from the Cultural Revolution Source

Winner of the 2005 BolognaRagazzi Award for Non-Fiction, this coming-of-age story by Ange Zhang recounts the author's experiences as a teenager. His world at the time was rocked by politics and Chairman Mao introduced the Cultural Revolution to China. In an attempt to fit in, Ange joined the Red Guards: youths who banded together to enforce Mao's vision. Ange's father was arrested by the Red Guards; his only crime was being a well-known writer. At first, Ange was humiliated, but as time went on, he began to read his father's books secretly. After the Red Guards were disbanded, Ange was sent to a labour camp and told he would have to live out his life as a peasant farmer. But he dared to dream and was eager to learn. When a friend gave him a box of paints as a gift, he knew with certainty that he wanted to become an artist. Ange's bold and beautiful illustrations, created in digital paint, are complemented with photographs of himself and family members. At the end of the book is a brief, factual history of China's Cultural Revolution.

-LS