9781665768399_

The Untold Story of Many a Heiwulei Child
is intended to offer the first ever glimpse
into heiwulei children of China and
shed rare light on an education system
instrumental in implementing policies
against such children. The first-person
narrative of a girl who grew up a heiwulei
brings back a time in Chinese history
when so-called five black categories of
class enemies were being rounded up
to be executed or prisoned or laborcamped.
Just a second grader, the girl
struggled with having a father who was
a class enemy in prison. Then the Great
Cultural Revolution started, labeling as
heiwulei any child with a heiwulei parent.
Setting old family photos on fire in the
middle of a night didnt help. Still her
mother was hauled away, leaving the
ten-year-old home alone to fend for
herself. In the spirit of a fabled snake
her maternal grandma had told her,
the girl tried to be strong like a boy by
working on her wushu moves and even
joined a small group to reach Beijing
on foot. Surveilled throughout her years
in secondary schools, she found herself
often having to denounce her thenalready-
dead father or being denounced
for having such a father. Even though
she knew she didnt have any future, she
kept going simply because she was raised
not just by a mother who was a master
in the ancient art of calligraphy but also
by stories she heard, legendary or real,
which always ran like an undercurrent of
strength for her.

...(*_*)9781665768399_

The Untold Story of Many a Heiwulei Child is intended to offer the first ever glimpse into heiwulei children of China and shed rare light on an education system instrumental in implementing policies against such children. The first-person narrative of a girl who grew up a heiwulei brings back a time in Chinese history when so-called five black categories of class enemies were being rounded up to be executed or prisoned or labor-camped. Just a second grader, the girl struggled with having a father who was a class enemy in prison. Then the Great Cultural Revolution started, labeling as heiwulei any child with a heiwulei parent. Setting old family photos on fire in the middle of a night didnt help. Still her mother was hauled away, leaving the ten-year-old home alone to fend for herself. In the spirit of a fabled snake her maternal grandma had told her, the girl tried to be strong like a boy by working on her wushu moves and even joined a small group to reach Beijing on foot. Surveilled throughout her years in secondary schools, she found herself often having to denounce her then-already-dead father or being denounced for having such a father. Even though she knew she didnt have any future, she kept going simply because she was raised not just by a mother who was a master in the ancient art of calligraphy but also by stories she heard, legendary or real, which always ran like an undercurrent of strength for her.

...

The Untold Story of Many a Heiwulei Child

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