Liang Heng was born in 1954, only a few years after Chairman Mao established the Communist People’s Republic Party of China, and the changes brought by the Communist Party shape young Liang’s development. As a 3-year-old, Liang escapes from the Communist child-care center, where he’s tired of following arbitrary rules—an early hint of the free-thinking side of Liang’s nature—but once he’s returned to the center, learning that he’s once again “Chairman Mao’s good little boy” (6) makes him “the happiest child in the world” (7). This conflict between rebellion and conformity shapes much of Liang’s youth.

Because of the Cultural Revolution, Liang’s childhood and teenage years include many upheavals: moving between the countryside and the city, going long periods without attending school, and living alone at the age of 13. These leave him independent and “self-reliant” (16). At times, Liang, like his peers, idolizes Chairman Mao and wants nothing more than to join and support the Party. He participates proudly in the New Long March that recreates the Red Army’s journey, and when he sees Chairman Mao in person, he “bawl[s] like a baby” with happiness (124). However, Liang can’t tamp down the unease he feels when he sees, for instance, a great musician being publicly humiliated or a group of Red Guards raping a female Red Guard, the latter an experience that “changed [him] in some fundamental way” (127), instilling in him empathy and a sense of duty toward others.