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Should Jiang Ji-Li: Should We Stop Or Change Her Name?

650 Words3 Pages

Jiang Ji-li is walking home for lunch and passes the police station but, she does not continue on as usual. She ponders whether or not she should stop and change her name because an article was recently published about her family that exposed the fact that she is the grandchild of a landlord that once owned close to half of the city Nanjing. Jiang Ji- li is ashamed and annoyed by her classmate’s reaction to the report in the Workers Revolt. They all immediately turn on her by gossiping and teasing her. Her classmates stand in tight groups during school looking over their shoulders and whispering to each other and a neighborhood boy follows her home loudly chanting “Half-City Jiangs! Down with the landlord Half-City Jiangs!”

Ji-li walks into the police station after a long moment of questioning if she really should. She looks in the directory for the household registration office and goes upstairs to where it is located. At first she does not see anyone but, after yelling a few times Officer Ma emerges from his chair with his chopsticks in hand. Upon meeting Officer Ma he seems impatient and not very helpful, but then Jiang Ji-Li tells him that she wants to change her name to escape her bad class status and Officer Ma’s demeanor changes completely. He begins to listen to Ji-li’s issue and give her more attention. Ji-li immediately becomes suspicious …show more content…

He just wants what is best for Chairman Mao and not for the actual lives or families of the people that come to him. Officer Ma’s attitude also gave off the impression that changing your name was a trap and that he was luring you into it. If you got caught in that trap there was no way you were getting back to the life you lived before where you could communicate with and help your family because you loved

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