Ji-li Jiang was born in 1954 and is the author of of the memoir, Red Scarf Girl

Red Scarf Girl

Red Scarf Girl is a memoir written by Ji-li Jiang about her experiences during the Cultural Revolution of China. The book's foreword is written by David Henry Hwang....

, as well as The Magical Monkey King. She grew up and lived in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 in a large apartment with her family.

Early Life

Ji-li Jiang lived in a large apartment with her father Xi-reng, her mother Ying-Chen, her brother Ji-yong, her sister Ji-yun and her grandmother. Her housekeeper, Song Po-Po, also lived with them. Ji-li was a star student until 1966, when Chairman Mao

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

 started the Cultural Revolution

Cultural Revolution

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...

. When she was 12, her father was falsely accused of listening to foreign radio and was detained and forced to do hard labor by the Chinese government. Ji-Li was humiliated by her peers at school who blamed her for her family's "black", or "anticommunist" past, and prevented her from becoming a Red Successor, a person who will become a Red Guard when they are old enough. When the Revolution ended, Jiang, later followed by most of her family, moved to Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

. She then mastered English and wrote Red Scarf Girl, a memoir of her life during the Cultural Revolution.

Adulthood

Jiang graduated from Shanghai Teacher's College and Shanghai University

Shanghai University

Shanghai University is a public, comprehensive university located in Shanghai, China. The university has the longest serving President; Chien Wei-zang since 1982 until he died in 2010. He was a well known scientist in China...

 before moving to Hawaii in 1984. She graduated from the University of Hawaii

University of Hawaii

The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...

and began working as an operations analyst for a hotel chain. Later on Jiang became a budget director for a healthcare company in Chicago. In 1992, Jiang co-founded East West Exchange, promoting cultural exchange between western countries and China. In 2003, she started a nonprofit organization, Cultural Exchange International to continue and expand the cultural exchanges between the U.S., and Western countries. Ms. Jiang now lives in the San Francisco area. On the back of some the book editions, you will see this:

"Ji-Li Jiang was born in Shanghai, China, in 1954. She graduated from Shanghai Teachers' College and Shanghai University, and was a science teacher before she came to the United States in 1984 (When she was 30)
After her graduation from the University of Hawaii, Ms. Jiang worked as an operations analyst for a hotel chain in Hawaii, then as a budget director for a healthcare company in Chicago. In 1992, she started her own company, East West Exchange, to promote cultural exchange between Western countries and China.
Ms. Jiang lives in the San Fransisco area. Her memoir, Red Scarf Girl was published in 1998. She is also the author of The Magical Monkey King, a retelling of a traditional Chinese tale about the beginning of the trickster Monkey King's journey."

More information about Ji-Li Jiang, her family, and her life, can be accessed here: http://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/novelwise_ms/find/bytitlspdf/redscarfgirl_pdfs/red_s_g_stud_intro.pdf