Red Scarf Girl Character Analysis

Ji-li Jiang

Ji-li Jiang, whose name means “lucky and beautiful,” is Mom and Dad’s eldest child. Along with her younger siblings Ji-yong and Ji-yun, and Grandma, she lives in a formerly grand neighborhood of… read analysis of Ji-li Jiang

Dad

Dad is the patriarch of the Jiang family, which includes his mother (Grandma), Mom, Ji-li, Ji-yong, and Ji-yun. Although his father, Ji-li’s grandfather came from a landlord family, his… read analysis of Dad

Thin-Face

Thin-Face is the name Ji-li Jiang gives to the foreman of the scenery department at the theater where Dad works before the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. After he takes advantage of the Revolution… read analysis of Thin-Face

Grandma

Grandma, Dad’s mother and the grandmother of Ji-li, Ji-yong, and Ji-yun Jiang is one of the most important people in Ji-li’s life. Grandma grew up in a privileged family and was one… read analysis of Grandma

Mom

Mom is the matriarch of the Jiang family, which includes Grandma, Dad, Ji-li, Ji-yong, and Ji-yun. Prior to the Communist Party’s takeover in China, Mom worked professionally as an… read analysis of Mom

Chang Hong

Chang Hong is one of Ji-li’s classmates in junior high school. Because she comes from a red family and because of her own deep and heartfelt devotion to the Chinese Communist Party, its… read analysis of Chang Hong

An Yi

An Yi is Teacher Wei’s daughter and Ji-li Jiang’s best friend from elementary school. Like Ji-li, An Yi is a good student, although she is shyer and less of a class leader than… read analysis of An Yi

Ji-yong Jiang

Ji-yong Jiang is Ji-li’s and Ji-yun’s brother. He is the middle of Mom’s and Dad’s three children. Ji-yong has a close friendship with two neighborhood boys, Xiao-cheng and Ming-ming, which… read analysis of Ji-yong Jiang

Ji-yun Jiang

Ji-yun Jiang is the sister of Ji-li and Ji-yun and is the youngest of Mom’s and Dad’s children. She is a sensitive child who doesn’t work as hard as Ji-li at school, but… read analysis of Ji-yun Jiang

Du Hai

Du Hai is an elementary school classmate of Ji-li Jiang, An Yi, Yang Fan, Yin Lan-lan, Deng Yi-yi, and Zhang Jie. His mother, Sang Hong-zhen is the Neighborhood Party… read analysis of Du Hai

Chairman Mao

Chairman Mao Ze-dong is leader of the Chinese Communist Party at the time of the events described in the book. After leading the Communist Party to victory in the Chinese civil wars, Mao focused on… read analysis of Chairman Mao

Uncle Tian

Uncle Tian and his wife, Aunt Wu, are friends of Dad’s from the theater company. After Thin-Face and his faction gain power and detain Dad, Uncle Tian continues to help the Jiang family… read analysis of Uncle Tian

Aunt Wu

Aunt Wu and her husband, Uncle Tian, are friends of Dad’s from the theater company. After Thin-Face and his faction gain power in the company, they persecute Aunt Wu and subject her to… read analysis of Aunt Wu

Uncle Fan Wen-chong

Uncle Fan is one of Dad’s theater company friends. They’ve known each other since college. After Thin-Face and his faction gain power at the theater company, they beat a false confession out of Uncle… read analysis of Uncle Fan Wen-chong

Song Po-po

Song Po-po is a friend and onetime helper of the Jiang family. Before the Chinese Communist Party took over, she was married to a businessman. But he died by suicide after his business failed, and… read analysis of Song Po-po

Six-Fingers (Mr. Ni)

Six-Fingers lives in the same neighborhood as Ji-li Jiang. A factory employee, he is a working-class man who resents those who have a better life than him, even though the book strongly implies that… read analysis of Six-Fingers (Mr. Ni)

Jiang Xi-Wen

Jiang Xi-Wen is Dad’s cousin and Shan Shan’s mother. Ji-li refers to her as “Aunt” as a show of respect based on their family ties. The local school children, led by Du Hai… read analysis of Jiang Xi-Wen

Shan Shan

Shan Shan is cousin to Ji-li, Ji-yong, and Ji-yun and son of Jiang Xi-wen. When his mother is accused of harboring bourgeois attitudes and punished, he publicly and officially disowns her and… read analysis of Shan Shan

Bai Shan

Bai Shan is a junior high school classmate of Ji-li Jiang. The teachers praise him for his good academic work, and Ji-li likes the respectful way he treats the teachers even as the Cultural… read analysis of Bai Shan

Yin Lan-lan

Yin Lan-lan is a classmate of Ji-li, An Yi, Du Hai, Yang Fan, Deng Yi-yi, and Zhang Jie in elementary school. A low performer, Lan-lan expresses jealousy over the attention… read analysis of Yin Lan-lan

Yang Fan

Yang Fan is an elementary school classmate of Ji-li, An Yi, Du Hai, Yin Lan-lan, Zhang Jie, and Deng Yi-yi. When the class elects her to join the Red… read analysis of Yang Fan

Grandfather

Ji-li’s grandfather—Grandma’s husband and Dad’s father—was born into a very large, very wealthy family, making him a landlord in the eyes of the Chinese Communist Party. Although he died when… read analysis of Grandfather

Jia Hong-yu

Jia Hong-yu is a Red Guard member who becomes a local celebrity because she grew up and lives in Ji-li’s neighborhood. Ji-li, Ji-yong, and Du Hai all attend a talk she gives describing… read analysis of Jia Hong-yu

An Yi’s Grandmother

An Yi’s grandmother lives with her daughter, Teacher Wei, her granddaughter, An Yi, and their family. Ji-li considers her a second grandmother. An Yi’s grandmother grew up before the Chinese Communist Party gained… read analysis of An Yi’s Grandmother

