Like many of the terms used to signify who’s in and who’s out of power (red, black, bourgeois, rightist) “class stance” is loosely defined, allowing people to interpret it in ways that suit their purposes. For Thin-Face and the woman from the theater, it signifies conformity with the Party and a universal condemnation of anyone associated—no matter how tangentially—with any Black Category. They want Ji-li to show allegiance to the Party and to her own class over loyalty to her landlord-class father. But, following Dad’s example, Ji-li refuses to make a false report or confession. She insists that Dad has done nothing to earn his current punishment, other than be born to the wrong family.