this is the first book i have read completly with deep understanding. i am 12 years old and this book taught me a lesson don't abuse your powers of what you have. be happy of what you have and the freedom we have in this country because in the country in this book has no freedom and you relize people have much less thhan you!!! I sugjest you read this book...trust me!!!

this book will have you stashing kleenex in nearby spots, its a heart wrenching story of a chinese girl who was brought up believing that the loyalty of her family should be traded for the help of bettering the community and society. This book truly captures the struggle of a teenage girl in a communist government struggling to battle many inner demons and outer. It contains deaths, abuse, and other things that are looked down on in our society, but in hers, people simply look the other way. I truly believe if you read this book you will see, we as Americans are lucky.

It was horrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!^_*

This book is very boring. I do feel pity for her life and what happened but she makes it sound so boring. If you have no life or friends or awareness of whats fun, then read this book. For those of you in touch with reality, don't read it, it's very boring and the name Grandpa Hong made me crack up. By the way, Ji-Li Jiang has very bad grammar.

For the people who thought this was a bad book, you guys are stupid. You guys don't know what a good, meaningful book is. You guys take your life for granted. I am 12, in the 6th grade and I read this for my homework in a day. I loved this book. I could compare to it. I don't think the author, who has WITNESSED this whole thing, can "throw in things" in the book when these are TRUE FACTS. I could understand if you guys didn't understand a thing in the book; probably because you're uneducated. "I can't believe some1 published this book!!!11!" Lol, I can't believe someone stupid as you, talkingmajor, is alive in the world. I can't believe you're so stupid someone would make some creature like you come to life. This is sad. You're one of the stupidest people I have ever seen. Go die, please.