Ji-Li comes across her Aunt Xi-Wen, sweeping up trash on the street. Xi-Wen had a black class status, so Ji-Li was ashamed of her. As she is sweeping, she falls down, and looks like she needs help getting up, Ji-Li, not knowing what to do, is relieved to see that her cousin Shan-Shan, and Xi-Wen's son, came walking by, but instead of helping his mother up, he "walked right passed his mother! She was lying there, injured, and he had not stopped to help her." This makes me very sad to see how families are torn apart due to class and the Cultural Revolution. (Chapter 9, page 142)
When Ji-Li talks to her sister, Ji-Yun, after school, she appears very unhappy. Ji-Yun explains thqat she doesn't have her schoolbag. At first, everyone assumes that she must have lost it. But then, Ji-Yun explains, "I didn't lose it... some boys in my school threw it out the window. They called me a black whelp." After hearing this, Ji-Li notices how hard she has been on her sister, and agrees to take her out shopping to get what Ji-Yun needed. (Chapter 9, page 149)
