Born Red

"In Born Red, Gao Youan, a former Red Guard . . . tells us what it was like to be one of Mao's children in a provincial town four hours by train south of Peking. It is a terrible story, demonstrating that Mao and his crazed coterie were able to cripplee Chinese society for ten years, as well as cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, because they had plenty of help from the masses."--Politics
"Gao's moving account, which is surprisingly even-handed, viividly captures the pervasive sense of fear and uncertainty that washed over China during the tumultuous period from 1966-1969."--Houston Chronicle

Foreword William A. Joseph; Preface; 1. The hold of history; 2. Learning to be red and expert; 3. The thirty-six stratagems; 4. Hidden messages; 5. Ox ghosts and snake spirits; 6. Winds and waves; 7. The degenerate and the worn shoe; 8. The red, the black, and the in-between; 9. Smashing the four olds; 10. Cleaning our own nest; 11. Picking up the pieces; 12. Rebels and royalists; 13. Going to see the great helmsman; 14. Sending off the monsters; 15. Defending the mountain devil; 16. The carpenter-spy; 17. Reply from a socialist-roader; 18. On the road; 19. Rocks down the well; 20. A long march, by hook or crook; 21. Spring festival visitors; 22. The capless official; 23. Smears and skirmishes; 24. Spring buds; 25. Arrival of the cadets; 26. The grand alliance; 27. Uncommon laughter; 28. Victory fish; 29. The first martyr; 30. Summons by subterfuge; 31. Storming the enemy stronghold; 32. Spies in the marketplace; 33. Family skeletons; 34. Playing with fire; 35. The obstinacy of truth; 36. On the run; 37. From victors to vanquished; 38. Living in limbo; 39. Class brothers take revenge; 40. The radiance of the setting sun; 41. Three loyalties and four boundless loves; 42. Hostage for a hobby; 43. The twelve-force typhoon; 44. The irretrievable past; 45. The way out; Postscript; Appendixes.