"You're a human being, not an animal. You have the right to be loved" (262). "Son of the Revolution" by Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro was a book that showed how inhumane many of the aspects of Chinese life were during the Cultural Revolution. The book followed Liang Heng through many of his childhood memories to his departure from China in his twenties. The book applied a real face to the important movements during the Cultural Revolution, the effects that "the cult of Mao" had on society and Heng, and the way the period affected Heng's personal family life.

The first major movement in the Cultural Revolution was the "Hundred Flowers Campaign" (later called the "Anti-Rightist Movement"), which took place from 1956 to 1958. "Its official purpose was to give the Party a chance to correct its shortcomings by listening to the masses' criticisms" (8). Heng's father was out in the country...