Recounting her participation in the Little Red Guards, a group of students selected for their fidelity to the Communist Party, Min tells of an attempt to prove her own loyalty to the Party by denouncing Autumn Leaves, a favorite teacher, and accusing her of imperialist activities. During this time, China's urban youths were organized into cadres of Red Guards and empowered to attack citizens, including party officials, who did not uphold the strict tenets of the Revolution. The Cultural Revolution, initiated by Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse-Tung and lasting from 1966 until Mao's death in 1976, was a radical movement intended to revitalize devotion to the original Chinese Revolution. SIDELIGHTS: Anchee Min, who grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution, describes her personal experiences in the memoir Red Azalea, and also focuses on that period of history in several works of fiction, among them the novels Becoming Madame Mao and Wild Ginger. Wild Ginger, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2002.Įmpress Orchid, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2004. Katherine (novel), Riverhead/Putnam (New York, NY), 1995.īecoming Madame Mao (novel), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1999. Red Azalea (memoir), Pantheon ( New York, NY), 1994. Worked in China at Red Fire communal farm, near East China Sea, 1974-76 Shanghai Film Studio, Shanghai, actress, 1976-77, set clerk, 1977-84 worked in the United States as a waitress, messenger, gallery attendant, and babysitter.ĪWARDS, HONORS: Carl Sandburg Literary Award, 1993, for Red Azalea Red Azalea was named a Notable Book of the Year, 1994, by the New York Times.

Agent-Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, 1155 Camino del Mar, Ste. Hobbies and other interests: Promoting education in China.ĪDDRESSES: Home-CA. Education: Attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1985-91, received B.F.A., M.F.A. PERSONAL: Born January 14, 1957, in Shanghai, China immigrated to the United States, 1984 daughter of Naishi (an astronomy instructor) and Dinyun (a teacher maiden name, Dai) Min married Qigu Jiang (a painter), 1991 (divorced, 1994) children: Lauryan (daughter).

Red Azalea by Anchee Min