Mulberry Child

Mulberry Child is a tale of resilience, narrated through the innocent eyes of a young girl who grew up during China’s Cultural Revolution. It covers the life stories of three generations—Jian’s grandmother, a traditional woman, her parents, both devoted Communist officials who went through severe persecution during the Cultural Revolution, and her siblings who grew up amidst political turmoil. Mulberry Child has been made into a feature-length documentary film by award-winning director Susan Morgan Cooper. 


During the Cultural Revolution, Jian Ping’s father Hou Kai, a high-ranking government official, is falsely accused of treason—he is beaten, detained, and publicly shamed. Her mother Gu Wenxiu, a top school administrator, is paraded in public and detained by the Revolution Committee and the Red Guards—both driving forces of the Cultural Revolution. She is forbidden to see her children and repeatedly requested to divorce her husband. The family is pushed to a breaking point when they are forced to live in an adobe house without heating, water, or a toilet. Facing abuse and deprivation, Jian Ping’s family stands steadfastly together, but the traumatic experiences changed the courses of their lives forever. 


Through vivid descriptions, Jian reveals the strong roles of women in the family. Based on her own memories, as well as extensive interviews and research, Jian presents an insider’s look into a closed-off world.


“Jian Ping’s book Mulberry Child is a moving account of her family’s struggle to survive China's Cultural Revolution.  She has in her poignant memoir helped Westerners to understand this little-known period in China's history, and put tragic and heroic faces to the individuals who suffered through that time. Mulberry Child is important reading for anyone who wants to understand where modern China has come from.”


--Rob Gifford, former Beijing Correspondent of NPR and author of China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power


“Jian Ping pays tribute to her parents who struggled against tremendous odds.... that she herself survived to write this memoir, and to tell it with such maturity and wisdom and forgiveness, is a tribute to her family, her generation and her nation.”

     

 --Larry Engelmann, author of Feather in a Storm and Daughter of China


“In Mulberry Child, Jian Ping has written a moving, important account of an extraordinary time. And she has done so with grace, acuity and a generosity of spirit. Mulberry Child is one compelling read.”



--Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Were No Children Here