Chapter 21 Summary and Analysis

Jung spends much of her days with friends and says she would have never survived the Cultural Revolution without them. Their lives are different from teens of different eras. There is no school and little for entertainment. Jung is caught up in her family, saying that anything personal makes her feel that she's a traitor to the bigger problems. Her parents are often incarcerated, the family's income is cut dramatically, and Yu-Fang works hard just to keep the children fed. Jung tries her hand at poetry but knows that being caught with a poem would be dangerous. Party officials tend to interpret any poem to be anti-government and reason for punishment.

Jin-ming, at fifteen, spends much of his time buying and selling books on the black market. He also buys electronic parts, builds radios, and sells them.

Xiao-hei, De-hong's twelve-year-old brother...