Many books about China speak about its vastness and its size. Bette Bao Lord takes the reader into China at the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre and shows a picture of a new China — an individual China. She gives the reader a mosaic — many small tiles of different colors and textures which help to make a complete but complex picture.

1. What does Legacies do that historical fiction could not do? In what ways does the technique of many voices help us visualize China during this period?

2. There are many characters in this book. Do you have a favorite character in Legacies? Why is that person memorable? Why is the characterization successful?

3. Lord says that the Communist government tolerated the tradition of extravagant mourning and that provided an occasion for students to mourn the passing of Hu Yaobang.

Why did the government tolerate mourning...