Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party

In less than two months, there were many changes. By the beginning of June, Gao and Yu's gang stood at the school gates each morning. Everyone entering, including the teachers, had to show their "three-piece treasure," a Mao jacket, a Mao button, and Mao's little red book of revolutionary instructions. If anyone forgot, the gang would decide the punishment. When our old math teacher left his button at home, he was ordered to clean the bathrooms for a week. Two boys were ordered to stand at the back of the classroom for a day. I started to wake up at night, worried about forgetting my "three-piece treasure." Several times I'd get up to make sure the little red book was in the inner pocket of my schoolbag.

Now we had class only in the morning. In the afternoon, the Young Pioneers took turns leading reading sessions of Chairman Mao's teachings. Since Father was accused of being a bourgeois sympathizer, I had no chance of ever becoming a Young Pioneer.