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At once a coming-of-age tale and a heart-rending love story, Wild Ginger explores the devastating experience of the Cultural Revolution, which defined Anchee Min�s youth. The beautiful, iron-willed Wild Ginger is only in elementary school when she is singled out by the Red Guards for her �foreign-colored eyes.� Her classmate Maple is also a target of persecution. The novel chronicles the two girls� maturing in Shanghai in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Chairman Mao ruled absolutely and his followers took up arms in his name. Wild Ginger grows up to become a model Maoist, but her love for a man soon places her in an untenable position � and ultimately in mortal danger. This slim and powerful novel �examines the fragile sensibilities and emotions of an entire generation of Chinese youth� (Washington Post) and brilliantly delineates the psychological and sexual perversion of those times.