Ji-li lived in a roomy apartment with a small bathroom. At this period of time, many other people did not have large apartments such as hers, classifying her as part of the upper class during the
Cultural Revolution. During this time period, she lived with her father
Jiang Xi-reng, her mother Ying-Chen, her brother Ji-yong, her sister Ji-yun and her grandmother for a brief period of time. Her housekeeper, Song Po-po, also lived with them. Ji-li was a star student until 1966, when
Chairman Mao started the
Cultural Revolution. When she was 13, her father, a theater owner was falsely accused of counter-revolutionary crimes 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, which prevented her from becoming a
Red Successor, a person who would be appointed as a
Red Guard when they were old enough. When the Revolution ended, Ji-li, later followed by most of her family, moved to
Hawaii. In 1998,
Red Scarf Girl, a memoir of her life during the Cultural Revolution, was published and garnered a number of awards. Following the success of
Red Scarf Girl, Ji-li continued writing books, notably
The Magical Monkey King, a retelling of a traditional Chinese tale about the beginning of the trickster Monkey King's journey. ==Adulthood==