Xiao-cheng’s Father

Xiao-cheng’s father, whose son Xiao-cheng is one of Ji-yong Jiang’s best friends, used to be the District Superintendent of the Chinese Communist Party. But in the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution, he… read analysis of Xiao-cheng’s Father

Ming-ming’s Father

Ming-ming’s father, whose son Ming-ming is one of Ji-yong Jiang’s best friends, was a solider for the Chinese Communist Party many years ago. Then, he became the Party Secretary at the Shanghai Institute of… read analysis of Ming-ming’s Father

Liu Shao-qi

Liu Shao-qi was the right-hand-man and apparent successor of Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Ze-dong. In 1966, at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, he was serving as the Chinese head of state… read analysis of Liu Shao-qi

Sang Hong-zhen

Sang Hong-zhen is Du Hai’s mother and Neighborhood Party Committee Secretary at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. But, as the purges extend from “black” families even to formerly loyal Party… read analysis of Sang Hong-zhen

Teacher Wei

Teacher Wei is An Yi’s mother. She was once a capable, loved, and well-respected educator. But after the Cultural Revolution begins with an attack on the education system, she finds herself persecuted and ostracized… read analysis of Teacher Wei

Teacher Zhang Xin

Zhang Xin teaches English classes at the junior high school that Ji-li attends. Although in person, he speaks with a quiet, differential attitude, his handwriting conveys vigor and strength. This contrast illustrates the ways in… read analysis of Teacher Zhang Xin

Sun Lin-lin

Sun Lin-lin is a classmate and friend of Ji-li in junior high school. A shy, self-effacing girl, she nevertheless helps Ji-li out. Once, she helps disguise the fact that Ji-li has accidentally forgotten her Red… read analysis of Sun Lin-lin

Uncle Zhu

Uncle Zhu is a young actor from Dad’s theater company who often attends gatherings at the Jiang house prior to the Cultural Revolution. When Thin-Face and others at the theater detain him, he… read analysis of Uncle Zhu

Zhang Jie

Zhang Jie is an elementary school classmate of Ji-li, An Yi, Du Hai, Yang Fan, Yin Lan-lan, and Deng Yi-yi. Like An Yi and Ji-li, she is a good… read analysis of Zhang Jie

Deng Yi-yi (Pauper)

Deng Yi-yi is a classmate of Ji-li, An Yi, Du Hai, Yang Fan, Yin Lan-lan, and Zhang Jie in elementary school. She comes from a poor family. Deng Yi-yi reconnects… read analysis of Deng Yi-yi (Pauper)

Mrs. Rong

Mrs. Rong is a widow who lives in the same neighborhood as Ji-li Jiang and her family. Her husband was a capitalist—a factory owner—and when the Cultural Revolution gets underway, the Red Guards and her… read analysis of Mrs. Rong

Old Qian

Old Qian is an elderly man who lives in Ji-li's neighborhood. Because his son-in-law was a counterrevolutionary, he and his whole family are blacklisted as members of the Five Black Categories. The Red Guards… read analysis of Old Qian

Minor Characters

Fourth Aunt

Ji-li’s Fourth Aunt is Dad’s sister-in-law. She lives on a lower floor of the same building as Ji-li’s family. She comes under suspicion during the Cultural Revolution for her bourgeois habits and possessions and for her association with landlords via her late husband.

Teacher Gu

Teacher Gu is Ji-li Jiang’s favorite elementary school teacher. Ji-li considers Teacher Gu a stern but loving second mother. Teacher Gu takes pride in Ji-li’s accomplishments and tries to help her get into a competitive junior high school.

Principal Long

Principal Long is the leader of the elementary school that Grandma founded and Ji-li, Ji-yong, and Ji-yun attend. He expresses a great deal of pride in Ji-li and her accomplishment when Comrade Li visits the school.

Comrade Li

Comrade Li is a soldier and dancer who comes to Ji-li’s school to recruit children to attend the Party’s competitive arts academy.

Grandpa Hong

Grandpa Hong owns a bookstall where Ji-li, Ji-yong, and Ji-yun go each week to rent and read books. After the Cultural Revolution begins, his books are declared Four Olds and Red Guards shut down his stall.

Xiao-cheng

Xiao-cheng is one of Ji-yong Jiang’s best friends, along with Ming-ming. When Xiao-cheng’s father is detained and subjected to public humiliation on suspicion of harboring counterrevolutionary views, Xiao-cheng speaks disrespectfully of him in ways that make Ji-li uncomfortable.

Ming-ming

Ming-ming is one of Ji-yong Jiang’s closest friends, along with Xiao-cheng.

Xu A-san

Xu A-san is a disgruntled former neighborhood resident who accuses Sang Hong-zhen of corruption and calls her to a public struggle session.

Teacher Li

Teacher Li instructs Ji-li’s math class in junior high school.

Fang Fang

Fang Fang is a classmate of Ji-li, Chang Hong, and Ducky in junior high school. They all work together on the students’ Class Education Exhibition.

Ducky

Ducky is a classmate of Ji-li, Chang Hong, and Fang Fang in junior high school. They all work together on the students’ Class Education Exhibition.

Chairman Jin

Chairman Jin leads the Revolutionary Committee at Ji-li’s junior high school. Although he initially praises her work on the Class Education Exhibition, after learning that she refused to testify against Dad at a struggle meeting, he forbids her form participating due to her black class status.

Xiao Hong-yin

Xiao Hong-yin is a friend of Ji-yun Jiang. She reports the existence of the incriminating letter Mom and Uncle Tian wrote to the Neighborhood Dictatorship Group.

Red Scarf Girl Characters