Red Azalea

by Anchee Min (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1996

  $3.40

  When Anchee Min left China in 1984 her knowledge of English was minimal. She tried to write this autobiography in her own tongue, but found it impossible. Only with the emotional freedom granted by a new language could she find her means of expression. This powerful and candid memoir immortalises her coming of age in the Red Guard, the harbouring of illicit love amidst a regime bent on human alienation and her recruitment from rural hard labour into Madame Mao's burgeoning movie industry.

• Used

  Paperback
  1999

  $3.25

• Used

  Hardcover
  1993

  $4.19

• New

  Paperback
  2009

  $11.53

  Born into a devoutly Maoist family in 1950s Shanghai and forced to work on a communal farm from the age of seventeen, Anchee Min found herself in an alienating and hostile political climate, where her only friendships were perilous and intense. Both candid and touching, this compelling memoir documents her isolation and illicit love against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution. From her coming of age in the Red Guard to her recruitment into Madame Mao's burgeoning industry of propaganda movies, Red Azalea explores the secret sensuality of a repressive society with elegance and honesty.