Ji-li's family
Dad - Ji-li's father, Xi-reg, is an actor whose father was a landlord, and also named a rightist. Because he was accused of listening to foreign radio (which he didn't do) he wouldn't confess to doing it and is being held in confinement. He is being forced to do hard labor and possibly be tortured without being allowed to see his family. Dad is one of the reasons for Ji-li's troubles in school, and in life. His being a rightist has put her into situations where she can't do what she wants.
Mom - Ji-li's mother, Ying-Chen, is also the mom of three children. She gets very stressed out about the Cultural Revolution. She likes helping Ji-li with things. She is supportive of what Ji-li wants and she tries to care and nurture her. She is very emotional and worried and really wants the best for her children. For example, she sends Ji-li, Ji-yong, and Ji-yun to the park with Grandma, because she doesn't want the kids to be worried about the Red Guards. She has a disease called Ménière's syndrome. It occurs in the inner ear and makes her have vertigo at the slightest movement.
Grandma - Ji-li's grandma was married to a landlord who is considered a four old. (A four old is an idea or something that interferes with modern society.) A landlord is a four old because they owned a lot of land and that made them have more power than regular families and Chairman Mao did not like that people were unequal that is why it was a four old. Although she did not marry him for the money she married him because she loved him, their whole family was blamed for this so they are considered a "Black" family. Ji-li's grandma cares for Ji-li a lot. Grandma is very responsible because when they were at the park, she didn't slip up and let the children into the house if the broom was not out on the kitchen. Because she is a landlord's wife, she gets very bad punishments for it such as being hit by the red guards, and the fact that she has to sweep the alley twice a day, and does it even though she doesn't want to.
Ji-yong - Ji-li's 11-year-old little brother is mischievous and he would rather play around in the alley than focus on his studies. He is a lot like Ji-yun, but a little more clumsier
Ji-yun is Ji-li's 10-year-old, sensitive sister who encounters many troubles getting along with her fellow students in her class. In school some people have found out about her bad background. One of the kids threw her backpack out the window and was called her a "Black Whelp" (a "Black Whelp" is the derogatory term used for children born into a "Black" family. Ji-yong got into a fight because of this.). As you can see that her bad class status of their family was affecting them.
Song Po-po - a caring, hard working, nice person. Song Po-po is the Jiangs' maid who lives with them. She cooks and cleans for the Jiangs and is like part of the family to them. She used to be the housekeeper; unfortunately, they dismissed her because having a housekeeper is believed to be exploiting workers which stands for Capitalism. But she helped out the Jiang family even after they dismissed her, because she knew that they still needed help
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